Not a good cross

[piedmontese]

Ok most everyone knows what breeds x well but what are some bad crosses and what makes them bad?

 

[Taurus]

Angus x Fleck....great cross....unless you got a rattail.
Longhorn x Red Angus....not enough meat on them even in F1 and F2 crosses.
Highland x Angus...reduce the frame and won't get big as a purebred angus steer of same age at slaughter time.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Couldn't some of this depend on which breed was the cow and which breed was the bull?

For a less-desirable type of cow, breeding to any decent bull will be a step up. But it does not work the other way around.

Having a herd of Charolais cows and breeding them to a longhorn bull year after year does not make a lot of sense. You can do it the other way around and the cows have really done better with respect to the calves they can produce.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Ok most everyone knows what breeds x well but what are some bad crosses and what makes them bad?

Invariably, when a question such as this arises in a discussion of beef cattle, the focus almost immediately becomes one pertaining to "Breeds". This is understandable when one considers that producers are concerned with their particular breed, and how those particular breeds have performed for them in the past.

But, in my opinon, the primary determining factor(s) for so-called "bad crosses" in mating beef cattle should not focus on the particular "breeds" involved in the matings, but on the Genetic traits and characteristics of the individuals concerned. Granted, breed "A" crossed on breed "B" will produce progeny reflecting the specific dominate traits relating to Prodction, Maternal, Carcass and multi-trait selection indexes specific for each breed. But where the "Rubber Meets the Road", so to speak, is determined by the concentration and Accuracies of the EPD's and the DNA profiles of each individual cow and bull which produces the progeny!

Arguments relating to which breed of cattle is "BEST" will continue as long as there are cattle breeders talking to one another! But if the discussion ever gets to the point of really being serious insofar as the source of PROFIT and successful matings and crosses in breeding beef cattle, the genetic quality of the cattle and goals of the breeders ultimately will determine the bad crosses and what makes them bad!

DOC HARRIS

 

[Loch Valley Fold]

Highland x Angus...reduce the frame and won't get big as a purebred angus steer of same age at slaughter time.

Taurus, am going to disagree here have you seen my Highland x Angus?? There's nothing about smaller frame size with my cattle

 

[Taurus]

Highland x Angus...reduce the frame and won't get big as a purebred angus steer of same age at slaughter time.

Taurus, am going to disagree here have you seen my Highland x Angus?? There's nothing about smaller frame size with my cattle

Yes I saw your cattle but my statement still stands and 100% truth. My uncle tried this cross many years ago and his straight angus calves outweight the crossbreds by 150lbs at weaning time. The highland cows did really reduced the frame in their calves that was sired by angus bull. I expected the angus bull to increase the frame size in the calves out of the highland cows but guess not. His crossbreds do not get big as a straight angus at slaughter time. We can always agree to disagree here but that's my experience.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Angus x Fleck....great cross....unless you got a rattail.

REALLY????? Where do you think the modern day Simmental comes from?????? Rattails happen from the dilute gene, not that common. More common in other breeds. Simmental is more popular because of this cross, if rat tails were that much of a problem the breed would not be that successful!

 

[Gators Rule]

Angus x Fleck....great cross....unless you got a rattail.

REALLY????? Where do you think the modern day Simmental comes from?????? Rattails happen from the dilute gene, not that common. More common in other breeds. Simmental is more popular because of this cross, if rat tails were that much of a problem the breed would not be that successful!

agreed :cowboy:

 

[Jake]

Angus x Fleck....great cross....unless you got a rattail.

REALLY????? Where do you think the modern day Simmental comes from?????? Rattails happen from the dilute gene, not that common. More common in other breeds. Simmental is more popular because of this cross, if rat tails were that much of a problem the breed would not be that successful!

Rattails were not that uncommon with Fleckvieh because of the diluter gene. Wasn't anymore common or uncommon than in Chars or Gelbvieh. They have bred the diluter out of mainstream simmies for the most part now.

 

[glacierridge]

Basically...
Anything has the potential to be a bad cross if using poor quality parents...

And almost anything has the potential to be a good cross if you use finer quality parents.


If you use margarine to make your cookies they still will never be as good as cookies you make with butter.

Garbage in, garbage out.

Have a highland x BB heifer calf that's built like a brick Schmidt house because she comes from a higher quality highland and from a top cow.

 

[wacocowboy]

I've crossed a lot of different stuff and always willing to try something new but the only one I have found that was just trash was any breed with Corriente I had a Hereford bull and he was great bred him to Longhorns and almost all the calves were red with white faces and all the calves were thick and heavy with good weights at the sale and never got docked but even that bull couldn't produce quality with some Corriente cattle I bought to try out so a friend bought them from me swearing his Char bull could make good calves with them but those calves never lived up to even his LonghornxChar calves