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Cross-Breeding First Calf Heifers
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<blockquote data-quote="magpie" data-source="post: 7492" data-attributes="member: 62"><p>Hi,</p><p></p><p>I personally know of one longhorn bull that was used on a herd of charolais cattle when he was younger. I heard thru the grapevine that they were really pleased with that calf crop, as this particular bull was solid black with very little white coloration. And his calves on that crop of simmentals were black, not a silver gray.</p><p></p><p> But that crop of calves is unusual in itself, because of the fact that normally, longhorns are not homozygous for anything. Not color, not horn, not size. </p><p></p><p>I take it back, they are homozygous for one thing. And that is for having one of the leanest cattle meat available. That has not changed. "They are the masters at producing lean meat". And the effect of their lean meat as well as easy calving is felt thru crossbreeding up into the 1/4 bred longhorns. As long as you don't have less than 1/4 blood of the longhorn in your crosses their influence on the meat and easy calving is there. The only other way to get that lean meat influence is to go with a beefalo, that I know of. (correct me if I am wrong on that.)</p><p></p><p>Within the longhorn breed as a whole, there are a few longhorn breeders shaping their particular herds to add a beefier body, size, as well as more solid colors. And yes, there will always be the rest of the main longhorn group that will stick to the splashy colors and more horn. But not everybody is following that beaten path. grins </p><p></p><p>There are a few of us that recognize that we as longhorn breeders, can offer the commerial cattlemen certain benefits by breeding our longhorns to be beefier, taller, with minimal white, and still not lose the natural leaness or easy calving. (That is why we do not wish to bred for bulls that weigh more than 2070 lbs.) </p><p></p><p>If your animals are naturally polled, you will have polled calves from the longhorn bull. If there are any throwbacks for horn in your herd, you will see horned calves. The longhorn horn is a recessive gene.</p><p></p><p>I have a neighbor that has a brangus herd. She bought a young beefy style 14 month old longhorn bull from me. Her reasoning for getting the longhorn bull was that he would "lean" down her meat with that additional cross. And she is getting about 1/2 and 1/2 polled and horned calves with the addition of the longhorn blood. And the calves are stocky built. She is really pleased with crossing her brangus with the longhorn.</p><p></p><p>I have also read this past year, (I think it might have even been on one of the cattle today boards) , where someone had been doing pelvic measurements on their heifers, and the last two they had measured were a longhorn cross. And the longhorn crosses measured out larger in their pelvic area then the breed of straight, angus? heifers that they had. (I believe it was angus, but don't know if i remember that one correctly.) But I do remember that the longhorn crosses pelvic area was larger. Hence the easy calving the longhorn, and longhorn crosses have.</p><p></p><p>So, getting back to your question of simmental crossing with longhorns, I do believe it will work for you. You will have to decide and experiment if the 1/2 blend is what you want, or if 3/4 simmental and 1/4 longhorn will work better for you. Some of the other breeds, herefords, and angus that have tried the 3/4 cross swear by it. And others are happy with the 1/2 cross. Either way, the longhorns will lean your meat out. </p><p></p><p>Just don't expect a ex-roper bull to do the job for you. You will be money ahead to get a bull out of registered stock. The ex-roper was a roper for a reason, either he was bred just for that, or he didn't meet the breeders plan. So please, start with a good longhorn bull, and he will more than pay for himself as he will bred into his middle teens. </p><p></p><p>I have a plan for my own herd, for growing the beefy style longhorn, as well as going for the minimum white. But as I cannot put all my eggs in that one plan, I do have to grow some splashy colors, as well as horn. But I want the good conformation of a beefy body to go with my horn and colors. </p><p></p><p>""That is what is so cool about cattle, you can target what you need, and select for that, no matter what the breed.""</p><p></p><p>This is the challenge that I have set before myself. Because I wish to give other breeders another option that will also benefit them. By breeding solid colors, so they don't get hit at the sale barn with the crossbred calves, keeping the ceiling on bulls weight at 2070 lbs. I have the naturally lean meat that the consumer at the meat counter says they want. </p><p></p><p>And I can share with others the genetic gold mine that the longhorn and longhorn crosses can offer. (That is why the longhorns were almost bred out, cause of their crossing ability with other breeds, as well as the fact that they didn't have the valuable "tallow" back at the turn of the century that was needed then. So the longhorns have come full circle, and can still offer what is needed, "naturally lean meat".</p><p></p><p>oops...i've run on way too long here, <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p> magpie</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="magpie, post: 7492, member: 62"] Hi, I personally know of one longhorn bull that was used on a herd of charolais cattle when he was younger. I heard thru the grapevine that they were really pleased with that calf crop, as this particular bull was solid black with very little white coloration. And his calves on that crop of simmentals were black, not a silver gray. But that crop of calves is unusual in itself, because of the fact that normally, longhorns are not homozygous for anything. Not color, not horn, not size. I take it back, they are homozygous for one thing. And that is for having one of the leanest cattle meat available. That has not changed. "They are the masters at producing lean meat". And the effect of their lean meat as well as easy calving is felt thru crossbreeding up into the 1/4 bred longhorns. As long as you don't have less than 1/4 blood of the longhorn in your crosses their influence on the meat and easy calving is there. The only other way to get that lean meat influence is to go with a beefalo, that I know of. (correct me if I am wrong on that.) Within the longhorn breed as a whole, there are a few longhorn breeders shaping their particular herds to add a beefier body, size, as well as more solid colors. And yes, there will always be the rest of the main longhorn group that will stick to the splashy colors and more horn. But not everybody is following that beaten path. grins There are a few of us that recognize that we as longhorn breeders, can offer the commerial cattlemen certain benefits by breeding our longhorns to be beefier, taller, with minimal white, and still not lose the natural leaness or easy calving. (That is why we do not wish to bred for bulls that weigh more than 2070 lbs.) If your animals are naturally polled, you will have polled calves from the longhorn bull. If there are any throwbacks for horn in your herd, you will see horned calves. The longhorn horn is a recessive gene. I have a neighbor that has a brangus herd. She bought a young beefy style 14 month old longhorn bull from me. Her reasoning for getting the longhorn bull was that he would "lean" down her meat with that additional cross. And she is getting about 1/2 and 1/2 polled and horned calves with the addition of the longhorn blood. And the calves are stocky built. She is really pleased with crossing her brangus with the longhorn. I have also read this past year, (I think it might have even been on one of the cattle today boards) , where someone had been doing pelvic measurements on their heifers, and the last two they had measured were a longhorn cross. And the longhorn crosses measured out larger in their pelvic area then the breed of straight, angus? heifers that they had. (I believe it was angus, but don't know if i remember that one correctly.) But I do remember that the longhorn crosses pelvic area was larger. Hence the easy calving the longhorn, and longhorn crosses have. So, getting back to your question of simmental crossing with longhorns, I do believe it will work for you. You will have to decide and experiment if the 1/2 blend is what you want, or if 3/4 simmental and 1/4 longhorn will work better for you. Some of the other breeds, herefords, and angus that have tried the 3/4 cross swear by it. And others are happy with the 1/2 cross. Either way, the longhorns will lean your meat out. Just don't expect a ex-roper bull to do the job for you. You will be money ahead to get a bull out of registered stock. The ex-roper was a roper for a reason, either he was bred just for that, or he didn't meet the breeders plan. So please, start with a good longhorn bull, and he will more than pay for himself as he will bred into his middle teens. I have a plan for my own herd, for growing the beefy style longhorn, as well as going for the minimum white. But as I cannot put all my eggs in that one plan, I do have to grow some splashy colors, as well as horn. But I want the good conformation of a beefy body to go with my horn and colors. ""That is what is so cool about cattle, you can target what you need, and select for that, no matter what the breed."" This is the challenge that I have set before myself. Because I wish to give other breeders another option that will also benefit them. By breeding solid colors, so they don't get hit at the sale barn with the crossbred calves, keeping the ceiling on bulls weight at 2070 lbs. I have the naturally lean meat that the consumer at the meat counter says they want. And I can share with others the genetic gold mine that the longhorn and longhorn crosses can offer. (That is why the longhorns were almost bred out, cause of their crossing ability with other breeds, as well as the fact that they didn't have the valuable "tallow" back at the turn of the century that was needed then. So the longhorns have come full circle, and can still offer what is needed, "naturally lean meat". oops...i've run on way too long here, :) magpie [/QUOTE]
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