chosing a breed

[Anonymous]

I have a small farm with the cattle being primarly angus/herford/charolais.
I would like to introduce some different gentics. I am now thinking of Saler, Gelbvieh, or Maine Anjou.
My intial research is Gelbvich might not be the best for first time heifers. Salers are known for the eas of calving. And the Maine Anjou might be too big.
Any input would be appericated.

 

[dun]

A properly selected Gelbvieh bull would work fine on british breeds. In time you might breed out th charolais and use it strictly as a teminal breed. Gelbvieh X Angus are great cows although some tend to be a little larger then I prefer. Gelbvieh X Hereford should be close to equal of the other cross. Gelbvieh will give you more milk and as replacemnts will give you calving ease, both as heifers and as cows. Highly maternal instincts and fertile. The only drawback I can perceive would be the color dilutor gene which can combine with the black angus black gene and cause rattails. Not common, but something to be aware of the possibility. I almost classify Simmenthal and Gelbvieh together in what the have to offer in a cross breeding program.

dun

 

[A. delaGarza]

good choices but haven't you think of Simmental, I agree with Dun Simmental and Gelbvieh offer the same traits on crossbreeding programs but Simmental has a wider variety of bulls progeny to choose from. Simmental will also offer the option of the Traditional, Red or Black colors

 

[Jake]

But they can get red or black gelbvieh that will be solid colored and sell better than a blaze faced simmi

 

[Ellie May]

Any of them sound good as long as you have that Hereford blood.
Ellie May

 

[Anonymous]

Lawren,
You answered your own question. And you were right.

 

[cherokeeruby]

Found this regarding average selling price of calves with color taken into consideration. The link at the bottom also has tables on how breeds or perceived breeds faired. This study was done in Arkansas recently.

Table 6. The Average Selling Price for Feeder Cattle Based on Calf Color
Calf Color Average Selling Price (Value/cwt.)
Deviation From Overall Calf Color Average (Value/cwt.)

yellow................... $96.47 a...... $2.78
yellow-white face ...$95.65 b...... $1.96
black-white face ....$95.23 b,c.... $1.54
white.................... $94.93 c..... $1.24
black ....................$94.29 d...... $0.60
red....................... $92.74 e -.....$0.95
gray..................... $91.85 f .....-$1.84
red-white face .......$91.81 f,g....-$1.88
gray-white face......$91.73 g .....-$1.96
spotted or striped ...$83.84 h -...-$9.85
a,b,c,d…h Means wthout a common superscript differ (P < 0.01).

http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publica ... A-3056.asp