Educate me....

[clayknob]

Going to start rebuilding the cow herd and wanting to cross breed.....have been almost exclusively angus (convience factor mostly). I'm thinking a 3-way cross of Gelbvieh, Angus, and maybe hereford? Would like to do it as a straight through breed down (gelbvieh herd, and cross bred terminal herd)..... Am I setting myself up for issues like Amazon cattle? The main reason I want seperate herds is for convience because of time constraints......currently running a 20,000hd gilt developer and that will be expanding in the future. Planning on a 150-??? cow herd later, depending on available pasture to buy in the future.

 

[Warrior2154]

My family has gelbvieh and angus cows as their base. Just commercial cows. They put an angus bull on the gelbvieh and a Hereford bull on the angus calves and they have had good success with those crosses.

 

[clayknob]

I'm not overly knowledgeable about the Gelbvieh, just like the looks and possibilities. What do you love or hate about them?

 

[Warrior2154]

We have had good success with them being very good mothers and producing good amount of milk. My personal opinion which maybe boring is just have hereford and Angus and cross them to make the black baldie. In kentucky those sell the best at the market. I am not sure if that is true everywhere.

 

[Jake]

My biggest question to people wanting to start cross breed rotations is what are the advantages you see versus a straightbred program and where do you see yourself adding the most value to your program?

 

[3waycross]

Going to start rebuilding the cow herd and wanting to cross breed.....have been almost exclusively angus (convience factor mostly). I'm thinking a 3-way cross of Gelbvieh, Angus, and maybe hereford? Would like to do it as a straight through breed down (gelbvieh herd, and cross bred terminal herd)..... Am I setting myself up for issues like Amazon cattle? The main reason I want seperate herds is for convience because of time constraints......currently running a 20,000hd gilt developer and that will be expanding in the future. Planning on a 150-??? cow herd later, depending on available pasture to buy in the future.

If you already have a mixed(Balancer) cowherd why not just use Balancer bulls on your commercial cattle. Crossing the offspring on Herefords should give you maximum heterosis for terminal calves. I am not sure i understand you "amazon" statement. Gelbvieh's in general are known to reduce mature frame on a commercial herd. Of course if you go out and purchase a FS 7 or higher bull you can expect some increase in FS on your replacements. One thing i would do if you can is watch the milk. Stay etween 15 and 22 and you should be fine! If i can be of any assistance with epd's send me a PM

 

[clayknob]

I just want to keep the % the same all the way through. ....... I would try to salvage what we currently have, but mature size, milk, and growth are too far behind to want build them up.

I'm really wanting to get into the 1400 lb 13-14 month old steers .......our calves finish out at around 11-1150. If the work is the same, might as well be actually making $$$.....



Like I stated earlier I'm a hog guy at heart, we always just have had the cows to keep the bosslady happy.........so I'm trying to learn and maybe build a respectable cow herd in the process.......

The other thing in the back of my mind with doing seperate crosses all the way through is if I can build a good enough PB herd of the Gelbvieh, maybe selling females in the future??? Also, if I am doing my math right, it seems that I can get a topnotch gelbvieh cow for 3/4 the cost of an angus........

The other thing I should mention.....would the Gelbvieh cows work on a year-round grazing program? I graze cover crops and left over pasture in the winter, not looking for welfare cows that would need supplementation other than minerals

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Going to start rebuilding the cow herd and wanting to cross breed.....have been almost exclusively angus (convience factor mostly). I'm thinking a 3-way cross of Gelbvieh, Angus, and maybe hereford? Would like to do it as a straight through breed down (gelbvieh herd, and cross bred terminal herd)..... Am I setting myself up for issues like Amazon cattle? The main reason I want seperate herds is for convience because of time constraints......currently running a 20,000hd gilt developer and that will be expanding in the future. Planning on a 150-??? cow herd later, depending on available pasture to buy in the future.

If you already have a mixed(Balancer) cowherd why not just use Balancer bulls on your commercial cattle. Crossing the offspring on Herefords should give you maximum heterosis for terminal calves. I am not sure i understand you "amazon" statement. Gelbvieh's in general are known to reduce mature frame on a commercial herd. Of course if you go out and purchase a FS 7 or higher bull you can expect some increase in FS on your replacements. One thing i would do if you can is watch the milk. Stay etween 15 and 22 and you should be fine! If i can be of any assistance with epd's send me a PM

This post from 3waycross is right on the mark! You have a somewhat Balancer herd right now, and using focused culling practices to begin your seedstock herd will save you a lot of years of waiting. However, as you undoubtedly know from your gilt raising experiences, being stingy on the quality of the bull(s) that you use will cost you nothing but money and time!

Like begets like, and quality begets quality! Don't sacrifice a few dollars right now for a lot of grief and mistakes for too many years down the line!

DOC HARRIS

 

[clayknob]

Well thats what I'm trying to get at.....I guess. My idea is to buy 10-15 "breeder" quaility...and breed them down from there. The cows currently are almost exclusively angus...