Re: Cross breeding polled herefords

[shadyhollownj]

Heres the repost of this topic since it disappeared. I am looking to cross breed some of my polled herefords and commercial cattle. I am a small hobby farmer with only 20 head. I have recieved alot of posts with good Info and recommendations. I am leaning towards a red gelbvieh and coming back with red angus. There was a post about shorthorns (which I never really considered) but then the forum went down and I didnt get to see the replys. I use abs for my semen and currently have my heifers bred to progress ( should have one on the ground anyday now). I am still trying to get good replacements so I am not entirely concerned about meat. Anyone have any luck with abs gelbvieh bulls other than Dun with booboo. Thanks.

 

[dun]

Do a search for boo, thre as bunch of other stuff but also some posts about BooBoo

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Also, you mght consider using Simmental for replacement females. We have used WS Beef Maker and he has extremely good numbers and is a calving ease sire. He is red also. We will be calving our first daughters starting end of next month.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I have a put together herd that contains all the major breeds in some fashion. I tend to buy 1000 to 1200# rwf females since they are good mothers and sell at a discount.
My best looking calves come out of the GV, shorthorn, or simi cross cows. I think they tend to milk a little better and have more muscle than the average straight bred english.
Size wise my GV run smaller than average and the simi/limi crosses run larger than average. My wife's two pet cows are both simi/angus crosses. Really nice cows but too big for my taste. I think the GV cross are a lot more efficient and still easy to handle.
So the plan this year is to cull the biggest cows, buy back smaller mostly hereford replacements, and cover them with a balancer bull.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Size of the crossbred offspring depends on the size of bulls you use. There are many PB Simm bulls SMALLER than many Angus bulls. Most breeds have just about whatever SIZE you are looking for.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Do they have Low Line simis too?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

No, none that I know of.
But, you can find AI Simmental sires from 5.5 - 8. That gives you quite a range of height, and with 205, 365, & mature weights, you can figure out how they "stack up".
My bull was a 5.6 frame & had a mature wt of 2300# - gives you a pretty good mental image without seeing a picture.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

cross your Herefords with Angus. Black baldies make a great cross. & the color is what everyone wants also black. But it's the Hereford in them that makes them really good. :cowboy:

 

[SmokeStackFarms]

For what it's worth:
I have polledH/Red angus that yields great offsprings. I have bred these momas to Red Angus bulls for the last two seasons. This year the litle offspring bull weighed 620 @ 6 months. I am not selling off the calves but will breed to a Brangus this summer.This group is 3/4 redangus. The next breding will be brangus bull and am curious to see the outcome. I would have preferred to have gotten a Polled bull but this Brangus opportunity was too good to pass.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

You can always breed them to a Limousin, ABS has a few. Hereford limi crosses make good cattle and they will have a butt on them.

 

[gizmom]

I would vote for the angus on herfords but then I am an angus breeder. We also have a commercial herd of simm/angus and I have to tell you they work really well! I like the simms they are good mammas plenty of milk and they breed back.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

Smokestack, the way you post reads it sounds like you have a Brangus that isn't polled. Better look into the woodpile on that one.

 

[SmokeStackFarms]

well--What I meant & what I conveyed didn't come out correctly. The Brangus is polled.

 

[shadyhollownj]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think Im gonna go with a gelbvieh and a red angus for my crosses with my polled herefords. Hopefully will make some good replacement heifers. Thanks.

 

[wtrapp]

I have a group of both Hereford cows and Angus cows. There are benefits to both and I like both. The Black Baldie calves, which you would get by crossing an Angus Bull on the Hereford Cows, (or visa versa) will come out ready to get up and nurse. They grow well and sell well. You have options of selling them for freezer beef or at your local salebarn. You should be happy with either result.

 

[shadyhollownj]

Alright I done a ton of resereaching old post on here. I am gonna get some red gelbveih and some red simm semen from abs and hope for some good replacements. Thanks for the help dun but I really dont want the black in the herd although he probably is the best bull abs has. Thanks for the comments jeanne you and my neighbor have talked me into some simm crosses. As far as adding the black to the heard with black baldies I just dont want to look out and see the same balck herd everyone else has in the country. Thanks everyone. If anyone has pics of red gelbvieh hereford crosses my wife would love to see what they look like. Shes more about looks Im about function.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Good choice! remember, besides making great feedlot cattle - they are super replacement heifers.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Alright I done a ton of resereaching old post on here. I am gonna get some red gelbveih and some red simm semen from abs and hope for some good replacements. Thanks for the help dun but I really dont want the black in the herd although he probably is the best bull abs has. Thanks for the comments jeanne you and my neighbor have talked me into some simm crosses.

I have several hereford simi cross cows. Really calm and good milkers. Seems to be a great maternal cross.