A terminal breed has to do few things right, the most important being:
To provide great muscle to complement the thinner muscle of maternal breeds and their crosses.
To provide extra growth so the feedlot animal can reach finishing weight faster, and to make for good weaning weights of course.
To represent good or at least decent calving ease, combined with good calf vigour. Dead calfs are direct loss, tired and sickly calves are a lot of work.
To provide heterosis, the "free lunch" of cattle breeding, and to do that the terminal breed needs to be unrelated to the mother cows.
The Blonde d' Aquitaine bull can do all this.
They have great muscle that will blueprint on all crossbred progeny, and a long back which means lots of valuable cuts.
They have great growth, partly because it has a large frame, while most maternal breeds should have a more moderate frame due to the economics of keeping brood cows.
They have good calving ease almost whatever you cross them with, due not mainly to a low birthweight, but to a long and slender calf with fine bone. A Blonde calf is usually some six inches longer than for example a Charolais calf of the same weight, and not nearly as blocky.
Most brood cows are english breeds where heterosis is strong when crossing with a Blonde bull. The same is true when using many other continental breeds too, of course.
And then there is one more thing; a terminal cross means that all progeny goes to the feedlot, also all the heifers. There is no breed known to me with such good growth and muscle to heifers as the Blonde d'Aquitane, and this is true also in all the crosses I have seen. This is a very important trait as half the terminal calves are heifers.
It is also a breed where steers do well compared to bulls, much for the same reason.
Now, feel free to add other good traits that you feel belongs to the breed!
And before I end this little thing: Blonde d' Aquitaine cattle eat like wolves - good in the feedlot where that enables fantastic lean growth - not necessarily a good thing for a mama cow.
They do not milk particularly well, albeit the have really rich milk. A huge cow, milking like a rather small cow. They are a terminal breed.
Fell free to air your experiences with the breed, good and bad!
To provide great muscle to complement the thinner muscle of maternal breeds and their crosses.
To provide extra growth so the feedlot animal can reach finishing weight faster, and to make for good weaning weights of course.
To represent good or at least decent calving ease, combined with good calf vigour. Dead calfs are direct loss, tired and sickly calves are a lot of work.
To provide heterosis, the "free lunch" of cattle breeding, and to do that the terminal breed needs to be unrelated to the mother cows.
The Blonde d' Aquitaine bull can do all this.
They have great muscle that will blueprint on all crossbred progeny, and a long back which means lots of valuable cuts.
They have great growth, partly because it has a large frame, while most maternal breeds should have a more moderate frame due to the economics of keeping brood cows.
They have good calving ease almost whatever you cross them with, due not mainly to a low birthweight, but to a long and slender calf with fine bone. A Blonde calf is usually some six inches longer than for example a Charolais calf of the same weight, and not nearly as blocky.
Most brood cows are english breeds where heterosis is strong when crossing with a Blonde bull. The same is true when using many other continental breeds too, of course.
And then there is one more thing; a terminal cross means that all progeny goes to the feedlot, also all the heifers. There is no breed known to me with such good growth and muscle to heifers as the Blonde d'Aquitane, and this is true also in all the crosses I have seen. This is a very important trait as half the terminal calves are heifers.
It is also a breed where steers do well compared to bulls, much for the same reason.
Now, feel free to add other good traits that you feel belongs to the breed!
And before I end this little thing: Blonde d' Aquitaine cattle eat like wolves - good in the feedlot where that enables fantastic lean growth - not necessarily a good thing for a mama cow.
They do not milk particularly well, albeit the have really rich milk. A huge cow, milking like a rather small cow. They are a terminal breed.
Fell free to air your experiences with the breed, good and bad!
