There is a guy around here that uses registered homozygous for black and polled, Black Hereford bulls on his Brangus and Braford cows. Never had a red calf since. A little ear doesn't hurt at all around here. In fact, Brangus X Hereford, or Angus x Braford black baldy calves will sell for as much as, or maybe a little more, than Angus X Hereford. As far as replacements go, the Black Hereford x Brangus heifers are homozygous for black. The BH x Brafords will be heterozygous for black, but breed them to a black bull and they gonna always throw black calves. Of course, it is widely recognized that the best f! cross for maximum " high bread vinegar" is Hereford x Brahma. and you breed those f1s to Angus, and the heterosis in this 2nd generation is nearly as good. Met a guy when I was putting together that Braford herd for a client, that bred f1 Brafords to Ultrablack and black Simm bulls. He weaned at 6 mos, and never had even a heifer that didn't exceed 500 lbs at weaning.
I don't believe anyone could go wrong running f1 Brafords, and raising black baldies off of them. You can adjust the amount of ear on them by using pure Angus or homozygous for black Simms, Lims or Simm-Angus bulls. For a little more bit of ear, use Ultrablacks, and for the same amount of ear use Brangus.