Flaws in my plan?

[Coosh71]

I have a herd of RA 3 year old cows and a mixed herd of baldies, Black Angus and Char cross cows. I have a 2 year old 7/8 red gelbvieh bull that I'm using. My goals are to build great replacements for myself and to market and to also add WW to my calves to sell. The person I bought the bull from has great calves from his gelbvieh bulls and RA cows. The char cross cows I have are angus x charlois. The bull I am using is an AI off a Judd Ranch bull and a Gelbvieh cow. His yearly scrotal measurement was 41cm. My long term plan is to have a herd of black and red baldies as well as RA cows to breed the Gelbvieh bull to and as I stated before with the primary goal of replacement heifers. Thoughts? Issues? Thanks for reading.

 

[Son of Butch]

Maybe I'm not understanding, but doesn't seem like a very focused plan. It seems more like I want a little of this and
some of that with a wishful happy ending resulting in quality replacements. I don't view it as herd building.

 

[Coosh71]

OK, I've done the research on the bull and have quality cows. Tell me where my focus is off? Thanks.

 

[Son of Butch]

My long term plan is to have a herd of black and red baldies as well as RA cows to breed the Gelbvieh bull to
and as I stated before with the primary goal of replacement heifers. Thoughts? Issues? Thanks for reading.

I would focus breeding the RA cows to Hereford bulls to produce f1 baldies.
Rather than RA x Gelbvieh x Hereford x BA to produce black and red baldies or however you plan to do it by breeding
a Gelbvieh bull to a mixed herd of BA x charolias x hereford cows.
Appears to me as you may have been overly excited about bringing in a Gelbvieh bull to fix all their problems
without first laying out your goals. Gelbvieh x RA f1s won't give you any baldies, so you'll have to end up building a
herd out of f2s and f3s rather than f1s.

 

[Son of Butch]

OK, I've done the research on the bull and have quality cows. Tell me where my focus is off? Thanks.

f1s are better cows than f2s and f2s better than f3 ect.
Gelbvieh x RA will produce f1s but produces 0 baldies which you stated as one of your long term goals.

 

[Coosh71]

I understand what you are saying. Baldies sell very well in my area whether they are steer or replacements. Also a growing market for good red heifers and growthy steer as well. Yes I do want to produce baldies for myself and to sell. I failed to mention in my mixed herds I do have some Hereford as well. So are you saying it wouldn't work to get quality calves from the gelbvieh and the char and Angus cross cows? Thanks again.

 

[Coosh71]

Also, I don't see "problems" with any cow I have or their calves necessarily. Just wanted to go a different route with bulls and produce better future cows. Gelbvieh isn't here to fix problems just to add some muscling and milk for heifers.

 

[RanchMan90]

It'll just be a mixed crayon box of sizes and colors. If you like them that's all that matters, the market won't be as accepting of them. Is the gelbvieh homozygous black?

 

[Coosh71]

No it's a red gelbvieh bull

 

[Son of Butch]

It'll just be a mixed crayon box of sizes and colors.

:nod:
You may get an occasional keeper from the mixed box, but I'd focus on the f1s for your own replacements and pawn
the other Gelbvieh x Angus x Charolais x Hereford 'replacement' females off on someone else.

 

[Muddy]

Too many breeds and colors involved. If I want to have a herd of baldies, I would just get a herd of Hereford cows and a black bull of any breed. Or put a black Hereford bull on RA cows.

Nothing wrong with CharX cows, but their calves may will be sold separately from the other calves at the sale barn.

 

[Coosh71]

I've not seen them sort calves off by color at my local sale barn. They stopped doing that a couple years ago. I understand what y'all are saying regarding the varying breeds/color.

 

[strihafarms]

Unless you heart is set on baldies I think the RA Gelbvieh cross will make as good of replacements as anything. You can always run a Hereford on the resulting heifers if you are set on baldies.

 

[Angus Rocks]

I've not seen them sort calves off by color at my local sale barn. They stopped doing that a couple years ago. I understand what y'all are saying regarding the varying breeds/color.

So just curious you don't get a lower price for a mixed set of calves? Cause that's what happens here

 

[3waycross]

OK, I've done the research on the bull and have quality cows. Tell me where my focus is off? Thanks.

Your focus isn't bad it's not .....really...focused. Pick two breeds that are complimentary to make your momma cows and then pop in another purebred bull(or a cross that compliments both breeds) on them for the 3rd(max heterosis) cross. My buddy runs a Red GV/Red Angus cross herd and just goes back on them with Homo blk Balancer bulls. He ends up with a 1/2 GV 1/2 Angus herd and all blk calves to market.He also has a small percentage of shorthorn in there way back. His calves avg right at 700lbs weaning weight and his momma cows are easy going, easyfleshing cattle.

In other words a well planned and executed 2 or 3 way cross

 

[Nesikep]

I'd recommend picking a basic color and sticking with it.. If you want red/tan, that works well and looks consistent.. if you want black that works in many places too.. but to mix black, red, tan and white (with the diluter gene) is going to get a bunch of odd looking stuff... If it were me I'd forget about the BA and Char, staying with the RA and GV, giving you the option for predictable coloration if you add Herfs into the mix for the baldy look... Also, if at some point you want black calves, as 3waycross says you just put a homo-black bull on the cows and you got it.. doesn't work that way if you have a black herd and want red calves though