Cross bred bull

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Does anyone use a cross bred bull, such as limi/Angus?

 

[Bigfoot]

op:

 

[Muddy]

Plenty of folks using balancer and simangus bulls on their cows.

 

[Bigfoot]

The popcorn thing was just a joke, I'll answer your question. I have used crossbreds bulls (mostly in my younger days). All were picked based on their phenotype. I've had good ones, and I've had bad ones. I could say the same thing about papered Bulls I've ran over the years to. The color of your calf crop will be all over the place. That's something you don't always get with an established breed. Growth, I'd have to say was largely not affected for me. Others will say it's the worst thing you can do. There is probably some merit to their argument.

I had my 4th bull in 18 months break his penis last Sunday. It's making a home grown bull look more appealing all the time.

 

[glacierridge]

We used him for clean up.
Primarily AI.
His calves are all meat blocks so far.


He's almost too relaxed and laid back lol. : https://youtu.be/3a1cTs2Idn0

Blue roan bull on pasture condition: https://youtu.be/F2TVc6sece8

 

[Rafter S]

I used a cross bred bull for two years. I was disappointed wIth the inconsistency of his calves, and from what I hear that's pretty common. You might have better luck.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

We have been using AI last couple years, and have bred everything to black angus . Even the Reg. Herefords , I was just thinking out loud. My clean up bull is the local ABS tech and his father. They are 4 for 4.

 

[Muddy]

I had some good crossbred bulls and some crappy bulls, no different from papered bulls, just like what Bigfoot said.

We had a Holstein x Angus cross bull used as a heifer bull for our heifers. All of his calves are surprisedly small at birth, between 60-70lbs. Two things I don't like about him is the chrome on the calves and the inconsistent weanweights in the calves.

We did used a horned "Angus" bull on some of our cows last year and now again this year. His calves looks awesome and some of his daughters look promising as replacements.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm using one of my own crossbred bulls for the first time this year, he comes from a cow that makes cookie-cutter calves, they're all very similar.. he had 2 2 year olds, 2 3 year olds, and 2 older cows to breed this year, so I'll be able to tell you more in a year.. he's quite closely related to all but the oldest cow, so perhaps it will lead to more consistency and reduced heterosis... His full sister (a 4 year old smallish cow) has the biggest calf of all of them this year.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Same here with my simang. Heck of a bull, but I'm struggling with calf size this year. I've used him on heifers the last few yrs and got along fine, but having fed really well this past winter and used him on more mature cows - I've had them range from 80lb to 119lb calves, with no rhyme or reason which will show up. It's going to make for an interesting calving season next year, as he's on more cows than ever now - he has 32 this season, and most of the feed I put up was really good this yr. Have 2 pure bred sim's on their own groups as well, so will be easy to compare.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Yes.
Balancer and Limi flex are somewhat popular here, and simi angus are hot.
Seems to work more consistently if you use him on full blood cows to produce 1/4 this and 3/4 that. Otherwise - - sort and re sort the 3 way crosses before you brag on the good ones.

What is your goal?

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Limi Angus calves are Limflex. You can register them. Same as the simangus or balancer.

 

[Son of Butch]

Limi Angus calves are Limflex. You can register them. Same as the simangus or balancer.

Fancy names for crossbred cattle. Named 'em is right when referring to them as crossbreds.

 

[KNERSIE]

The popcorn thing was just a joke, I'll answer your question. I have used crossbreds bulls (mostly in my younger days). All were picked based on their phenotype. I've had good ones, and I've had bad ones. I could say the same thing about papered Bulls I've ran over the years to. The color of your calf crop will be all over the place. That's something you don't always get with an established breed. Growth, I'd have to say was largely not affected for me. Others will say it's the worst thing you can do. There is probably some merit to their argument.

I had my 4th bull in 18 months break his penis last Sunday. It's making a home grown bull look more appealing all the time.

Multisire pasture?

 

[msplmtneer]

Bigfoot maybe you need shorter cows or taller bulls? :tiphat:

 

[cow pollinater]

I've been really happy with my balancer over baldy cross. They're not peas in a pod but neither were my straight angus calves.
Consistency with a crossbred bull will have a lot to do with the parents on both sides of a bulls pedigree the same as it does with purebred bulls. If you breed a fire and ice mating and use the resulting offspring as a herdsire you can expect anything in between fire and ice in the calves.
A lot of the simangus and balancer genetics out there have been breeding 50/50 for a couple of generations now and as long as both sides of the pedigree were bred towards the same goal they should be plenty consistent.

 

[cbcr]

A lot of the simangus and balancer genetics out there have been breeding 50/50 for a couple of generations now and as long as both sides of the pedigree were bred towards the same goal they should be plenty consistent.

I agree with cow pollinator on this. The more generations of breeding the composite, then the more consistent the offspring will be. Most consider 87.5% as purebred so with a composite of a 50/50, animals by the 3rd generation would be more consistent as would each generation.

 

[Bigfoot]

Yes, multiple pastures. One was actually impotant, but passed a BSE when I purchased him.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

None of the Limflex Balancers or simangus are a 50/50 cross

 

[dun]

None of the Limflex Balancers or simangus are a 50/50 cross

I don;t know about the others but Balancers can be 50:50. Not sure what the minimum of either breed is to still be registered as Balancers. We started years ago with Balancers, but that was before they called them that. They were just F1 Gelbvieh x Red Angus at the time.