Edited for Clarity-
I have some 50/50 Ang/LH cows and some 75/25 ANG/LH heifers out of Hoover Dam and similar Angus bulls (see attached pics). The calf crop is consistently solid black and polled when running a homo blk angus bull on them. I am retaining the heifers and selling the bull calves to try and grow.
I have a neighbor who runs some nice limflex cattle and offered to let me use his bull this year If I wanted to(Attached pictures of his limflex). I have another neighbor who offered to let me use his Balancer bull on them. Anyone have experience with this cross and the resulting phenotype?
Yes I know there's a lot of LH haters out there, and what works for me and my goals doesn't fit the need of all producers.
Traits of the current cows I want to maintain in the crossbreed:
-Efficiency
-BW/CALVING Ease
-Disease/parasite resistance
-Maternal (These cows are incredibly good mamas and I want to keep it that way)
-Disposition (The ease of handling and working these cows and their calves amazes me)
-Ability to grow and maintain on prairie forage with little supplementation
-Milk
-Medium Frame
-Adapatability/Hardiness
-Longevity
Traits I would like to improve:
-Fleshing
-Muscle
-Marbling
I realize that I'm going to decrease some of those traits by adding muscle and fleshing. I'm not trying to go to an extreme in either... Losing some and adding some.
IF using a LIMFLEX or Balancer bull on my cows would increase those traits while not taking significantly away from the others then that would be a long term decision at that point to keep using them.
If I absolutely hated the cross I would treat that as a terminal cross and sell the heifers and bull calves.
My original plan (and still is my long term plan since this is just an idea that came up today) is to AI to PCC bulls and then buy one of their bulls for cleanup as well, and to keep buying bred cows/heifers from where I got these from.
I can always run good angus bull on them this year as well and stick to that long term plan, but with the offer of a "free trial" with the Limflex bull the neighbor has (and the balancer another neighbor has) I figured it was worth asking on here to see if anyone had any experience with them, and if so and the cross achieved those objectives, adjusting my plan accordingly. If it's something I'm going to do, it needs to be now before I grow to a point where it isn't practical to make those kinds of changes.
What my neighbor does works well for him, and he grass finishes his beef and sells direct to individuals here. While I might finish one or 2 for myself/family/friends, I plan on selling stockers/feeders at this point until I grow to where I want to be. My goal is to keep my inputs as low as possible while maintaining quality production.
I will probably stay with what I know works (using PCC bulls and AI), but I figured it was worth a shot to reach out on here to see if there was any added benefit to these crosses.
I don't (and will not) use hormones or antibiotics. I am looking at getting the "natural beef" classification since I pretty much am doing that anyway.
Neighbor's Limflex
Some of my Cows
I have some 50/50 Ang/LH cows and some 75/25 ANG/LH heifers out of Hoover Dam and similar Angus bulls (see attached pics). The calf crop is consistently solid black and polled when running a homo blk angus bull on them. I am retaining the heifers and selling the bull calves to try and grow.
I have a neighbor who runs some nice limflex cattle and offered to let me use his bull this year If I wanted to(Attached pictures of his limflex). I have another neighbor who offered to let me use his Balancer bull on them. Anyone have experience with this cross and the resulting phenotype?
Yes I know there's a lot of LH haters out there, and what works for me and my goals doesn't fit the need of all producers.
Traits of the current cows I want to maintain in the crossbreed:
-Efficiency
-BW/CALVING Ease
-Disease/parasite resistance
-Maternal (These cows are incredibly good mamas and I want to keep it that way)
-Disposition (The ease of handling and working these cows and their calves amazes me)
-Ability to grow and maintain on prairie forage with little supplementation
-Milk
-Medium Frame
-Adapatability/Hardiness
-Longevity
Traits I would like to improve:
-Fleshing
-Muscle
-Marbling
I realize that I'm going to decrease some of those traits by adding muscle and fleshing. I'm not trying to go to an extreme in either... Losing some and adding some.
IF using a LIMFLEX or Balancer bull on my cows would increase those traits while not taking significantly away from the others then that would be a long term decision at that point to keep using them.
If I absolutely hated the cross I would treat that as a terminal cross and sell the heifers and bull calves.
My original plan (and still is my long term plan since this is just an idea that came up today) is to AI to PCC bulls and then buy one of their bulls for cleanup as well, and to keep buying bred cows/heifers from where I got these from.
I can always run good angus bull on them this year as well and stick to that long term plan, but with the offer of a "free trial" with the Limflex bull the neighbor has (and the balancer another neighbor has) I figured it was worth asking on here to see if anyone had any experience with them, and if so and the cross achieved those objectives, adjusting my plan accordingly. If it's something I'm going to do, it needs to be now before I grow to a point where it isn't practical to make those kinds of changes.
What my neighbor does works well for him, and he grass finishes his beef and sells direct to individuals here. While I might finish one or 2 for myself/family/friends, I plan on selling stockers/feeders at this point until I grow to where I want to be. My goal is to keep my inputs as low as possible while maintaining quality production.
I will probably stay with what I know works (using PCC bulls and AI), but I figured it was worth a shot to reach out on here to see if there was any added benefit to these crosses.
I don't (and will not) use hormones or antibiotics. I am looking at getting the "natural beef" classification since I pretty much am doing that anyway.
Neighbor's Limflex
Some of my Cows