Hereford vs. Angus Fertility?

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Stocker Steve

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All of my Hereford cows calved in the first 21 days. Young and old.
The Angus cows, and the bwf heifers, are still working at it. I bet they will go 90 days.
I don't think Bull was discriminating. ;-)

Have you seen this situation before?
 
I wouldn't have expected anything else. ;-)

Herefords have been the most fertile breed here for years, they have the lowest ICP of all the major breeds tested by the ARC. Granted they won't milk like simmental or marble like a wagyau, but for your tougher conditions they are hard to beat.
 
My improved pastures are pretty lush so feed is not a summer issue.
Some of the Herefords do milk less. I gave a couple Hereford heifers a second chance based on your input.
The ones here that calve in the first 21 days and raise a big calf are the Simi x Hereford. They seem to complement each other on good pasture, so I may have to take the BA out of the F1 bwf since the simi and limis have turned black.
 
That's interesting, I would have expected the angusXherf to be more fertile. If you have the grass and it has to be tall grass, not many breeds will outperform simmentals
 
When I ran stocker heifers the most fertile things had a little dairy in them. They would breed at 500# if you gave them a chance.

I do have a number of BA x Herf bwf coming up. It seems like you get more variation when you cross breed :eek: so I have culled more than I initially planned. The good ones are really good, and then there is the rest...
 
We can't really make a blanket statement about the fertility of certain breeds based on the observations of a few herds. You may have Hereford genetics known for fertility and Angus genetics from average or below fertility.
You may also have Angus cattle putting everything they have into raising a calf while the Herefords ain't doin' much and have enough left over to get pregnant faster in which case your management comes into play... give the best cows what they need to do what they need to do instead of favoring the dinks that don't perform. From your example, longhorns or straight brahmas would be the BEST cows in the world- they get pregnant no matter what... There's a little more to it than that.
 
I bought a lot of small/moderate May/June calvers starting out, so my purchased cow fertility was a bit below average. I only retain heifers out of early calvers, and I sale a few late bred cows each year, so fertility should be improving.

I think part of what happens is a below average capacity/heavier milking angus cow has a tough time breeding back. I put a priority on replacement heifer capacity, and they are on 99% forage, so I am improving in this area.
 
i think they are breeding to much milk into these angus cows to achieve higher weaning weights these are not dairy breeds to much milk and you begin to lose bc score's and we all know what that does to fertility i will not use a heavy milking angus bull period i like mine breed ave. or below with feed cost heading where there are going the cheapest keeping fertile ween a calf type are gonne be the money makers i also feel like from now on i dont like a bull with a fs over a 6 hope i did not step on any toes just giving my opinions on where i feel the beef business is headed i also think in the future we had better get used to more grass fed beef jmo David
 
angusdave63":mnwby0nt said:
i think they are breeding to much milk into these angus cows to achieve higher weaning weights these are not dairy breeds to much milk and you begin to lose bc score's and we all know what that does to fertility i will not use a heavy milking angus bull period i like mine breed ave. or below with feed cost heading where there are going the cheapest keeping fertile ween a calf type are gonne be the money makers i also feel like from now on i dont like a bull with a fs over a 6 hope i did not step on any toes just giving my opinions on where i feel the beef business is headed i also think in the future we had better get used to more grass fed beef jmo David

pretty good assessment in my view, add in ever increasing growth to the increased milk and you have a wreck coming down the tracks, unless you are prepared to supplement.......
 
with 600$ a ton bean meal and 7 dollar a bushel corn what comercial man will be able to afford a supplament
 

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