Charolais bull

[Cress27]

I think I've decided to go with a Charolais bull this year on my Hereford and sim cross heifers the bull has a calving ease of a 9 should I Reconsider or should I be fine. The guy I'm buying from has a good reputation for calving ease Charolais bulls. I've just always heard horror story about Charolais bulls.

 

[Redgully]

If the breeder of the bull has taken into account calving ease i would have no hesitation. I have seen charolais used on mixed herds of all breeds with good numbers and very few calving problems, certainly no more than any other breed. But some of the old original genetics many many years ago gave the breed a bad name for calving. Similar to the blondes.

 

[Cress27]

If the breeder of the bull has taken into account calving ease i would have no hesitation. I have seen charolais used on mixed herds of all breeds with good numbers and very few calving problems, certainly no more than any other breed. But some of the old original genetics many many years ago gave the breed a bad name for calving. Similar to the blondes.

I've always loved the way Charolais cross cattle grow. I've always heard horror stories with them. The man that's selling them told me he's never had to pull calves and never heard of anyone having to pull one from his bulls. Can't never tell when someone's blowing smoke.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I think I've decided to go with a Charolais bull this year on my Hereford and sim cross heifers the bull has a calving ease of a 9 should I Reconsider or should I be fine. The guy I'm buying from has a good reputation for calving ease Charolais bulls. I've just always heard horror story about Charolais bulls.

That's one bull you will never ever find in my pasture again. Love the cows.
I wore out a set of chains pulling those pallet head calves.

 

[Lucky_P]

CED of 9 for a Charolais puts him in the top 25% of breed.
Personally, I'd want something higher for virgin heifers, but YMMV.

 

[SBMF 2015]

We run a lot of Char Angus cross cows . I would not use a Char bull on hfrs. My goal when breeding hers is to get a live calf unassisted and not have momma so wore out that she doesn't want to take care of it. Use a low birth weight high CED Angus. Then on there 2nd calf use a meat wagon Char bull.
Don't forget about heterosis. You can probably add 10lbs or more just by cross breeding.

 

[Cress27]

We run a lot of Char Angus cross cows . I would not use a Char bull on hfrs. My goal when breeding hers is to get a live calf unassisted and not have momma so wore out that she doesn't want to take care of it. Use a low birth weight high CED Angus. Then on there 2nd calf use a meat wagon Char bull.
Don't forget about heterosis. You can probably add 10lbs or more just by cross breeding.

That's my original plan I've seen calf's out of a bull from this guy and they looked good but yeah I'm probably going to go with a angus first

 

[Caustic Burno]

We run a lot of Char Angus cross cows . I would not use a Char bull on hfrs. My goal when breeding hers is to get a live calf unassisted and not have momma so wore out that she doesn't want to take care of it. Use a low birth weight high CED Angus. Then on there 2nd calf use a meat wagon Char bull.
Don't forget about heterosis. You can probably add 10lbs or more just by cross breeding.

Don't forget that hybrid vigor starts at conception as well.
I prefer Hereford or Angus for low birthweight.

 

[Cress27]

We run a lot of Char Angus cross cows . I would not use a Char bull on hfrs. My goal when breeding hers is to get a live calf unassisted and not have momma so wore out that she doesn't want to take care of it. Use a low birth weight high CED Angus. Then on there 2nd calf use a meat wagon Char bull.
Don't forget about heterosis. You can probably add 10lbs or more just by cross breeding.

Don't forget that hybrid vigor starts at conception as well.
I prefer Hereford or Angus for low birthweight.

Here is some front field cows and heifers that's I'm trying to decide what to breed to them I know Charolais is the way to go on the Longhorns I got them super cheap. But the white face are the heifers I'm worried about

 

[TCRanch]

Have the heifers pelvic measured so you know how big of a calf they can theoretically have unassisted. I know zero, squat about Charolais but I definitely would never breed my heifers to anything other than a LBW/calving ease bull.

 

[polledbull]

I have heard of some docility problems with Charlois ,

 

[SBMF 2015]

I have heard of some docility problems with Charlois ,

There's bad ones in every color. There's just fewer Char bulls so the bad ones get more light shown on them.

 

[Ky hills]

From the late 80's through mid 90's I ran registered Charolais. Heard a lot of horror stories, and finally it ended with our own horror story of a disastrous calving year. Some bulls that we used really were easy calving and with some lines you could expect to have to pull some every once in a while. All of the bulls we had were good natured and calm and most of the cows were dog gentle, a few were plum dangerous when they calved though. Most of ours milked extremely well, but some bloodlines did not milk well at all. My opinion is that Charolais will cross well with any breed and put out some good doing crossbred calves. I would not recommend breeding a Charolais bull to heifers of any other breed though. Angus is my breed of choice for heifers .

 

[fnfarms1]

I've had a couple charolois bulls. Never had an issue. Used on cows and heifers. Never pulled a calf out of them. I'll use them again, but genetics are a big deal. Guy I bought mine from wouldnt keep bulls if they weren't calving ease bulls. Said even if they want growth bulls, dead calves or pulling alot kills his rep. Using SimAngus right now

 

[sstterry]

My Dad ran registered Charolais back in the 70-80's. And I now have Charolais and Angus cross cows. I love the Charolais cows because they are big and never have a calving problem when crossed with just about any other breed. I would not breed a Charolais Bull to another breed of heifer under any circumstances. It is just not worth the risk in my view.

 

[VaCowman]

If you have time to watch the ladies closely when it's time to calve, you may be alright, but I'd be very cautious of using a Charolais over heifers. I know it has been done and done successfully, but I'd just be too chicken to try it myself. Its too much of a risk for me. I'd AI those girls to a good Angus and turn that Charolais in with the cows. You'll love them!

 

[Cress27]

Well guys it's been a while but I decided to go the Charolais route and I'm very pleased with the results so far. I couldn't find 3 Charolais bulls so I settled with a balancer he is also throwing some very nice calves. I had 3 heifers that got bred by the Charolais bulls and all 3 was unassisted I haven't pulled a calf this year (knock on wood) I'll attach some pictures of some calves. Calves are growing good considering we're in a slight drought in central ky but finally got some relief the past few days.

 

[CSM]

Glad that all has went well but that is not uncommon with the Charolais bulls of today.