Bull Choice ??

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I have no idea who "Onward" was - but like in all breeds, there are cattle that don't "fit" the characteristics of that breed.
Black Simmental have been here since 1969, when the first calves starting hitting the ground. Black gene is dominant, so any semen that went into a black cow, pretty much had black calves (or 50/50 if the blk cow was hetero). Our first herd of half bloods were mostly blacks and greys in 1970.

 

[AussieLim]

Agreed every breed is known for something good or bad eg Limousin = yield, Simmental= milk

This maybe so but I often thing breeders try & hide behind this perception when often what they are breeding is no longer what the breed was known for...

Producers need to buy on type, herd performance & data not breed alone. Producers get hung up on staying with a breed sometimes missing out on extra kilos or production & profitability eg Angus in Australia- brilliant maternal herd but could benefit from a hit of hybrid vigor!

 

[cypressfarms]

I wish Simmi's did better with our heat....I'd love to have a simmi bull, but the one's I've seen around here struggle with our summers. I'm sure someone will come on and say I'm wrong, ofcourse, but anything without a little brahman influence seems to struggle down here in the summer... But then again it's not only hot as you know what, but the humidity is normally as high as the temps.

 

[JWBrahman]

Cypressfarms, Luke and LJ Grezaffi have some Simbrah cows next to my place
that never have a problem with the heat and they make a heavy calf.

 

[cypressfarms]

Cypressfarms, Luke and LJ Grezaffi have some Simbrah cows next to my place
that never have a problem with the heat and they make a heavy calf.

Yep, the BRAH part of the Simbrah does it every time!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Cypress - most of the "Southern" Simmental breeders I know are big on fall calving, because of the heat. Is that common for your area?

 

[cypressfarms]

Cypress - most of the "Southern" Simmental breeders I know are big on fall calving, because of the heat. Is that common for your area?

Yeah Jeanne, I do know people that fall calve. Down here you can choose, where up north you calve in spring out of necessity. Fall calves are normally smaller when born, but carrying "wet" cows through the winter will use more hay/ryegrass etc. The last time I was in the bull market, I looked at about 3 or 4 simmi farms (this was mid-summer), and all of the bulls seemed to be suffering through the heat worse than other breeds. Most breeds down here will have some brahman influence to help. This ofcourse doesn't mean that other breeds won't make it, but in the dog days of summer, they will likely lose weight because of the heat - which is exactly opposite of what I want cows to be doing in the summer. Having said that one of my favorite cows is a commercial simmi.... so to each their own! I think the heat is worse for the bulls to handle.

 

[robert]

I have no idea who "Onward" was - but like in all breeds, there are cattle that don't "fit" the characteristics of that breed.
Black Simmental have been here since 1969, when the first calves starting hitting the ground. Black gene is dominant, so any semen that went into a black cow, pretty much had black calves (or 50/50 if the blk cow was hetero). Our first herd of half bloods were mostly blacks and greys in 1970.

Connealy Onward, sire of the currently popular (though personally I've no idea why) Sitz Upward. Onwards tended to be larger framed, very square rumped and a tendency to be harder doing, sometimes a bit dry on the milk side too. I picked one up last spring out of a full sister to Leachman Right Time in the hope that the milk and size would be improved, certainly she's not a horse but we'll see with her next calf if the milk is an issue........

 

[AussieLim]

I think someone was referring to a SimmAngus when they spoke of 'Onward' as Robert pointed out Onward is an Angus sire meaning he can't produce a Black straightbred Simm.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Yes, I was confused also, I thought he was referring to Simmental bloodlines, until Robert cleared that up.