dairy cross steers pics

[sporder]

brother in law asked me to post these to get your veiws.

 

[3waycross]

Very good looking calves. Exactly what is the cross.

They sure don't look much like Dairy anything

 

[sporder]

b/b cross with friesian.

 

[3waycross]

b/b cross with friesian.

What is b/b????????

 

[sporder]

belgium blue

 

[chippie]

I thought Belgian Blue when I saw their butts and the coloring. It's a good cross and they will make some tasty beef.
I can say that through experience.

They are growing out well. How old are they?

 

[sporder]

2 years old in afew days

 

[hillsdown]

That is an excellent cross, BB adds lots of muscle and the Friesen adds to the marbling.
I guessed the cross as soon as I saw the pics and guessed their ages at around 22-23 months, so not too off.
They look great ..

Where is your BIL located, as that is a very popular European cross. Hubby's grand dad used a Blue on a few of his Holstein cows once and a while just to get the beef from them and my husband says the beef is phenomenal. He is trying to get me to AI one of my Holsteins to a Blue just so we can have the beef from it.

 

[Aero]

It's a good cross and they will make some tasty beef.

am i the only one that would be scared silly about calving problems?

 

[chippie]

Yes. We used to raise Belgian Blue. The cow determines the size. We bred our Jersey and Brahman x Jersey cows to a BB and never had a problem. The only time that we did have a problem was when we bred a purebred BB cow to an imported bull.

The cow had to have a c-section. The calf was born double muscled and had to be euthanized.

The cow usually determines the size of the calf and Holstein cows are very roomy.

 

[hillsdown]

Genetics have come a long way with the blues just like with other breeds ,I am pretty sure there are some calving ease blue bulls on the AI lists.

Also I thought the calving problems were caused by the blue females and the muscling they had which made delivery more difficult and had not that much to do with the sire.. :?

Anyone want to jump in here if they know more about blues as I am really not that up on them.

 

[Baldie Maker]

are the heifers of this cross fed with the steers? Just wondered if you ever kept one for a cow?

 

[Aero]

The calf was born double muscled and had to be euthanized.

why did you have to put the calf down?

isnt double-muscling a basic trait of fullblood BB's?

 

[milkmaid]

Chippie -- cattle in general do not have the "ability" to moderate the size of the calf they're carrying, which is why calving problems are relatively common in cattle and very rare in horses (mares do have "control" over the size of the foal), though some cattle breeds (ie Jersey) do seem to be more capable than others. I'd be less concerned about a JerseyxBB than a (pick your breed)xBB.

 

[Australian]

Nice steers

 

[robert]

It's a good cross and they will make some tasty beef.

am i the only one that would be scared silly about calving problems?

In the cross bred they are not too hard to calve, about 90-100lbs is typical and no problem for a cow, the problems occur in the purebred due to a combination of the double muscle and small pelvic area, in the cross bred you don't get double muscle and the small pelvic is an advantage. In the UK at least a great many commercial cow/calf operations got their replacements from beef x dairy females, used to be Angus or Hereford x holstein, today it is more likely to be Simmental, Limousin or BB x holstein.