Critique this breed mix

[Cada22]

Before all of the black hide talk gets thrown in, this is just hypothetical. I know we would see a dock at the sale barn and all that. Just had someone I respect bring it up and I was curious to get other opinions. I know it would take selective breeding to get the mix correct, but what are your thoughts on building a herd of 1/2 red brangus, 1/4 Hereford, 1/4 jersey?

His argument was milk being reduced breeding Hereford to Jersey, then get some heat tolerance by throwing in red brangus. He, like myself, likes red cows in the pasture. Eastern and north Alabama.

 

[Ky hills]

I don't have any knowledge of that specific cross, but did have some Hereford x Jersey cows due to our nurse cow project. Those make some nice cows usually. The milking ability is usually pretty high except we did have one that didn't have enough to raise a calf. The Jersey x Hereford can result in some Brindles and that might also be picked again with the Brahman influence in the Brangus too. If the color isn't a concern then I think it would be a good cross but a little costly to maintain in terms of what the Jersey would cost in dock if this was a continuous rotational cross. If used just to get a base of cows and then use a black bull on those cows then that could be some nice calves and received pretty good at the market too.

 

[Dave]

There are plenty of ways to add milk if you have the forage to support it. Just use a bull who has high milk epd. Adding dairy breeding of any sort to the mix can have negative impacts.

 

[Hpacres440p]

I've seen someone who sells Jersey x Brahma heifers in southeast Texas-good looking cattle and he gets a premium for them. (Feeds them well to make sure they're "pretty")

 

[Allenw]

added milk takes more energy or feed, however you want to look at it. Jersey is hard to cover up.

 

[Cada22]

I have seen those and they are sharp. Actually told the guy I was talking to about this cross about them. I would think with this cross if they were only a quarter jersey, then they should be able to condition without a ton of feed.

 

[Brute 23]

If you bored and just want some to do, ok, but if not what's the end goal?

 

[Cada22]

If you bored and just want some to do, ok, but if not what's the end goal?

I think he was just thinking outside of the box to do something different. He is retired and his small herd is just a hobby more than anything

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

You could keep the muscling and add milk with a beef breed like Simmental. Why sacrifice muscling to get milk??? You could use commercial Simmental cows crossed with your red Brangus. Don't worry about a 3-way cross. Or use Simbrah cows.

 

[Warren Allison]

They have been doing this since the 1970's only using red Holstein instead of Jersey. Has its own breed registry, even. They are called RX3.

 

[ismith]

Why not use heritage milking or dual purpose shorthorns?

 

[Cada22]

They have been doing this since the 1970's only using red Holstein instead of Jersey. Has its own breed registry, even. They are called RX3.

Very interesting. Called my uncle(person from my original post) and he hadn't heard of them and neither had I.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

OMG - I forgot about the RX3 - that's an oldie goldie.. Everyone keeps trying to re-invent the wheel.

 

[RockinRB]

I have a couple of quarter holstein cows. Thats not quite the same as jersey, but still dairy so pretty much along the same lines. They were heifers I kept out of a holstein x hereford nurse cow I used to have. They've maintained their condition just as good as any of our full beef cows and always wean off some of the largest calves. The 1/4 crosses don't show any dairy influence either, and definitely not in the 1/8 calves.

That nurse cow was a really good cow though. Not all dairy beef crosses are consistent so you would likely end up with some that just won't work if you do decide to go that route.

 

[Son of Butch]

Limousin x Jersey females instead of Hereford x Jersey?

I don't know about down south, but up here more Jersey dairy herds use Limo
not Hereford to increase calf value.

 

[Redgully]

With the op cross combination....I'd just get some red polls, done and dusted.

 

[JCcattle]

I like to keep beef cross heifers from my milk cows. The Ayrshire descendants are all pitch black (the first girl was from an angus) but still milk like crazy and keep good condition among the beef herd. My oldest is soon to be 11 and looking sleek and raised one of the biggest steers this past year. I have 1 1/2 brown Swiss (1/2 Simmental) who also does great. Especially for having her 1st calf at 16 months and not skipping a beat since then. All my dairy cross beef girls have beautiful udders too, I'd worry maybe they'd get swing bags but they haven't.

 

[Ky hills]

The dairy cross females that I had, were not real hard keeping, though they weren't as fleshy as the beef cows but stayed in decent shape and rebred as well as the beef cows. The biggest issue I had was that their udders didn't hold up for very many seasons.
My reason for using dairy cross females was because I already had them. If I were starting out I would likely do as others have suggested and used heavier milking beef breeds instead of dairy because there are just some issues with the dairy breeds due to the single trait selection for milk that can be avoided in most beef breeds.

 

[SA Angus]

Before all of the black hide talk gets thrown in, this is just hypothetical. I know we would see a dock at the sale barn and all that. Just had someone I respect bring it up and I was curious to get other opinions. I know it would take selective breeding to get the mix correct, but what are your thoughts on building a herd of 1/2 red brangus, 1/4 Hereford, 1/4 jersey?

His argument was milk being reduced breeding Hereford to Jersey, then get some heat tolerance by throwing in red brangus. He, like myself, likes red cows in the pasture. Eastern and north Alabama.

How about Red Angus x Herford cows and use a Charolais bull?

 

[Ky hills]

How about Red Angus x Herford cows and use a Charolais bull?

Or a red Simmental bull