Moving cattle and calves from cold climate to a hot one

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ColombianRancher

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I am an expat living in Colombia. I am new to raising cattle here in Colombia. My question is about buying cattle and calves from a cold climate and raising them in a hot climate. Is it detrimental to the cattle or will they adjust? Does it matter what age they are? Thanks in advance
 
I guess it depends on the breed and how much of an extreme change it is. It can be a bit of an adjustment for them, but most become climatized with time. As long as they have adequate water and shade, I would think they would adapt to the heat. Any kind of change is typically more stressful on young calves than mature cows.
 
I am an expat living in Colombia. I am new to raising cattle here in Colombia. My question is about buying cattle and calves from a cold climate and raising them in a hot climate. Is it detrimental to the cattle or will they adjust? Does it matter what age they are? Thanks in advance
What breed(s) or you thinking of importing?
 
Sounds like a recipe for complete disaster. Always buy from people who are raising animals how you want to and, ideally, from the same or comparable region. In the US, I found that critical for such factors as adaptation to forages (especially toxic fescue) and humidity.

When Adams Ranch in Florida was crossing northern Hereford bulls with their base of Brahman and cracker cows, the bulls soon died due to mosquitoes and heat stress. They did get enough cows bred to create a new breed, the Braford. And they probably expected bulls to die; as I recall, they kept bringing them in for a while to get the numbers and percentages they needed.
 
We have been over 100 degrees most of the month. In November it will be single digits. Below zero in December. But the change is gradual. No would probably be better off importing semen and doing AI. That way the calves are born and raised in your climate.
 
You will probably end up using Brahma and Brahma cross cattle like Braford, Brangus etc. The best sources of these ion the US, will be form the Southeast. YOu won;t be getting these cattlke form Wisc, Micho0gan, North Dakota etc. Cattle you buy from say, Florida or Louisianna, will aclimate well to central America.
 
Sounds like a recipe for complete disaster. Always buy from people who are raising animals how you want to and, ideally, from the same or comparable region. In the US, I found that critical for such factors as adaptation to forages (especially toxic fescue) and humidity.

When Adams Ranch in Florida was crossing northern Hereford bulls with their base of Brahman and cracker cows, the bulls soon died due to mosquitoes and heat stress. They did get enough cows bred to create a new breed, the Braford. And they probably expected bulls to die; as I recall, they kept bringing them in for a while to get the numbers and percentages they needed.
Why didn't they use more regional Herfs to start this off?
 
A lot depends on when they are transported. Ronan Angus in Alberta, Canada would not allow their cattle to be transported to the US any time after March. He said it was too hard for them to acclimate. He always wanted to transport them starting in November. He said that the cattle got along fine because the temperature change wasn't that hard on them.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. Where I live in Colombia the temps range from about 60 to 80 degrees, which to me didn't seem that hot. On my family's ranch in Montana, the range of temps was 10 to 90+. I am looking at buying cattle here in Colombia from an area were temps range from 35 to 70. And the altitude would be from 8000 ft down to 3500 ft. The breeds will likely be brahma, brangus and cebu. These are breeds that are best suited in the tropics. My fellow ranchers in my area say that bringing cattle from the higher altitudes is not recommended. They mostly raise a local mut breed called criolla as anything else is too expensive for the local market. But there are some raising brahma, brangus and cebu for that market in Bogota. One of the reasons they cited is the difference in tick loads. They are absolutely horrible here. We are using pour on about once a month and it keeps the problem somewhat manageable. I don't want to be that arrogant, "I know better" gringo. But it just doesn't make sense that such a relatively small difference would be that critical. I can understand with dairy cattle. I think for now I will follow my neighbors' advice. I wish I had paid more attention in those FFA classes
 
Thanks for all the good advice. Where I live in Colombia the temps range from about 60 to 80 degrees, which to me didn't seem that hot. On my family's ranch in Montana, the range of temps was 10 to 90+. I am looking at buying cattle here in Colombia from an area were temps range from 35 to 70. And the altitude would be from 8000 ft down to 3500 ft. The breeds will likely be brahma, brangus and cebu. These are breeds that are best suited in the tropics. My fellow ranchers in my area say that bringing cattle from the higher altitudes is not recommended. They mostly raise a local mut breed called criolla as anything else is too expensive for the local market. But there are some raising brahma, brangus and cebu for that market in Bogota. One of the reasons they cited is the difference in tick loads. They are absolutely horrible here. We are using pour on about once a month and it keeps the problem somewhat manageable. I don't want to be that arrogant, "I know better" gringo. But it just doesn't make sense that such a relatively small difference would be that critical. I can understand with dairy cattle. I think for now I will follow my neighbors' advice. I wish I had paid more attention in those FFA classes
Those cattle won't have any problem Going from 70 to 80. And that drop in altitude will not effect them at all.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. Where I live in Colombia the temps range from about 60 to 80 degrees, which to me didn't seem that hot. On my family's ranch in Montana, the range of temps was 10 to 90+. I am looking at buying cattle here in Colombia from an area were temps range from 35 to 70. And the altitude would be from 8000 ft down to 3500 ft. The breeds will likely be brahma, brangus and cebu. These are breeds that are best suited in the tropics. My fellow ranchers in my area say that bringing cattle from the higher altitudes is not recommended. They mostly raise a local mut breed called criolla as anything else is too expensive for the local market. But there are some raising brahma, brangus and cebu for that market in Bogota. One of the reasons they cited is the difference in tick loads. They are absolutely horrible here. We are using pour on about once a month and it keeps the problem somewhat manageable. I don't want to be that arrogant, "I know better" gringo. But it just doesn't make sense that such a relatively small difference would be that critical. I can understand with dairy cattle. I think for now I will follow my neighbors' advice. I wish I had paid more attention in those FFA classes
Hi Colombian rancher. Our ranch is located in Guatemala about 250ft above sea level. I have one buyer who buys our cattle at 10-12 month old and he finishes them and sells to market. his place is around 4900 ft above sea level. He's never complained about the cattle having a hard time adjusting. Our cattle are in 80 degrees to 100 degrees temps year round. Brahman cattle is what we breed.
I also know that our buyer buys cross bred commercial cattle and the temps in his area are in the 45 degrees to 85 degrees range and his place is full of hills and it rains year round.
Hope this provides insight.
Shoot me a message if you want more details.
Take care
 
Here is another ranch in Columbia, that raises Brahma/Chianina crosses. I had some Chi x Brahma cows in the early 2000's that were probably the best cows I ever fooled with. Both breeds are heat tolerant, diseases resistant and insect and parasite resistant. The plus with Chianina is, like Longhorns, they are cold tolerant as well
 
Why didn't they use more regional Herfs to start this off?
I believe this was long before most southern breeding stock Hereford herds existed. The Adams started in what were pioneer days in Florida, with cracker cattle. They first upgraded them to brahman trying to add meat. Then they got Hereford bulls, probably from folks they knew up north or those with strong reputations for tough (probably horned) Herefords. All of this occurred over decades.

The Adams surely expected the Hereford bulls to die but for each to sire a goodly crop of calves first. It's been a while since I read the history but 80 bulls sticks in my mind.
 
I am not sure what the export protocols are between South American countries for semen and embryos, but here are some composites in Uruguay - -https://www.facebook.com/Tulianguy/ and Argentina - https://www.facebook.com/BioGeneticsArg some pictures of the composites from both farms - https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=15943436 https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=13366342 https://sangacattle.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=13393946 There are Bonsmara available in most South American countries as well.
 

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