Maine Anjou?

[Dale L]

We are shopping around for a new bull come spring. What are some opinions on a Maine or Maine and angus cross bull. We have had straight angus bulls for a while now but just looking to improve our calves a little. Our cows are mostly angus crosses. Just looking for some opinions from some of you guys who may have had this type of bull before.

 

[Taurus]

Depends on where you will selling your calves at. You might get docked if you have spotted calves at the salebarn.

 

[Jessica06]

Are you looking at the solid black ones? They should work really well on your angus cows. We had a fullblood red one a few years ago. Moderated frame, added bone, length, and squared them up. I still wish we could have used him to his full potential before we sold him.

We have some MA/Angus cows out of club calf genetics. They are some of our most consistent producers. In SE Texas.

 

[Dale L]

Yes the plan is a solid black one. I was told that even with a fullblood red maine you would get solid black calves when bred to black cows. Is this true?

 

[Bigfoot]

Maine on angus is a nice cross. I used to have several cows out of that cross. I still have one. Mine rarely had spots, that would raise suspicion at the yard.

 

[Taurus]

Yes the plan is a solid black one. I was told that even with a fullblood red maine you would get solid black calves when bred to black calves. Is this true?

That IF your black angus cows are homozygous. But since you have crossbred angus cows that they are most likely heterozygous that they might not knock off the spots.

 

[Jessica06]

The calves were either solid, or had very little white. Usually the only white was a white star. Maybe a little bit on their feet.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Yes the plan is a solid black one. I was told that even with a fullblood red maine you would get solid black calves when bred to black calves. Is this true?

That IF your black angus cows are homozygous. But since you have crossbred angus cows that they are most likely heterozygous that they might not knock off the spots.

That is if you start with a spotted bull in the first place.

Where you from Dale?
A red or black Maine bull will go great with black cows, and you won't get any spotted calves, might have some white markings.

 

[Dale L]

I am in West Virginia. Thanks for the replies guys. Keep em comin.

 

[pdfangus]

my question is where do you go to find a good Maine Anjou bull?

That is the breed that impressed me when the continental invasion occurred but the breed never seemed to catch on and the farm press seemed to like ot criticize it....

I know there are some breeders out there but I don't know any....

most of the AI studs only have club calf cross bred maine bulls.

 

[Dale L]

I talked to a guy at a local county fair this summer that had some nice cows. I got his number and we are going to go look at some of his bulls. He said he should have a few for sale come spring. He has some of the fullblood red and some with a little angus in them that are black.

 

[pdfangus]

I went to the Maine Anjou site and they have a membership list...
there are four breeders listed in Viginia but they all seem to be in the upper valley....don't know nay of them...
Texas has a big list of breeders....I was not looking at Texas but had to scroll thru them to get to Virginia....

 

[UG]

Yes the plan is a solid black one. I was told that even with a fullblood red maine you would get solid black calves when bred to black calves. Is this true?

That IF your black angus cows are homozygous. But since you have crossbred angus cows that they are most likely heterozygous that they might not knock off the spots.

Black cattle can either have two copies (homozygous) or one copy (heterozygous) of the black color gene. Because black is dominant over red, just having one copy will still give you black calves. However, if you breed a red bull to a heterozygous black cow, theoretically half of your calves should be black (when the dam contributes a black gene) and half of your calves should be red (when the dam contributes a red gene).

The spotted deal is a whole different ball game, and I don't understand it well. However, I have seen calves with white markings (socks, star on the head, etc.) that had solid colored parents and grandparents.

 

[VCC]

Here is a Main/Sim bull out of Irish Wisky He is a beast
the third picture is him in the background a full sib in the front.

 

[Taurus]

Black cattle can either have two copies (homozygous) or one copy (heterozygous) of the black color gene. Because black is dominant over red, just having one copy will still give you black calves. However, if you breed a red bull to a heterozygous black cow, theoretically half of your calves should be black (when the dam contributes a black gene) and half of your calves should be red (when the dam contributes a red gene).

The spotted deal is a whole different ball game, and I don't understand it well. However, I have seen calves with white markings (socks, star on the head, etc.) that had solid colored parents and grandparents.

Yes but in reality, the OP have crossbred angus cows which can be anything but homozygous black angus. It just won't knock the white off.

 

[Dale L]

VCC- That is a beast! Nice looking animal for sure. Is he a calm animal. Someone told me that Maine bulls have a tendency to get mean. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[Taurus]

VCC- That is a beast! Nice looking animal for sure. Is he a calm animal. Someone told me that Maine bulls have a tendency to get mean. Anyone have experience with this?

Bulls can get mean, no matter what breed they are. But I would think that black Maine bulls are no different than angus bulls or other blackized breeds.

 

[VCC]

I did not go in with him, but as far as mean I do not think so, he was by the fence and did not even seem to care I was there, he looked at me as I got close then went back to sleeping. It took all i could do to get him to move so I could get some pictures. He is a 3 year old clean-up bull.

 

[Bigfoot]

VCC,

Thats an exceptionally good looking bull. I have 1 maine cross cow. She can barely get thru my chute she is so wide. I would use them for a terminal cross now, the problem is you cant hardly find one. That black sim/Maine cross really gets my attention as a terminal producer.

 

[VCC]

The thing is his breeding is maternal on both the top and bottom side, I did see a few of his calves, they were all younger (clean-up) but looked similar to his full sib I pictured. The ranch manager said he would work for both steers and replacement heifers (they raise Angus, commercial, and club calves) bred to Angus type cows his heifers will make good club calf mamas. They sold a half interest in his full sib for $10,000 while we were there.(the blazed calf pictured)