Different Breeds

[Anonymous]

I was just wondering if you could keep two different breeds of cattle together without problems of any kind. For example, if I kept 80% Herefords and 20% Longhorns. Rebecca

 

[Anonymous]

Cows don't care what breed they are. The only problem might be the Longhorns fighting the Herefords off feed with their horns. And they will crossbreed if you have bulls and cows.

 

[Anonymous]

> Cows don't care what breed they
> are. The only problem might be the
> Longhorns fighting the Herefords
> off feed with their horns. And
> they will crossbreed if you have
> bulls and cows.

"Fighting" may be a strong word. Yes in my herd of Longhorns, as I am sure in a herd of any breed, there is a definite peeking order but not viciously. When the feed runs out at their space, they simply nudge the next one down and the last one in line runs around to the other end of the trough and licks up the dust. The secret is to have enough trough space for all.

My grandson will of 4H age in 2 years and our fairboard has a rule that all cattle must be de-horned. I purchased an Angus heifer to cross breed with my Longhorn bull so my grandson will have something to show. I was told that this cross would produce a polled black offspring. This heifer has established herself about 2/3 down the peeking order and I have had no problems with it.

Crossing Longhorns with Herefords? I don't any experience or know of anyone that has done this cross. The Longhorn would bring calving ease and better utilization of graze to the table. The Hereford would improve the growth and muscularity over a straight Longhorn, at maybe a slight sacrifice in leanness. Us Longhorn producer pride ourselves in the leanness of our beef.

I hore this is helpful.

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[Anonymous]

It might seem like a "nudge" to you, but they can hurt other cows or you with those horns. Personally, I wouldn't mix any other breed with Longhorns. We've used de-horned Longhorn bulls for several years as "gomer" bulls, so we've had some around. We had a heifer calve while a young bull still had his horns. I watched him "guide" the 3-hour old calf this way and that by tapping him on one side or the other with his horns. The poor heifer stood and "oohed" at the calf, but could not do anything to rescue him. We got him away from the calf immediately and had him de-horned that day. When he came back from the vet, the momma cows beat the tar out of him. He had made their lives pretty miserable with those horns. Since then we've made it a point to get the horns off before we turn him out with the cows.