Any reason not to keep a good looking F1 bull?(Hereford momma, Angus Sire) both mom and sire registered, quality on both sides. General consensus in my area is to always steer them, but I can’t see why this would be any different than a simangus, balancer, etc…. Not trying to get in the bull development business, just thinking to hold him for my next herd bull.
F1 bull
- Thread starter 3Dfarm
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coachg
Well-known member
I think he would be fine going back on either angus , Hereford, or black baldies. When you bring in a 3rd cross is where you might get need to be careful.
Travlr
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Lots of great crossbred bulls out there doing the job. And you're correct that many "breeds" are just crossbreds. The only downside of the cross you have is that it won't be homozygous black. If you have Homo-black cows that won't be an issue for terminal calves.
GoWyo
Well-known member
Are the dam and sire similar in body type? If not, I predict you will get a lot of inconsistency in calves.
farmerjan
Well-known member
If he is a nice bull, out of similar built parents, I see no reason not to keep him.... We have such a crayon box of cows that we do better with buying a good bull... but have a bought "lim-flex" a percentage cross (angus/limi), that puts real nice calves on the ground out of most all the cows... we did keep a bull calf out of a 1st calf heifer, she had a uterine prolapse and died... and raised him on the nurse cow... he puts smaller calves on the ground but they grow good.... use him for a cleanup most of the time... leased him out to a guy that wanted smaller calves and we said we had 1 calf crop out of him that were consistently smaller at birth but no guarantees... he was very pleased with the calves ( maybe had 8-10 cows?) We actually are looking for another bull that is NOT calving ease....thinking some of these calves are just too small overall. Have left a couple as bulls as calves, but then banded at 500 lbs or so when it was getting time to take them off the cows as they did not look as good then as when they were babies.
If you don't like him, he can get banded/cut when he is a bit older....
If you don't like him, he can get banded/cut when he is a bit older....
Ky hills
Well-known member
I see nothing nothing wrong with using an F1 BWF bull. It’s probably done more than people realize.
The only down side that may or may not matter to you, is that you will get some red calves out of Hereford and BWF cows, maybe even out of solid black cows if they aren’t homozygous black. Of course being red doesn’t affect the quality of the calves but could bring less money especially for red Hereford looking calves or black calves that have all the white markings of Herefords.
I used a BWF 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford bull for several years.
The only down side that may or may not matter to you, is that you will get some red calves out of Hereford and BWF cows, maybe even out of solid black cows if they aren’t homozygous black. Of course being red doesn’t affect the quality of the calves but could bring less money especially for red Hereford looking calves or black calves that have all the white markings of Herefords.
I used a BWF 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford bull for several years.
There is not a right or wrong. I would encourage you to really ask yourself if that animal will help you meet the goals for your operation or are you just keeping some thing you like.
simme
Old Dumb Guy
I would evaluate him the same as I would evaluate purebred bulls for purchase. Does he have good phenotype, structure, feet, legs, muscle, docility, etc? His individual performance - birth weight, weaning weight. How about his sire and dam - what they look like, how they have performed, what have they produced, etc. The same things you look for when selecting any bull. You are likely to have better insight into those things for a bull you raised than for one raised somewhere else. For sure on how he was fed and managed.
crossbreed
Well-known member
We always wean thirty days to get calves eating from bunk, gentle down. Lost out young gelbvieh bull after 2 season so needed another bull to turn out this year. Cow count went up this year so we didn't think one 18 month bull could cover 23+/- so along with purchasing another young bull I thought about using one of our brangus/gelbvieh bull calves. Had our guy out pregnant checking cows on Oct and ask him what he thought of on one particular bull calf in the pen. He walked in the pen for a better look and the little **** (700 range) ducked the head and jumped toward him. He stopped, but the calf fry bucket filled a bit shortly after!!! Docility is big on our place.
If he looks the part...id do it.
Travlr
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If ya got the guts, or just wanta take a risk, you could post a good picture of the beasty. We'll tell you what we think whether you want us to or not.
The only thing with a 50/50 cross like that, is you can't get a consistent calf crop. He is half registered Angus (most likely homo for black), and 50% registered Hereford 9homozygous for red0. He is probably black with a white face, and maybe a little white elsewhere. But his calves won't necessarily look the same. His DNA is a strand of Angus chromosomes and a strand of Hereford chromosones. Some of his sperm will be Angus DNA, and some will be Hereford. Crossed with homo for black cows, he will throw either black baldies like himself, or solid black calves. Crossed with hetero black cows, he could throw red baldies. Crossed with a Hereford, he could throw red baldie or black baldies, red Hereford looking or black Hereford looking. Crossed with a black baldy like himself, he could throw sold black, black Baldy. red baldy, black Hereford looking or red Hereford looking. What kind of cows do you have? Are you in the northern half of Mississippi, or the southern part?
