Northern Raised Angus Cows in the South

[sedrick_hall]

Has anyone out there have any experiences with moving Angus cows raised up North down South?

 

[Jake]

talk to La4angus, he has a few.

 

[txshowmom]

When you say up north how far north are you talking. We bought a bred Maine/Angus cow in Caneda and brought her to Texas. She had her calf without and problems but she never did breed back. We also bought a couple of cows in Kansas one never bred, the other bred once, calved and never bred back.

 

[Ryan]

Would there be similar problems going the other way? Say taking a cow from Texas to Kansas or somewhere else up north?

 

[la4angus]

Has anyone out there have any experiences with moving Angus cows raised up North down South?

Most of our herd was bought in Mt. and SD. I preferr to buy spring hfrs. weaned off the cows in Oct and Nov.and ship them directly at that time of year. Never had any trouble breedin and settling. Have a cow bought in Mt. with late Sept calf, rebred and settled on first service AI and calved Oct. 16. She was in transit and stopped at another farm for 2 weeks enroute here.
Needless to say I have had no problems getting them settled and calved. They acclimate to the south and southeast USA very nicely.

 

[la4angus]

Would there be similar problems going the other way? Say taking a cow from Texas to Kansas or somewhere else up north?

No problems should occur .
They should do better going from Tx to Ks than coming from the NW to the sotuth and south east.

 

[cattle_gal]

Sedrick,
Those gals should be ok, espeically if you get them down there before winter hair grows in. Other wise you may have a hairy mammoth that's sweating. Depends what region you are planing on getting them from and where they are going.

LA,
Glad those girls are working out for you from up here in MT.


Ryan,
The only problem they may have coming up from the South is they may freeze to death up here ;-) . I haven't seen much of any typical southern breed cattle up here. Brahma, Bos Indicus types. Except for rodeo stock breeders. Closest is Corrientes and Longhorns also for rodeo stock. Who actually are darn tough in this climate.

 

[redangus]

The grasses in Montana, Wyoming, SD and so forth have much more nutrients in them than the grasses down south. I've heard that cattle must eat 2 to 3 times more to get the same nutrients when they move south. Cattle on the so called "hard grasses" of the North do a lot better and have an adjustment period when they come south. Cattle in the south do much better when the make the journey to the North pasture wise...of course they must be able to handle the cold.

 

[TheBullLady]

We hauled two loads of Simmental and commercial cattle from northern Illinois to Texas when we moved here. We moved them the first part of September, and checked with TDA to find out what vaccinations we needed to give them before we moved. This is very important.. they are different in different areas.

We only lost one cow subsequently.. the vet thinks she may have been a BVD carrier, and the stress of the move made her chronic. We did have a few Simmentals from Wisconsin that concerned me for adjusting to the heat, but they actually did well. I would think twice about moving a lot of black hided cattle south, as I think they would have problems acclimating.

I was told by a rancher once that cattle move easier north than south. Don't know how true that is.. and don't have plans to check the theory!

 

[la4angus]

I would think twice about moving a lot of black hided cattle south.

I never have had any problem moving black cattle from north to south and that is all I have ever moved in that direction.

 

[redwhiteface]

When you say up north how far north are you talking. We bought a bred Maine/Angus cow in Caneda and brought her to Texas. She had her calf without and problems but she never did breed back. We also bought a couple of cows in Kansas one never bred, the other bred once, calved and never bred back.

This sounds more like a management problem than a change in temperature problem. Or, maybe it was just the cattle. Ya think???

 

[la4angus]

When you say up north how far north are you talking. We bought a bred Maine/Angus cow in Caneda and brought her to Texas. She had her calf without and problems but she never did breed back. We also bought a couple of cows in Kansas one never bred, the other bred once, calved and never bred back.

Maybe them $16,000.00 bulls don't know what to do with commoners. They need royalty.

 

[Caustic Burno]

When you say up north how far north are you talking. We bought a bred Maine/Angus cow in Caneda and brought her to Texas. She had her calf without and problems but she never did breed back. We also bought a couple of cows in Kansas one never bred, the other bred once, calved and never bred back.

This sounds more like a management problem than a change in temperature problem. Or, maybe it was just the cattle. Ya think???

I agree on the management problem.
Them 7 bulls on 400 head where probably plum tuckered out, cost alot maybe they just couldn't cover a lot.

 

[bubchub]

The grasses in Montana, Wyoming, SD and so forth have much more nutrients in them than the grasses down south. I've heard that cattle must eat 2 to 3 times more to get the same nutrients when they move south. Cattle on the so called "hard grasses" of the North do a lot better and have an adjustment period when they come south. Cattle in the south do much better when the make the journey to the North pasture wise...of course they must be able to handle the cold.

He is right the grass does have a lot more nutrients in the north than in the south. I think it also depends on their age. We bought a 6-7 year old Brangus bull from Oklahoma and moved it down and it thinned down to nothing and he also ate us out of house and home. We gave him about 25lbs of 12% cubes almost everyday. Sold him and started over with 18-20 month old angus bulls from Missouri and they are doing just fine.

 

[redwhiteface]

We bought a bred Maine/Angus cow in Caneda and brought her to Texas.

How old is this Maine/Angus? About when did you bring her home? That will all factor in.

 

[fellersbarnoneranch]

We have brought cattle from S. Kansas to NE Oklhoma. The cows adjusted just fine. We noticed that when we bred them back, those first calves born during the adjustment did not reach the usual/projected frame size. All were healthy and vigorous, they just didn't grow like they should have. We kept 2 of these heifers and both have produced fantastic calves that have grown at standard and beyond. I have been told by a cattle nutritionist that the minerals in a region can affect cattle this way. (North=Limestone country)

 

[sillco]

The grasses in Montana, Wyoming, SD and so forth have much more nutrients in them than the grasses down south. I've heard that cattle must eat 2 to 3 times more to get the same nutrients when they move south. Cattle on the so called "hard grasses" of the North do a lot better and have an adjustment period when they come south. Cattle in the south do much better when the make the journey to the North pasture wise...of course they must be able to handle the cold.

He is right the grass does have a lot more nutrients in the north than in the south. I think it also depends on their age. We bought a 6-7 year old Brangus bull from Oklahoma and moved it down and it thinned down to nothing and he also ate us out of house and home. We gave him about 25lbs of 12% cubes almost everyday. Sold him and started over with 18-20 month old angus bulls from Missouri and they are doing just fine.

Also moving cattle from west to east is not disirable. As you move west the stronger the grass. When moving cattle west to east the cattle have to eat more to maintane their body condition. The cool season grasses up north are much stronger than the warm season grasses in the south. If you don't believe it just plant ryegrass sometime and see the additional pounds you can carry on it.

 

[Tod Dague]

The grasses in Montana, Wyoming, SD and so forth have much more nutrients in them than the grasses down south. I've heard that cattle must eat 2 to 3 times more to get the same nutrients when they move south. Cattle on the so called "hard grasses" of the North do a lot better and have an adjustment period when they come south. Cattle in the south do much better when the make the journey to the North pasture wise...of course they must be able to handle the cold.

He is right the grass does have a lot more nutrients in the north than in the south. I think it also depends on their age. We bought a 6-7 year old Brangus bull from Oklahoma and moved it down and it thinned down to nothing and he also ate us out of house and home. We gave him about 25lbs of 12% cubes almost everyday. Sold him and started over with 18-20 month old angus bulls from Missouri and they are doing just fine.

Also moving cattle from west to east is not disirable. As you move west the stronger the grass. When moving cattle west to east the cattle have to eat more to maintane their body condition. The cool season grasses up north are much stronger than the warm season grasses in the south. If you don't believe it just plant ryegrass sometime and see the additional pounds you can carry on it.

I plant rye grass in the fall and graze it through the spring and defiantly out produces our summer grass.