Bull prospect

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cowgirl8

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Simbra influence. We lost his father this last winter, his mother is simbra/angus but looks all simbra and is about 1,800 pounds. He was around 50 pounds at birth, so we decided to not cut him and see how he grows. From our fast growing bloodlines, and are always extra wide. Hated to lose that bull, but maybe we can keep some of that blood in the herds.
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What i hope to get out of this line. Short ears and brindle. We have 3 right now and 2 on their own herd. Cant wait till next calving season to see how many will be brindle... Note, bull is in working clothes here. Our bulls get no special anything. 1686168483117.png
 
Simbra influence. We lost his father this last winter, his mother is simbra/angus but looks all simbra and is about 1,800 pounds. He was around 50 pounds at birth, so we decided to not cut him and see how he grows. From our fast growing bloodlines, and are always extra wide. Hated to lose that bull, but maybe we can keep some of that blood in the herds.
View attachment 30947
So he will be breeding half siblings? Maybe aunts?

I've never been a fan of inbreeding. Can't recommend it...
 
So he will be breeding half siblings? Maybe aunts?

I've never been a fan of inbreeding. Can't recommend it...
You should know, we have more than one herd, 4 to be exact and about 15 bulls. Yeah, there might be some long distant inbreeding, but hasnt hurt a thing.
 
Can I ask why you want brindle calves?
Cause i think they are pretty. People like brindle. I've always liked that color, but never liked the big ears and floppy skin you get with the brahma Herford cross... I have the angus ears and wide tight skinned body. Its been years in the making. Now to see how many of these brindle bulls calves are brindle. Or do we just get brindle out of the red bulls, like the calf prospect.
 
You should know, we have more than one herd, 4 to be exact and about 15 bulls. Yeah, there might be some long distant inbreeding, but hasnt hurt a thing.
Inbreeding, or linebreeding, is an accepted way to draw out or enhance specific characteristics that may be a goal that is being aimed for. There are disadvantages to the practice as well.

If a producer is trying to create breeding animals to sell and be producers in someones herd, then it's definitely a good practice. If a producer is trying to produce animals for market/slaughter, Then crossing breeds or at least avoiding inbreeding in order to gain hybrid vigor is likely a better practice.

The way and how you breed should depend on what your objectives are. What is right for one producer may be disastrous for another.
 
In-breeding enhances the good traits, but it also enhances the bad traits.
You have to be careful when in-breeding or like Mark Reynolds said, it "may be disastrous."
You have to know what you were doing. Maybe you know your cattle good enough to safely try it.
If it were me, I wouldn't.
Good luck!
 
Inbreeding, or linebreeding, is an accepted way to draw out or enhance specific characteristics that may be a goal that is being aimed for. There are disadvantages to the practice as well.

If a producer is trying to create breeding animals to sell and be producers in someones herd, then it's definitely a good practice. If a producer is trying to produce animals for market/slaughter, Then crossing breeds or at least avoiding inbreeding in order to gain hybrid vigor is likely a better practice.

The way and how you breed should depend on what your objectives are. What is right for one producer may be disastrous for another.
Most people don't know enough about breeding for the obvious, carcass, weaning weights, and maternal... using good genetic practices. They surely don't know what they are doing using inbreeding and line breeding. I'd bet that 90% of people thinking line breeding is okay haven't a clue what the risks are or how to do it well. I'd also bet they don't know any of the relatively recent examples that example the dangers.
 
Most people don't know enough about breeding for the obvious, carcass, weaning weights, and maternal... using good genetic practices. They surely don't know what they are doing using inbreeding and line breeding. I'd bet that 90% of people thinking line breeding is okay haven't a clue what the risks are or how to do it well. I'd also bet they don't know any of the relatively recent examples that example the dangers.
If your calves are improving, then its working.
 
I've been going by a place making my rounds that has a pile of Simbrah cross type cattle. They are really growing on me. I'm still on the hunt for a R&W Sim or Fleck bull.
Our kids showed fleck sims and simbras back in the 90s. We bought a solid black simbra, he was a beauty. This was before everything sim started to turn black. Everyone was looking past him, going to the wildly colored red and whites. I believe it was him that put this super growth gene in some of our calves. Since, we've been selecting the ones we could see in it. Simbras grew enormous. The cow that produced this bull prospect is massive. The only drawback to this line is missing their second calf. We breed them at 14 mos, so, missing that second calf isnt a deal breaker. That year of the missed calf, they grow grow grow. This cow is so big, she almost didnt fit through the vets chutes...lol Now, we dont really want cows that big, but, a few to get replacement bulls out of yes. That simbra line is dwindling in our herd. But, i get happy when i see a calf like this one each year.
Just a note, back when our kids showed simbras, the simbra class resembled a rodeo more than it did show heifers. We had one drag our daughter through a parking lot, but then went on to win overall champion.. Sweet one min, a nut the next.
 
Our kids showed fleck sims and simbras back in the 90s. We bought a solid black simbra, he was a beauty. This was before everything sim started to turn black. Everyone was looking past him, going to the wildly colored red and whites. I believe it was him that put this super growth gene in some of our calves. Since, we've been selecting the ones we could see in it. Simbras grew enormous. The cow that produced this bull prospect is massive. The only drawback to this line is missing their second calf. We breed them at 14 mos, so, missing that second calf isnt a deal breaker. That year of the missed calf, they grow grow grow. This cow is so big, she almost didnt fit through the vets chutes...lol Now, we dont really want cows that big, but, a few to get replacement bulls out of yes. That simbra line is dwindling in our herd. But, i get happy when i see a calf like this one each year.
Just a note, back when our kids showed simbras, the simbra class resembled a rodeo more than it did show heifers. We had one drag our daughter through a parking lot, but then went on to win overall champion.. Sweet one min, a nut the next.
I've wondered about the size of some of the cows mentioned here. Someone tell me the thought process of why you want a big cow. The thought process I use is that you actually want a smaller cow because she will consume fewer resources (cost less) in terms of hay and pasture, or be able to have more cows for the resources available, and the calf the cow is producing has an 'ideal' market size that is independent of the cow size.

In other words:

500# calf on a big cow costs $$$ in resources
500# calf on a small cow costs $ in resources (or the same $ in resources but more cows which means more calves)
 
I've wondered about the size of some of the cows mentioned here. Someone tell me the thought process of why you want a big cow. The thought process I use is that you actually want a smaller cow because she will consume fewer resources (cost less) in terms of hay and pasture, or be able to have more cows for the resources available, and the calf the cow is producing has an 'ideal' market size that is independent of the cow size.

In other words:

500# calf on a big cow costs $$$ in resources
500# calf on a small cow costs $ in resources (or the same $ in resources but more cows which means more calves)
Like i said, we dont want big cows. We have just a few of this line. We want the calves produced by this line to grow big via the bull produced by these cows.
 
Like i said, we dont want big cows. We have just a few of this line. We want the calves produced by this line to grow big via the bull produced by these cows.
I did see that. I apologize as I wasn't necessarily referring to you personally. I've seen it in a couple threads including one that referred to an #1800 cow. What you are saying here makes complete sense.
 
I did see that. I apologize as I wasn't necessarily referring to you personally. I've seen it in a couple threads including one that referred to an #1800 cow. What you are saying here makes complete sense.
Its one reason we quit with the reg simbra... they just got too big. And the problem with really big cows is if they lose weight, its super hard to feed them enough to gain it back. Thats when we switched to angus bulls. Big cows, smaller bulls. Brought them down to a reasonable size.
 

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