Maine Anjou questions

[Betty]

I am a retired veterinarian with a small herd of Reg Angus, 1/4 of which have NH, so we are looking for another direction.
Maine Anjou were suggested to me. I think of these cattle as having a ton of bone, being colored, having horns, and the only one I saw in practice was - well- "reactive" would describe it.
Looking on internet, I see cattle with a fine head, tons of hair, all are black, most are polled, and they don't look boney and huge either. They look GREAT.
Comments?

 

[dun]

I am a retired veterinarian with a small herd of Reg Angus, 1/4 of which have NH, so we are looking for another direction.
Maine Anjou were suggested to me. I think of these cattle as having a ton of bone, being colored, having horns, and the only one I saw in practice was - well- "reactive" would describe it.
Looking on internet, I see cattle with a fine head, tons of hair, all are black, most are polled, and they don't look boney and huge either. They look GREAT.
Comments?

Enough Angus and you can make even a Maine look good (Chi too)

 

[VCC]

Here are some bulls I have seen calves out of, they are all TH and PHA free and calving ease.

Ali 307184 or his clone Ali2
I have an Ali Cow she came small and grew like a weed, her bull calf this year was about 75 pounds and he is growing like weed. moderate framed and balanced

Ali sons
Tyson 364424 90.63% Calves are like his fathers, consistent and balanced

Discovery 392126 50% he is out of the WAg Hairietta cow, if you google her you can see how many sons she has that are sons she has in service.

Dirty Hairy 349907 75% throws balanced calves the come easy and are very eye appealing.

Other bull I have seen quality calves out of

Majors Money Man 270242 hi% Sound balnced Calving ease,

The calves out of all these bulls have been mellow and handle easy, they tend to not look like much when they hit the ground but do nothing but get better as they grow.

 

[angusdave63]

a good friend of mine used a black maine bull on his cows said he would never do that again had the worst time getting the new calves to nurse said they were worse than a brown swiss

 

[VCC]

I have an Ali (Blank Main) Heifer that was born on the place, she was nursing 15 minutes after hitting the ground. She calved her first calf 2 weeks ago it took her calf 20 minutes before he was up eating. Just like all breeds there are good ones and bad ones, I could not be more happy with the heifer, she is an easy keeper and so far a good mother.
I only listed bulls that I have seen calves out of, not heard about calves from.

You could also look into Simmintal many of the Meyer 734 sons will produce good cows when bred to Angus

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Why they look so good is because they have been bred for show and have had the horns and over sized leg taken out to make them look better and move better. That's why the reg. calves went from 75% maine to only needs a reg. sire to be reg., like what simmys did with their reg., to make % calves for show. That's why I have them and simmys because it don't take much to reg. them for show, and you get a better hybred for show and breeding is the main point of doing it.
I have 1 maine cow and 3 maine heifers and they I real nice and have a good compistion and move real easy and are deep sided animals.
Simmys and maines are good to throw in with some angus to get heavy mucle and easy keeping calves.

 

[VCC]

Have you thought about breeding them to a good, clean, Shorthorn and getting Durham Reds. They make solid cows and you can keep your herd red.

 

[dun]

Have you thought about breeding them to a good, clean, Shorthorn and getting Durham Reds. They make solid cows and you can keep your herd red.

I believe Durham Reds are Shorthorn RED Angus crosses

 

[piedmontese]

saler would be a good choice.calves r up and nursing in no time.born small but really grow.

 

[Jovid]

How about answering a few questions before I comment.

Where do you live?

How do you plan to sell their offspring? (sale barn, private treaty, ??)

As some have already stated most of the Maine cattle today are raised for show purposes.

 

[VCC]

Dun, my bad, I guess I assumed they where going to be crossbreeding the cows and going a different direction, not changing out cattle all together. Now none of my post make any since.

 

[UG]

Betty,

It seems as if a high percentage of Maine-Anjou breeders are more focused on the showring. If that is important to you there are several breeders to chose from.

Though fewer in numbers, there are also some very commercially focused Maine-Anjou breeders. If you are more interested in Maine influenced cattle with performance and good carcass traits, a program that I encourage you to check out is Holden's Maines & More near Scranton, IA. Mike Holden has an impressive set of cattle, with cattle in both Nebraska and IA. He also sells semen on some of his bulls. One bull that has impressed me is NAGE Real Deal 13R. This bull offers calving ease, along with good growth and carcass traits.

Dave Steen with the Maine association works with producers looking for good commercially oriented genetics. Dave can also suggest other breeders that may fit your needs.

Best of luck with the new adventure!

 

[pdfangus]

I guess I am wondering how changing breeds is a part of the solution to your problem.

I had a few AM cattle....
I got rid of em and carried on with clean cows.

the imported maines in the 70's had a hard time working in the commercial envrionment.
they did good as club calves even back then.
the maines in america today are not highly related to the french cattle. that is why they don't look like em.

 

[thommoos]

The Maine are a great animal to cross with, remember if the are black they have the angus already in them, you would have to have those that were red or paint to get true blood lines, Maine came from france, some say that they orginally came from the shorthorn beef cattle, but I am not positve

 

[KNERSIE]

Why they look so good is because they have been bred for show and have had the horns and over sized leg taken out to make them look better and move better. That's why the reg. calves went from 75% maine to only needs a reg. sire to be reg., like what simmys did with their reg., to make % calves for show. That's why I have them and simmys because it don't take much to reg. them for show, and you get a better hybred for show and breeding is the main point of doing it.
I have 1 maine cow and 3 maine heifers and they I real nice and have a good compistion and move real easy and are deep sided animals.
Simmys and maines are good to throw in with some angus to get heavy mucle and easy keeping calves.

Please bear with me since English isn't my first language....

... but what is compistion? Is it something I need to select for or against?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Sorry I can't spell... :roll:
Maybe you should stick to your first language and BUZZ OFF!

 

[KNERSIE]

Sorry I can't spell... :roll:
Maybe you should stick to your first language and BUZZ OFF!

OK, if you prefer...

Ek dink jy is 'n klein stront, wat jou verskriklik slim probeer hou terwyl nie die verkil ken tussen jou eie poephol en 'n gat in die grond nie.

 

[VCC]

Sim- Ang why can't you just say you spelled it wrong and move on, instead you need to be a smart ars (I know I spelled that wrong) I you want to be taken serious you need to also learn how to take a little ribbing.
You come off as a young man who has some clue but you tend to stick your foot in your mouth more often than not. It gets a might tiering.

Edited
Well i see he told you, I believe there may have been some name calling there.

 

[VCC]

Knersie, if I get my grandmother to translate that for me am I going to get slapped?

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Du bist ein Trottel und müssen entlassen

I know some too.