I don't know much about brahman-influenced cattle, but IMO I think you should get some good registered hereford cows, and breed them all to a registered hereford bull (A.I. works great in small operations to keep calving windows small and broaden choices) and after the first few calves you should be able to tell which cows best represent the genetics that you would like to have in the bulls you sell (docility, fertility, WW, YW, etc.) and I would continue breeding those to a good hereford to improve their genetics and register those offspring. For the other cows, the ones that don't quite live up to your expectations, I would breed those to something black (maybe brangus for TX?) and then keep the good heifer calves out of that cross for growing your commercial side, while still having bull calves that will get a good price at the sale's barn. If you need income A.S.A.P. then you could even take your initial registered cows and breed them all to the same brangus bull for the first couple calves to figure out which cows raise the best calves before you go in the registered direction. Basically which side would you rather grow first?
A. 10 registered cows, A B C D E F G H I J
breed them all to registered bull
Cows A B C D all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year one)
Cows A C E F all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year two)
Cows A B C H all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year three)
In year 4, you breed cows A B C to a really nice registered bull to help expand that herd, while cows D E F G H I J all get bred to a bull that will make nice crossbred steers for the sales barn, as well as nice F1 females that will really excel in your commercial herd.
B. 10 registered cows A B C D E F G H I J
breed them all to good bull that will make nice commercial F1 females and nice steers to "ring the bell" at the sales barn
Cows A B C D all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year one)
Cows A C E F all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year two)
Cows A B C H all raise exceptional calves that best meet your goals (year three)
In year 4, cows A B C get bred to a registered bull to help grow that herd, while cows D E F G H I J all continue to get bred by a more commercially-oriented bull
Personally, I would lean towards A first because it would help grow your registered herd more quickly, and it doesn't matter if a bull calf is registered, you can still cut him and sell him if he isn't a good one. This is more long-term oriented, and could make you more money down the road.
But I also lean towards B because it puts more money into your pocket faster, and establishes your commercial herd earlier. The key to B is that you must use the same bull on all the cows for all 3 years so that you are comparing "apples to apples."
I also have a registered herd and a commercial herd, I enjoy my commercial herd because it allows me to test out various crosses (out of 3 cows I have one carrying sim one carrying club calf and one carrying shorthorn), but I also enjoy my registered herd because that is where I get the best calves and I feel like every time I get the next generation I am making improvements not just in my own herd but also in the breed itself.
Edit: While feeding some calves another idea came to me. Let's say you go with B, you buy some really nice registered (for the sake of explanation, let's say hereford) cows and you breed them all to a black (let's just say brangus) bull for a few years to see which cow really stands out as the best one you've got. I would find some semen from the best hereford bull you can find/afford and flush your top cow to that bull and use your F1 females as recips. This would, ideally, give you 3 or 4 offspring that would truly get your registered herd off to a great start. Plus if you use the best hereford A.I. bull around, then it makes marketing the bull calves much easier!
