Charoais cattle?

[charangusman08]

What do you guys think of Charolais cattle? Not many here in Wisconsin, but I want to start a registered herd. Just wondering what you guys know, have heard, or experienced with Charolais. Thanks!

 

[ANAZAZI]

You can do better. Charolais is a typical terminal breed, but there are better terminals than that. A terminal breed should provide three things to its offspring: calving ease, conformation and growth, and chars provide only growth.

 

[charangusman08]

You can do better. Charolais is a typical terminal breed, but there are better terminals than that. A terminal breed should provide three things to its offspring: calving ease, conformation and growth, and chars provide only growth.

I agree with you, but my plan is to ai them with calving ease bulls to try and get the offspring to have a lower birth weight. What ya think?

 

[KNERSIE]

Sounds like you want to re-invent the wheel.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Lots of Char cattle down here they do pretty well. Like most things Americans get we help some things screw some things up. You can get Char cattle that calve about as easy as any thing else. Just make good choices. Several people down run Char cows and use Red Limi bulls get yellow calves they seem to sell good.

 

[glover36]

char cross fleckvieh simmental creates great stocker calves and females

 

[charangusman08]

If I crossed them with anything it would be with red or black angus after I build my herd up with purebred charolais cows. Tell me what you would thing about a charolais crossed with angus bull, good or bad idea. Probly would try some others like Limousin, simmental, hereford, and shorthorn. Thanks for your comments fellas!

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Red Angus might work, Black Angus on char will get some rat colored calves. But i kinda reckon a person needs to do what they think will work for them. Thats why i have Red Fullblood Limousin cattle, I like them and they work for me.

 

[VanC]

In many areas, yellow calves sell as well or better than blacks. Char crossed with Red Angus, or any other red breed, will give you those calves. Around here, grays you would get from Char x Angus don't sell as well as the yellows. I don't understand it, but that's the way it is.

As for calving ease, those who automatically dismiss Chars as hard calvers are either living in the 1970's or looking in the wrong places. Charolais breeders have taken great pains over the past 30 years to greatly reduce calving problems, just as Limousin breeders have worked on temperament and Hereford breeders have worked on prolapses and eye problems. Find the right breeder and you'll find what you're looking for, whatever the breed.

 

[charangusman08]

In many areas, yellow calves sell as well or better than blacks. Char crossed with Red Angus, or any other red breed, will give you those calves. Around here, grays you would get from Char x Angus don't sell as well as the yellows. I don't understand it, but that's the way it is.

As for calving ease, those who automatically dismiss Chars as hard calvers are either living in the 1970's or looking in the wrong places. Charolais breeders have taken great pains over the past 30 years to greatly reduce calving problems, just as Limousin breeders have worked on temperament and Hereford breeders have worked on prolapses and eye problems. Find the right breeder and you'll find what you're looking for, whatever the breed.

So your saying that Red angus crossed with charolais will be yellow calves, thats cool to know thanks. My friend bred his charolais heifer to a black angus bull, the calf has black ears and nose and the rest is yellow, it's kinda cool, usually i heard they were a silvery gray color.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Usually they will be the color of a rat or mouse.kinda of a ugly grey not silvery. They maybe cool to look at but not to pricey at the market.

 

[deenranch]

Charolais crossed with black cattle are called smokies. In TEXAS they sell great. Charolais breeders have gotten their bw in the mid to low eighties and even lower. The are great for growth and have great carcass traits. I raise them and love them.

 

[TB-Herefords]

I think you would be best to go with angus or other british cow herd cross a char bull on them. I think a person can be more versital with a british cow herd. May be versital is not the right word but you can pull the continetal cross in an out with the change of a bull. Doesn't exactally happen that fast but you get the idea. I would rather have a british base cow herd of hereford, angus or hereford angus cross you could pull the full heretosis out of the calf crop with a char bull. When building your replacments you will have baldie, hereford, or angus steers to sale instead of strait char steers. Which I think would do better at the sale yard. Thats if you keep you cows char if you kept cross replacments than you would be seling cross calves too. Also on british side I think a baldie, angus, or hereford replacment is a better product than a char cross heifer, if you ever sold replacments. None of this matters if you go registered and different areas might sell a char cross better. I think a Terminal char cross is great but I think you can have more options with a british cow base than a char cow base.

What do you all think about that? :lol:

 

[mnmtranching]

I use Charolais bulls on Black Angus cows. Calves are white, smokie and and light brown. There are NO grays. Purebred Angus cows rarely produce a mouse colored calf when bred to a Char bull. The mouse color and rat tails come from a Angus cow with other continental breeding in her. Stay with straight Angus cows with Char bulls and you will get excellent, market topping calves.
Most Charolais bulls will be under 85 pound birth weight. There is no excuse for having calving problems with modern Charolais cattle. And straight Chars will also be market toppers.

 

[Aero]

A terminal breed should provide three things to its offspring: calving ease, conformation and growth, and chars provide only growth.

hmm... problematic advice here.

a terminal bull's priority is value of calf at selling point. if the market is mainly based on pounds at weaning, Charolais are definitely near the top of the heap for putting on pounds. there are 2 components to heavy calves: weight at birth and growth to weaning. Calving ease normally means a smaller calf at birth which is good for heifers but a non-heifer should be able to easily handle a heavier calf.

how can Charolais as a breed not have conformation? they define what their standards are. I think you may be confusing "conformation" with what your eye likes to see. Charolais have better conformation than any other breed for Charolais standards.

if you are going to give advice try to think through it a little.

back to the original question:
I have chosen to not use Charolais mainly because the cows in general are larger than what I am looking for, they dont have as much calving ease as the breeds I have chosen (which is important to me, but that is a personal decision), and carry a diluter and horn genes.

the easiest way to decide what kind of registered animals to buy is to look at how you can sell your animals, who will be buying them, and how they will sell their calves. this will give you a lot better idea of where to head than a bunch of strangers on the internet.

 

[dyates]

Charolais crossed with black cattle are called smokies. In TEXAS they sell great. Charolais breeders have gotten their bw in the mid to low eighties and even lower. The are great for growth and have great carcass traits. I raise them and love them.

Ditto for me except change TEXAS to Kentucky. I now have a Hereford bull on smoky cows trying to add a few pounds to the calves. We'll see. My smoky calves have sold right up with the best of the blacks every time I have sold.

 

[charangusman08]

A terminal breed should provide three things to its offspring: calving ease, conformation and growth, and chars provide only growth.

hmm... problematic advice here.

a terminal bull's priority is value of calf at selling point. if the market is mainly based on pounds at weaning, Charolais are definitely near the top of the heap for putting on pounds. there are 2 components to heavy calves: weight at birth and growth to weaning. Calving ease normally means a smaller calf at birth which is good for heifers but a non-heifer should be able to easily handle a heavier calf.

how can Charolais as a breed not have conformation? they define what their standards are. I think you may be confusing "conformation" with what your eye likes to see. Charolais have better conformation than any other breed for Charolais standards.

if you are going to give advice try to think through it a little.

back to the original question:
I have chosen to not use Charolais mainly because the cows in general are larger than what I am looking for, they dont have as much calving ease as the breeds I have chosen (which is important to me, but that is a personal decision), and carry a diluter and horn genes.

the easiest way to decide what kind of registered animals to buy is to look at how you can sell your animals, who will be buying them, and how they will sell their calves. this will give you a lot better idea of where to head than a bunch of strangers on the internet.

I get what your saying on look and see who will be buying them, but there are no cahrolais in my area for about 50 miles. I want to start a new breed that I think will sell and I always loved what few charolais cows and bulls I have seen. The only problem is I am afraid to spend thousands of dollars on something that is rare in my area. That is why I want to breed them to angus to lower the birth weight because that seems like thats #1 priority anymore these days. Thanks.

 

[Brandonm22]

Charolais times Angus MAY be rare in your area; but nationally they are pretty common. The best way to lower calving problems with the Chars is to breed them to a cow that is big enough to handle the larger calves. There ARE breeders within the Char breed that are working hard at producing calving ease lines. It may take them a while; but a Char bull with birth weights as low as the typcial Angus will eventually be mass produced.....the question is how much muscle and growth will be lost to get there. As a breed, I don't know that I like the idea of Chars x Anguses. The F1 smokies perform well in the feedlot and make good commercial cows; but cross an F1 smokie to an F1 smokie and I THINK (I stress to everyone that I have never actually done this) you are going to get an all black calf 25% of the time, a smokie 50% of the time, and a white calf 25% of the time. Then there are the growth and birth weight issues. That crossbred F2 calf crop could be all over the board phenotypically in those traits.

 

[KenB]

I get what your saying on look and see who will be buying them, but there are no cahrolais in my area for about 50 miles.

I want to start a new breed

:roll: :roll:

that I think will sell and I always loved what few charolais cows and bulls I have seen. The only problem is I am afraid to spend thousands of dollars on something that is rare in my area. That is why I want to breed them to angus to lower the birth weight because that seems like thats #1 priority anymore these days. Thanks.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I don't understand why you would want to start a new breed.Why not just breed charoais if thats what you like.I'm not sure how well they will sell up there they seem to be more popular in the south but I don't know.Are you planning on being seedstock producer or just selling calves at the sale barn? If I really wanted to cross angus w/chars I would have angus cows and a char bull you should be more efficient that way.You might want to think about what your goals really are with this project before you spend a bunch of money. jmho.