Hereford or Angus???

[Anonymous]

Hello, I am a Biology student and I am doing some research on the differences among Herefords and Angus cattle and which would be better for the Central Nebraska region. Especially calving ease, adaptability, and profitabilty. Any help that you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all so much.

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

For a pure breed, I would choose Hereford because of their adaptabilty and ruggedness, but a cross of the two breeds is best, "Black baldy". Black baldy cows bred to a terminal sire work very well.

 

[Anonymous]

And there is the great question! Unfortunately there is not a simple answer, unless you are talking to a Hereford or Angus breeder. The point is each breed has its strong and weak points. If there were one best breed to be profitable with why would we have so many breeds. The answer lies in heterosis. Heterosis is the improvement of a calf over its sire and dam. This means that a a calf born from a Hereford/Angus cross is actual a improvement over both its sire and dam. It also means that it is a improvement over its Hereford/Hereford siblings or its Angus/Angus siblings. The other question is which is more profitable. Depends on how they are marketed. Will they be sold as purebreed seedstock? If so they may both come out about even. (Although the Angus are in higher demand the supply is also greater.) If they are sold as beef cattle the Angus may have the edge because of programs like the certified Angus Beef program. But a black baldy cross may be even more profitable than purebred angus. (Higher carcass weights and better yield scores as well as fitting into a grid marketing program.) The National Cattlemens Beef Assosciation web site has some good links that you may be interested in. I can never remember if it is NCBA.org or .com or .net but you can find it if you search on NCBA.

[email protected]

 

[Anonymous]

Amen to that

> For a pure breed, I would choose
> Hereford because of their
> adaptabilty and ruggedness, but a
> cross of the two breeds is best,
> "Black baldy". Black
> baldy cows bred to a terminal sire
> work very well.

[email protected]