Longhorn bull to Hereford cows

[Cooke]

I am about two years into messing with cows. I have about 30 Hereford on a Hereford bull. My wife bought me a six month old longhorn bull last Christmas. Our old reliable Hereford bull has been on these cows for nearing five years and it's time for him to go. Since the cows are just about all bred and a year from now the longhorn should be ready to start his full time job I was planning on using him.

Question is this, as I try to get smart on longhorn hybrids I find tons of articles on Hereford bulls on LH cows, but nothing on LH bulls on Hereford cows. Does anyone have any experience in this? Looking for why it seems to be a nonexistent issue.

 

[aprille218]

No articles on it because usually the longhorns are cheaper cows and you're trying to upgrade their calves with a Hereford not downgrade your Hereford cows with a Longhorn bull's calves. Generally you will have beefier calves with the pure Hereford or even better with a black Angus.

 

[Warren Allison]

I am about two years into messing with cows. I have about 30 Hereford on a Hereford bull. My wife bought me a six month old longhorn bull last Christmas. Our old reliable Hereford bull has been on these cows for nearing five years and it's time for him to go. Since the cows are just about all bred and a year from now the longhorn should be ready to start his full time job I was planning on using him.

Question is this, as I try to get smart on longhorn hybrids I find tons of articles on Hereford bulls on LH cows, but nothing on LH bulls on Hereford cows. Does anyone have any experience in this? Looking for why it seems to be a nonexistent issue.

Doesn't matter if you cross LH X Herf, or Herf x LH, it will yield you the lowest prices for calves at the sale. Best thing to do is sell the Herf and LH bulls, and get a reg Angus bull. Ang x Herf black baldies will top the market anywhere.

 

[Travlr]

I am about two years into messing with cows. I have about 30 Hereford on a Hereford bull. My wife bought me a six month old longhorn bull last Christmas. Our old reliable Hereford bull has been on these cows for nearing five years and it's time for him to go. Since the cows are just about all bred and a year from now the longhorn should be ready to start his full time job I was planning on using him.

Question is this, as I try to get smart on longhorn hybrids I find tons of articles on Hereford bulls on LH cows, but nothing on LH bulls on Hereford cows. Does anyone have any experience in this? Looking for why it seems to be a nonexistent issue.

In my experience there are several good things about Longhorns... but none of them translate into more profit at the point of sale... especially when this country is overly fascinated by the Certified Angus Beef (black hides) craziness.

All breeds have their trade-offs, and the longhorn benefits of easy calving, longevity, and thriftiness are overshadowed by extended times to mature, lighter muscling, horns, and the death knell at the sale barn... color inconsistency.

I'd cut the bull and use him for a pasture ornament if you have to keep him. Otherwise, and I can't state this strongly enough... you are going to take a beating at sale time.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I am about two years into messing with cows. I have about 30 Hereford on a Hereford bull. My wife bought me a six month old longhorn bull last Christmas. Our old reliable Hereford bull has been on these cows for nearing five years and it's time for him to go. Since the cows are just about all bred and a year from now the longhorn should be ready to start his full time job I was planning on using him.

Question is this, as I try to get smart on longhorn hybrids I find tons of articles on Hereford bulls on LH cows, but nothing on LH bulls on Hereford cows. Does anyone have any experience in this? Looking for why it seems to be a nonexistent issue.

Why in the world would you go backwards 150 years.
You're not going to fool the order buyers. This sounds like a bovine that should have went to Wolf Brand Chili or Alpo is about to become a herd bull.

 

[Cooke]

I don't depend on these cows for a living, and the beef I sell is ordinarily farm to table amongst folks I know, so the sale barn doesn't impact my thinking much. But I do appreciate y'all's responses, and I gleaned my answer from them. Thank you for your time and and sharing your experience.

 

[Lucky]

Keep the longhorn as a pet and buy a good Angus bull. I can't imagine how bad a Hereford x Longhorn would look much less finish out. If you really want to try something different try a Brahman bull.

 

[farmerjan]

My 2 cents...

First off.... Welcome to the CT forum. Most people on here are in it to make a living at it or to supplement their income and use the cattle for ag exemption and to eat the grass/pastures. No one was trying to make you feel unwanted... you just said that you had been at it for only a couple of years and no one wanted you to "take a beating" when selling the calves.

I agree that using a longhorn bull is going to make you lose some of the beef that the cows can produce... regardless if you only sell to friends and such.
That said, I have a longhorn cow.... she is my "pasture ornament"... and I like her. She has great horns and dislikes 4 legged canines, so we do not have any problems with coyotes or stray dogs in the field... one of the biggest reasons I have her. She gets bred to whatever angus bull we are using at the time at that pasture... I keep her with the heifers where she is at home..... she is not aggressive with her horns but will shake them at anyone that gets in her space. She has nice calves every year... the bull calves we band and raise for beef or sell... Her heifer calf from almost 2 years ago will get bred now with the rest of the heifers. I like her, 1/2 angus, has the sires characteristics and very nicely built, and her calves will be 3/4 angus.

Personally I would not use a longhorn bull on a herd of hereford cows. I would not hesitate to keep a longhorn cow or 2 if you just like them LIKE I HAVE MINE....and let them raise a calf out of whatever beef bull you do use. Also, Longhorns tend to be very athletic... the bull may have a tendency to go over fences if he decides he wants to be elsewhere or a neighbor has cows in heat. That can get into problems. If he has become a "bit of a pet" do yourself a favor, get him castrated and keep him to look at and to maybe be like my cow, a deterrent to stray dogs and coyotes and such... even people who do not belong in the pastures... No bull should be trusted; we have several on our operation... but a longhorn can hurt you with the horns even without meaning too... and if his disposition were to get aggressive, he can become a real problem.

Don't let the well meaning advice so you did not bankrupt your operation, drive you away... stick around and tell us more about your operation and such.

 

[Warren Allison]

I am about two years into messing with cows. I have about 30 Hereford on a Hereford bull. My wife bought me a six month old longhorn bull last Christmas. Our old reliable Hereford bull has been on these cows for nearing five years and it's time for him to go. Since the cows are just about all bred and a year from now the longhorn should be ready to start his full time job I was planning on using him.

Question is this, as I try to get smart on longhorn hybrids I find tons of articles on Hereford bulls on LH cows, but nothing on LH bulls on Hereford cows. Does anyone have any experience in this? Looking for why it seems to be a nonexistent issue.

Please go back into your profile and put in your location. You will get a lot more responses and a lot more accurate info.

 

[Ky hills]

My opinion, whether you are selling direct farm to table or at the stockyards, the longhorn is going to be a negative.
The calves will likely be smaller, grow slower and lighter at time processing, than straight beef breed calves.
The quality of the meat may not be quite as good either.
For beef sales, I would want to go back with either another Hereford or an Angus bull.
The longhorn can be a steer pasture ornament. I keep a longhorn type cow or two around for that

 

[Ebenezer]

And there are differences in LHs. If you have a bargain basement type you will lose even more.

 

[Cooke]

I don't get hurt feelings, 30 years in the Army gave me thick skin and the understanding that if I ask a question and turn up my nose at the answer I am headed to a bad end. Based on y'all's responses my starting plan is to carry my older Hereford bull to the sale barn and sell him. I will try to pick up a 18 month to 24 month old replacement Hereford or angus, maybe limousine (my grandpa's favorite). I will pasture them all together and separately keep the LH bull and maybe two LH cows in our front pasture.

I understand saving headaches by castrating the LH bull, but honestly see no point in wasting time or effort on an animal that can't reproduce.

 

[redcowsrule33]

Having two bulls, one with horns and not a lot to do, might change your mind about that.

 

[Warren Allison]

I don't get hurt feelings, 30 years in the Army gave me thick skin and the understanding that if I ask a question and turn up my nose at the answer I am headed to a bad end. Based on y'all's responses my starting plan is to carry my older Hereford bull to the sale barn and sell him. I will try to pick up a 18 month to 24 month old replacement Hereford or angus, maybe limousine (my grandpa's favorite). I will pasture them all together and separately keep the LH bull and maybe two LH cows in our front pasture.

I understand saving headaches by castrating the LH bull, but honestly see no point in wasting time or effort on an animal that can't reproduce.

When you see those big ole LH;'s with 8' to10' horn spread, they are steers. They sell to the people who want LHs for ornamental purposes, and bring more than the cows or bulls do. Best bull for Hereford cows is an Angus or a Brangus. You will get black, polled calves that will top the market...heifers or steers either one. Another great alternative, is to breed them to a Brahma. The f1 Br x Herf heifers are the top selling commercial replacement heifers of all the composite breeds. Typically, they would fetch more than the black baldy or super black baldy heifers, but the steers do not sell well. However if you are selling beef farm-to-table, this won't effect you very much.

 

[Travlr]

I don't get hurt feelings, 30 years in the Army gave me thick skin and the understanding that if I ask a question and turn up my nose at the answer I am headed to a bad end. Based on y'all's responses my starting plan is to carry my older Hereford bull to the sale barn and sell him. I will try to pick up a 18 month to 24 month old replacement Hereford or angus, maybe limousine (my grandpa's favorite). I will pasture them all together and separately keep the LH bull and maybe two LH cows in our front pasture.

I understand saving headaches by castrating the LH bull, but honestly see no point in wasting time or effort on an animal that can't reproduce.

Limousine are great to cross on Herefords, especially if you get a homozygous black one. It never hurts to be prepared for a change in plans and it never seemed that my own plans were ever set in concrete from year to year. Having a profitable set of calves is always better than the alternative.

And I'd still cut the longhorn regardless of what pasture he's in. There are bulls I would never want jumping my fence and Dairy breeds, belties, Corriente, and Longhorns are at the top of that list.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Limousine are great to cross on Herefords, especially if you get a homozygous black one. It never hurts to be prepared for a change in plans and it never seemed that my own plans were ever set in concrete from year to year. Having a profitable set of calves is always better than the alternative.

And I'd still cut the longhorn regardless of what pasture he's in. There are bulls I would never want jumping my fence and Dairy breeds, belties, Corriente, and Longhorns are at the top of that list.

I would rather have the longhorn versus the Limousine.
You can bet your bottom dollar that neither will effect the progeny around here.
Limousine cross calves the craziest I ever dealt with in fifty years.
Great looking calves I will say that, it was like penning deer and fighting a chainsaw.

 

[Travlr]

I would rather have the longhorn versus the Limousine.
You can bet your bottom dollar that neither will effect the progeny around here.
Limousine cross calves the craziest I ever dealt with in fifty years.
Great looking calves I will say that, it was like penning deer and fighting a chainsaw.

And I've had the opposite experience.

 

[Caustic Burno]

And I've had the opposite experience.

Put some Brimmer in the woodpile.

 

[Ky hills]

I would rather have the longhorn versus the Limousine.
You can bet your bottom dollar that neither will effect the progeny around here.
Limousine cross calves the craziest I ever dealt with in fifty years.
Great looking calves I will say that, it was like penning deer and fighting a chainsaw.

I've had some crazy bought Limousin calves and some from the same groups were fairly calm.
Only had one bull and he was one of the calmest bulls I've had. All that said they were real popular here in the 80's and 90's and a lot of them at that time were crazy. Have heard folks say that their bulls themselves were calm, but the caIves could be crazy. loved the look of cattle, but didn't want anything to do with them for a long time due to disposition. Then I tried that one bull and never got another one afraid it might not work out as good as the first.
In my aging years I've pretty well decided Hereford and Angus selected for good disposition are my choice for bulls.

 

[Travlr]

Put some Brimmer in the woodpile.

Yeah, I've had some crazy there. It's kind of amazing how Brimmer crosses are either gentle or nuts and there never seems to be a middle ground.