Composite bulls x F1 heifers?

[t_irwin145]

So 3 breed terminal crosses are an effective way to exploit hybrid vigor/heterosis, but usually uses a purebred terminal sire on a crossbred dam (example, in my area, one way to do it would be Simmental x F1 baldy heifers). My question is, would it be beneficial at all to use a composite breed, such as a Balancer, on the F1 baldies? Or would that much differentiation take away from the effects of heterosis and leave a guy better off using a purebred terminal sire?

Also to clarify, by F1 badies I mean Hereford x Angus, not just BWF cattle

 

[Bigfoot]

So 3 breed terminal crosses are an effective way to exploit hybrid vigor/heterosis, but usually uses a purebred terminal sire on a crossbred dam (example, in my area, one way to do it would be Simmental x F1 baldy heifers). My question is, would it be beneficial at all to use a composite breed, such as a Balancer, on the F1 baldies? Or would that much differentiation take away from the effects of heterosis and leave a guy better off using a purebred terminal sire?

Also to clarify, by F1 badies I mean Hereford x Angus, not just BWF cattle

If the breed has been around long enough to be what I would call stabilized, then I would say it's fine. I'm going to use a homemade southern balancer on a few cows this spring. Nothing about is stabilized IMHO. I like his growth, and I like his phenotype. Little bit of a crap shoot there. It's my cows, so I do things that make me happy.

 

[pdfangus]

with all these breeds and composites..... what is possible is the loss of uniformity in the calf crop....don't know how important that may or may not be in your marketing...

 

[WalnutCrest]

Using a linebred fullblood bull on very closely related F1 cows should give above average consistency ... and ... if the breeds are sufficiently unrelated a nice pop of heterosis.

 

[KNERSIE]

Short answer is no. Stick with what you are doing, you are doing it right.

 

[Son of Butch]

Short answer is no. Stick with what you are doing, you are doing it right.

Yep, 3 way cross has stood the test of time to become the gold standard for terminal production.

Composites main advantage is for the benefit of the seed stock seller, not the benefit of the terminal producer.
Seed stock producer captures the biggest shot of heterosis for himself. Making it easier to produce a good looking
composite than a good looking purebred, but the value of a sire is in his offspring and not his own appearance.
Producing composites also increases the profitability of the culls for the seed stock producer.