Dipping into the world of SimAngus

[DCB4]

Angus cattle is about all i have ever known. My grandfather always ran Angus bulls over commercial angus cattle and up to this point i have followed suit. I purchased 2 SimAngus cows that both had heifer calves on their sides at time of purchase and have been blown away at how well the calves have been growing. At the same sale i purchased 2 SimAngus bulls that ill be turning out on my spring calving cows when it comes time. This will be my first real experience with non angus cattle minus the handful of baldy mamas in the herd and i was looking to hear from some thoughts everyone had on SimAngus. I know theres a couple users on here that run primarily SimAngus and I really want know why SimAngus works for you. How do your SimAngus cows tend to match up maternally to any angus cows you have/had had in the past? Anything at all that somene has to share about their experiences with SimAngus id love to hear.

 

[TCRanch]

I still have a few SimAngus. My experience is that they're enormous, as in 3 I sold clocked in at 2000+ lbs., and not as efficient. Yes, very maternal and some were (are) a little too testy when they calve but it's primarily just me and I'm not interested in getting my butt kicked when I tag a calf. The exception was one cow (that happened to be my fave) with sausage teats that would stand in the pasture (no chute) and allow me to get her calf latched on, pretty much completely trusted me with her calf. Calves would get docked at the sale barn if they had scurs.

 

[HDRider]

I have 10 SimAngus cows with a registered Angus bull. I am happy with the calves, compared to my Angus on Angus calves.

We have a good SimAngus seed stock guy in the area is the reason I tried them.

I have been told there is not a lot of hybrid vigor in the cross.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

I still have a few SimAngus. My experience is that they're enormous, as in 3 I sold clocked in at 2000+ lbs., and not as efficient. Yes, very maternal and some were (are) a little too testy when they calve but it's primarily just me and I'm not interested in getting my butt kicked when I tag a calf. The exception was one cow (that happened to be my fave) with sausage teats that would stand in the pasture (no chute) and allow me to get her calf latched on, pretty much completely trusted me with her calf. Calves would get docked at the sale barn if they had scurs.

Wow it was the Angus Cows here that were always testy. Dad wants black calves but he doesn't want anything to do with a Black Angus. I've added a little B. Angus back here and there but I try to keep it at a 1/4. I know all the Angus calves we were around were kicking fools. Dad says they look to hurt you from day 1. A lot of the SimAngus Stud bulls impress me better than the purebred simmental. I like the 3/4 SimAngus.

 

[CSM]

I have had a few. Mine have been hard to handle but raise a large calf. Without the records in front of me they probably have averaged about 1300 lb mature cows.

 

[TCRanch]

I still have a few SimAngus. My experience is that they're enormous, as in 3 I sold clocked in at 2000+ lbs., and not as efficient. Yes, very maternal and some were (are) a little too testy when they calve but it's primarily just me and I'm not interested in getting my butt kicked when I tag a calf. The exception was one cow (that happened to be my fave) with sausage teats that would stand in the pasture (no chute) and allow me to get her calf latched on, pretty much completely trusted me with her calf. Calves would get docked at the sale barn if they had scurs.

Wow it was the Angus Cows here that were always testy. Dad wants black calves but he doesn't want anything to do with a Black Angus. I've added a little B. Angus back here and there but I try to keep it at a 1/4. I know all the Angus calves we were around were kicking fools. Dad says they look to hurt you from day 1. A lot of the SimAngus Stud bulls impress me better than the purebred simmental. I like the 3/4 SimAngus.

I recently got the ever-lovin' snot kicked outta me by one of the few SimAngus I have left. Now, it's quite possible she saw the wadded up netting I was holding in her peripheral vision but my entire left thigh still looks like an eggplant. I'm going to calve her out (technically calving starts 3/7) but she earned herself a ride on the trailer - plus she's one of the testy ones, her mama was a she-beast and her sister is also taking a ride this year. Could be just that lineage but I'm slowly weeding them all out. My most docile cows are my Hereford/Angus but my Angus are very docile - or they don't get to stay.

On the flip side, this was my 2100 lbs of super docile gorgeous. Still miss her and I did keep her only heifer.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Good looking cow ....guys around me are sold on the simangus ..I still have simm influence in my herd..

 

[kentuckyguy]

I'll preface this by saying I'm kind of biased because I raise Simmental's. So far I've been very happy with the 1/2 and 3/4 SimAngus cows as long as frame size is kept in check.
The 12-1400 cows excel at raising large calves all while staying in excellent condition. My fall calvers are raising good calves and look like they are ready to have another calf. And this is all with no grain.

 

[Josher]

The one simangus cow I have raises nice calves but is a fence crawler. She crosses back to angus nicely though. I've seen lots of guys use simangus more as a terminal cross. Calves look good and grow well.

 

[MDickinson]

I'm may be biased as we raise simmental as well as registered red and black angus, but to me there is no better cow than the simangus. The simangus cattle are without a doubt better than either of them by themselves. The cows last forever, are efficient, and raise big calves that feed lots are looking for. They don't have to be 2000lb cows if that's not what you are looking for ours average around 1250lb mature weight as that is what works in our environment. There are some stud bulls out there that will add attitude no matter what breed you use just use common sense when looking at the docility epd's on a new bull.

 

[DCB4]

I'm may be biased as we raise simmental as well as registered red and black angus, but to me there is no better cow than the simangus. The simangus cattle are without a doubt better than either of them by themselves. The cows last forever, are efficient, and raise big calves that feed lots are looking for. They don't have to be 2000lb cows if that's not what you are looking for ours average around 1250lb mature weight as that is what works in our environment. There are some stud bulls out there that will add attitude no matter what breed you use just use common sense when looking at the docility epd's on a new bull.

That 1250lb mark is ideally what im looking to shoot for. In your experiences is the big value of simangus coming from the crossbred female? I know due to hybrid vigor a crossbred mama is gonna milk better than a straightbred counterpart but in my neck of the woods quality straight angus females are a lot easier to come by than quality simangus ones. I am looking to do a hard cull this spring and have about a dozen 10+ year old mamas im looking to replace. I am trying to decide between buying good quality angus replacements locally and running simangus bulls over them or broading my search area a little bit and seeking out quality simangus replacements to run with the simangus bulls i have.

 

[DCB4]

I'll preface this by saying I'm kind of biased because I raise Simmental's. So far I've been very happy with the 1/2 and 3/4 SimAngus cows as long as frame size is kept in check.
The 12-1400 cows excel at raising large calves all while staying in excellent condition. My fall calvers are raising good calves and look like they are ready to have another calf. And this is all with no grain.

I am right there with you on them keeping condition. The 2 simangus mamas i bought are doing an excellent job raising some big heifers and they look just as good as the day i brought them home. I have 100% made my mind up on adding a good dose of simmental influence to my herd i just haven't completely settled on how i want to go about it. As i said before i purchased the 2 simangus bulls, one being 1/2 the other 5/8. I also want to get some more simmi influence on the maternal side and have tossed around the idea of bringing some pb simmental mamas in. Never been around a pb simental a day in my life. Do you seen any difference in the way your simmental mamas perform as opposed to how the siangus seem to do?

 

[Franke]

Best cross in my mind. The F1 mommas will milk and breed back well. And the F2 calves will gain and grow. Most of our oldest cows are the sim angus cross besides a couple exceptions. They have stayed around because they continue to calve without help, take embryos, raise a big healthy calf, and are easy to work with.

 

[VaCowman]

I'll preface this by saying I'm kind of biased because I raise Simmental's. So far I've been very happy with the 1/2 and 3/4 SimAngus cows as long as frame size is kept in check.
The 12-1400 cows excel at raising large calves all while staying in excellent condition. My fall calvers are raising good calves and look like they are ready to have another calf. And this is all with no grain.

What Sim lines are you using to get this done in KY. I'm in VA (heart of fescue country) and about ready to start crossing with some Simmental to get some hybrid vigor in these cows. Prefer a 1200# cow.

 

[kentuckyguy]

I don't have any recent pics of the cows with calves right now. They are fat and haven't seen any grain since I got them bred back AI.

I'll post some fall pics of ones that work for me.
Cowboy Cut cow with a hereford calf. She's probably 100lbs heavier now.

Uno Mas heifer with her first calf

I'll try to get some pics of them and their calves now.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Your gonna get bigger with F1 simangus if you dont watch and use moderate parents and still they can get big on you..thats one of the benefits of Heterosis to begin with, not unusual ..."""personally"" I'd rather use a Simmental bull over angus cows...get the extra growth in the calves. rinse and repeat.

 

[Post Oak]

It seems like most people in my neck of the woods now have either Simangus or Simmental bulls as they do Angus bulls. I just traded my Angus bull to my friend for his Fleck Simmental a few months ago. I wanna try this thing out for a couple of years.

 

[MDickinson]

That 1250lb mark is ideally what im looking to shoot for. In your experiences is the big value of simangus coming from the crossbred female? I know due to hybrid vigor a crossbred mama is gonna milk better than a straightbred counterpart but in my neck of the woods quality straight angus females are a lot easier to come by than quality simangus ones. I am looking to do a hard cull this spring and have about a dozen 10+ year old mamas im looking to replace. I am trying to decide between buying good quality angus replacements locally and running simangus bulls over them or broading my search area a little bit and seeking out quality simangus replacements to run with the simangus bulls i have.
[/quote]

In our operation the value does come from the female as we selected heavily on maternal traits especially the ability to calve on their own without worry and being able to maintain flesh with the recourses provided so they breed back in a timely manner. If you are looking to sell the biggest calf at weaning time and don't plan on keeping heifers back there are a lot of bulls in the breed that will do just that for you but again you won't end up with 1250lb replacements either.

Running bulls over straight angus will work but realize they almost certainly won't have as many calves in their life time as the simangus counterparts. When selecting your bulls I would caution looking at bulls that are in the top percentiles for milk. Simmentals milk well enough to raise a good calf without being in that top percentage and you will get a lot more life out of those cows without that extra needed feed.

 

[Post Oak]

Didn't Tim Ohlde import some Fleck Simmentals years back? I know that he has a herd of FleckAngus cattle. I think that I saw a video where he said that he found a smaller framed stout bloodline of Flecks in Austria and Bavaria.

 

[kentuckyguy]

Here's the Uno Mas heifer after nursing her first calf for 6 months. No grain just hay.