Longhorn Cross

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Redlh said:
Big cheese I have been breeding longhorns and crosses since 1981. I have found that red takes the chrome off of anything the best, char works due to being red based with a dilution. Red is the easiest color to breed true in any animal as it is recessive. Recessive genes are always easiest to breed uniform. We use red Angus lh cross or Hereford lh cross then come back with red gelbvieh or red simmi bulls. I like British cross females and continental terminals the best. We average 550 at 7-8 months across the board, steers and heifers, biggest being in 675 range with smallest late heifers usually hitting above 500. On a 60-75 day calving season. I have enjoyed this thread thoroughly and thought I would share my experience. Our f-2 calves never have chrome. F1 rarely do, but we also have nearly all solid red longhorns due to breeding for them since 81 and use only the most red with least white herefords or solid red Angus. I think long term you will find British cross females will serve you better with a terminal bull over them. My crosses cost me $160- 190 per year per cow so at prices I sold this year I have a profit of $ 560 per calf.

That's the kind of things I like to hear from other farmers and their Longhorns!
 
Redlh said:
Big cheese I have been breeding longhorns and crosses since 1981. I have found that red takes the chrome off of anything the best, char works due to being red based with a dilution. Red is the easiest color to breed true in any animal as it is recessive. Recessive genes are always easiest to breed uniform. We use red Angus lh cross or Hereford lh cross then come back with red gelbvieh or red simmi bulls. I like British cross females and continental terminals the best. We average 550 at 7-8 months across the board, steers and heifers, biggest being in 675 range with smallest late heifers usually hitting above 500. On a 60-75 day calving season. I have enjoyed this thread thoroughly and thought I would share my experience. Our f-2 calves never have chrome. F1 rarely do, but we also have nearly all solid red longhorns due to breeding for them since 81 and use only the most red with least white herefords or solid red Angus. I think long term you will find British cross females will serve you better with a terminal bull over them. My crosses cost me $160- 190 per year per cow so at prices I sold this year I have a profit of $ 560 per calf.

So you have a cow maker herd to generate red LHs ?
 
I know next to nothing about Longhorns, but I ran across an ad in a farm paper for LH cows bred to SimAngus bulls for spring calves. $350-450 a head. Sounds cheap enough, but what is the real down side on the calves? Let's say a straight "beef" calf weans at 500 pounds, what's the LH cross going to knock off? If the beef calf fetches $1.50 at that weight, what's the LH cross going to bring? I know every area is different, but it would be nice to know what some of your experiences have been on a side by side comparison.
 
BFE said:
I know next to nothing about Longhorns, but I ran across an ad in a farm paper for LH cows bred to SimAngus bulls for spring calves. $350-450 a head. Sounds cheap enough, but what is the real down side on the calves? Let's say a straight "beef" calf weans at 500 pounds, what's the LH cross going to knock off? If the beef calf fetches $1.50 at that weight, what's the LH cross going to bring? I know every area is different, but it would be nice to know what some of your experiences have been on a side by side comparison.

About half if the buyer can see the longhorn.
 
This is a great thread, just read all 72 pages in the last 2 days. Very useful information. I just recently purchased 5 head of longhorn cows bred to a black baldie bull. Bought them around first of September for $1900 for all 5. They range from 2years old up to 6 years old. I run across them on facebook one morning and knew the guy that had them so I went and looked and ended up buying them, wasn't even thinking about buying any when I got up that morning but couldn't pass a deal like that. I have been happy with the cattle so far, they are very docile and easy keepers. He sold some calves at the Heber Springs barn the same day I bought the cows and I seen them sell for .10 cents less than black calves even with a little chrome. They were pretty beefy looking. The only experience I had in the past with longhorns was roping steers and they were as close to having goats as you can get and easy to handle, so I always thought about getting longhorn cows and crossing to a beefy bull.
I generally buy angus or charolais type steers at the sale barn at about 500-700 lbs and rotationally graze and feed them and sell farm fresh beef on the quarters. I'm going to try and do the same thing with longhorn cross steers, just not sure what to expect as far as finish goes. I do like the fact that they should finish at a smaller size than the char or angus type which finish around 1250. A 1250 lb steer makes for alot of beef in a quarter. About 130lbs. I hope to get a good finish on the longhorn cross at about 15 months old and 800lbs, does that sound realistic? I generally feed .5% of body weight at weaning while rotating on good grass and annuals and ramp it up to 1% at about the halfway point and ramp it up to 2% of body weight the last month before being slaughtered. From what I read the longhorn cross cattle should marble well on that kind of feeding but just won't put on as much of a rind of fat. Any thoughts?
 
Little Joe said:
This is a great thread, just read all 72 pages in the last 2 days. Very useful information. I just recently purchased 5 head of longhorn cows bred to a black baldie bull. Bought them around first of September for $1900 for all 5. They range from 2years old up to 6 years old. I run across them on facebook one morning and knew the guy that had them so I went and looked and ended up buying them, wasn't even thinking about buying any when I got up that morning but couldn't pass a deal like that. I have been happy with the cattle so far, they are very docile and easy keepers. He sold some calves at the Heber Springs barn the same day I bought the cows and I seen them sell for .10 cents less than black calves even with a little chrome. They were pretty beefy looking. The only experience I had in the past with longhorns was roping steers and they were as close to having goats as you can get and easy to handle, so I always thought about getting longhorn cows and crossing to a beefy bull.
I generally buy angus or charolais type steers at the sale barn at about 500-700 lbs and rotationally graze and feed them and sell farm fresh beef on the quarters. I'm going to try and do the same thing with longhorn cross steers, just not sure what to expect as far as finish goes. I do like the fact that they should finish at a smaller size than the char or angus type which finish around 1250. A 1250 lb steer makes for alot of beef in a quarter. About 130lbs. I hope to get a good finish on the longhorn cross at about 15 months old and 800lbs, does that sound realistic? I generally feed .5% of body weight at weaning while rotating on good grass and annuals and ramp it up to 1% at about the halfway point and ramp it up to 2% of body weight the last month before being slaughtered. From what I read the longhorn cross cattle should marble well on that kind of feeding but just won't put on as much of a rind of fat. Any thoughts?

My only thought is, you'll have more repeat customers with a beef calf.
 
Bigfoot said:
Little Joe said:
This is a great thread, just read all 72 pages in the last 2 days. Very useful information. I just recently purchased 5 head of longhorn cows bred to a black baldie bull. Bought them around first of September for $1900 for all 5. They range from 2years old up to 6 years old. I run across them on facebook one morning and knew the guy that had them so I went and looked and ended up buying them, wasn't even thinking about buying any when I got up that morning but couldn't pass a deal like that. I have been happy with the cattle so far, they are very docile and easy keepers. He sold some calves at the Heber Springs barn the same day I bought the cows and I seen them sell for .10 cents less than black calves even with a little chrome. They were pretty beefy looking. The only experience I had in the past with longhorns was roping steers and they were as close to having goats as you can get and easy to handle, so I always thought about getting longhorn cows and crossing to a beefy bull.
I generally buy angus or charolais type steers at the sale barn at about 500-700 lbs and rotationally graze and feed them and sell farm fresh beef on the quarters. I'm going to try and do the same thing with longhorn cross steers, just not sure what to expect as far as finish goes. I do like the fact that they should finish at a smaller size than the char or angus type which finish around 1250. A 1250 lb steer makes for alot of beef in a quarter. About 130lbs. I hope to get a good finish on the longhorn cross at about 15 months old and 800lbs, does that sound realistic? I generally feed .5% of body weight at weaning while rotating on good grass and annuals and ramp it up to 1% at about the halfway point and ramp it up to 2% of body weight the last month before being slaughtered. From what I read the longhorn cross cattle should marble well on that kind of feeding but just won't put on as much of a rind of fat. Any thoughts?

My only thought is, you'll have more repeat customers with a beef calf.

What do you think is the down side to longhorn/ beef cross beef Bigfoot? I have a guy that works for me that used to work on a feedlot and his boss would cross his angus heifers with a longhorn bull like you do, he said they finished the crosses calves in their feedlot and that they finished good and they butchered some for themselves, he said it was the best steaks he'd ever had. He Said the cattle finished in a little shorter time than traditional beef cattle but were smaller.
 
I also plan to do what Big Cheese and Redlh are doing and save my f1 heifers to build my heard on. I have tried different aspects of cow/ calf operations in the past ( registered and commercial) and never done well due to the initial input cost of buying the good cows to start with, so I am going to try the longhorn route and see how it goes. If it don't work like I thought I can get out of it and still make a profit with no more than I have invested at this point. The only way I've ever turned profits on cattle in the past is selling farm fresh beef, I always do well with that, just wanting my own herd to raise steers from so I don't have to pay a premium for good steers every year.
 
Little Joe said:
Bigfoot said:
Little Joe said:
This is a great thread, just read all 72 pages in the last 2 days. Very useful information. I just recently purchased 5 head of longhorn cows bred to a black baldie bull. Bought them around first of September for $1900 for all 5. They range from 2years old up to 6 years old. I run across them on facebook one morning and knew the guy that had them so I went and looked and ended up buying them, wasn't even thinking about buying any when I got up that morning but couldn't pass a deal like that. I have been happy with the cattle so far, they are very docile and easy keepers. He sold some calves at the Heber Springs barn the same day I bought the cows and I seen them sell for .10 cents less than black calves even with a little chrome. They were pretty beefy looking. The only experience I had in the past with longhorns was roping steers and they were as close to having goats as you can get and easy to handle, so I always thought about getting longhorn cows and crossing to a beefy bull.
I generally buy angus or charolais type steers at the sale barn at about 500-700 lbs and rotationally graze and feed them and sell farm fresh beef on the quarters. I'm going to try and do the same thing with longhorn cross steers, just not sure what to expect as far as finish goes. I do like the fact that they should finish at a smaller size than the char or angus type which finish around 1250. A 1250 lb steer makes for alot of beef in a quarter. About 130lbs. I hope to get a good finish on the longhorn cross at about 15 months old and 800lbs, does that sound realistic? I generally feed .5% of body weight at weaning while rotating on good grass and annuals and ramp it up to 1% at about the halfway point and ramp it up to 2% of body weight the last month before being slaughtered. From what I read the longhorn cross cattle should marble well on that kind of feeding but just won't put on as much of a rind of fat. Any thoughts?

My only thought is, you'll have more repeat customers with a beef calf.

What do you think is the down side to longhorn/ beef cross beef Bigfoot? I have a guy that works for me that used to work on a feedlot and his boss would cross his angus heifers with a longhorn bull like you do, he said they finished the crosses calves in their feedlot and that they finished good and they butchered some for themselves, he said it was the best steaks he'd ever had. He Said the cattle finished in a little shorter time than traditional beef cattle but were smaller.

There just naturally going to have less marbeling, even in a cross. The flavor/tenderness is going to directly proportional to the marbeling. I'm sure somebody has slaughtered some that were good. especially, when it comes out of your own freezer, everything seems to be more satisfying. You go selling a LH cross to somebody, they may notice the difference. I know we say the packer makes $600 per head (and they might). Most people are unfamiliar with having an animal slaughtered, and sometimes feel cheated by the process. Especially when they see the steaks and roast in relation to the ground beef/stew meat.
 
My friend raised some lh and roping cattle. He fed out some steers for few months before slaughter. The steaks off them had good marbling on em.
 
HDRider said:
piedmontese said:
I'm surprised at all the positive remarks concerning longhorns. I have seen them bashed pretty hard on here n the past. I would try a few if I get the chance to pick up some decent ones. Most of them I see around here are little and look like they won't have enough milk. When I do get a few I will either use a saler or Hereford bull.
That's why I started off by saying don't jump on me cause I had seen so much LH bashers. I appreciate everyone posting.

I have to think shipping and handling (chutes, head gates, and such) is difficult with them big horns,

Howdy! We raise Simmental, however we do have a few Longhorns. We've always loved the old west, cowboys, etc. I don't crossbreed them, I A.I. our cows myself to keep them all purebred. We direct market and sell beef. You are correct that Longhorns are fertile, hardy, easy calving and good browsers. My suggestion for you would be to find some Longhorns that have been shown. If you can tie them to a post and pinch them with a gate, you could eliminate the cost of a chute built just for Longhorns. I would also recommend you find someone who raises beefier Longhorns. There are 7 different families of Longhorns and the ones that are so small, but have huge horns, are from the Butler line. I would suggest you look for some cattle from the Phillips or Peeler families, with more meat on bigger bone, and often less horn. Many Longhorn breeders have crossed these 7 families in various ways, which in a sense is just like getting hybrid vigor from an F1 & F2 cross. The results can bring extra horn growth, bigger base and more body. As far as trailering them, Longhorns know exactly where their horns end, so they simply tilt their head to get through a smaller opening. Obviously, they don't work in headlocks, unless you de-horn them. If you choose not to de-horn, I would advice caution with different types of bale feeders, as yearlings may get caught between the bars. I'd also recommend looking for white Longhorns, if you're gonna cross with a Charolais bull, or solid red Longhorns, if you're crossing with a Red Angus bull: both are plentiful in the Longhorn breed. As with any breed, select for what makes you $$ and what you like to see in your pasture!!
 

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