Recording Crossbreds

[tigerstripe794]

Hello!

Short Version of my Question: I'm looking to breed my grade heifer to a registered bull and I'm looking for what (if any) breed associations are "Open" and crossbred animals can be recorded/registered? After some miscommunication with the Hereford Association, I was very disappointed to discover that the Hereford herd book is completely "Closed" to animals that are not 100% Hereford. At first glance, it looks like Shorthorns may be a possibility through their ShorthournPlus program, does anyone have experience w/ this? Are there other breeds that are open to crosses?

Here's the Long Version of where I'm at and what I'm try to accomplish:

I've raised goats for 15+ years (don't hold that against me!) and I'm brand new to beef cattle. I have a black baldy heifer calf that was orphaned and given to me by my uncle... mainly because I'm a sucker for babies and I have a knack for keeping things alive! My hard work paid off, and my no-colostrum calf is now 3 months old and doing great! I've always wanted a seed-stock beef herd and I feel like this 'adventure' has been nature's way of kicking me off the fence and just doing it!

My heifer is a tiger-striped, black baldy. I don't know much about her parentage, she's probably some Hereford, some Simmental, the rest is just guessing... Like I said, I wanted to bred her to a Hereford bull (sentimental reasons: my Grandpa, who's my profile picture, was a Hereford breeder). But her 50% Hereford calf would not be recordable through the Hereford Association, and thus not very valuable to my seed-stock beef plan. I want to use my current heifer to build a herd. Thus, I'm looking for my Plan B. I'd like to AI her to a nice registered bull (shorthorn?) and keep crossing to registered bulls to increase the offspring's purebred percentage. Best case scenario this would just be for her first calf, I would like to use her as a ET recip, IF she proves to be a good mother.

Thanks for your help!

Leslie

Belding, Michigan

 

[dun]

Red Angus Simmenthal, Gelbvieh, limousin and I'm sure other registries allow recording/registering percentage calves and allow to breed them up.

 

[Ky hills]

Santa Gertrudis have a Star 5 designation for a calf that has at least one parent that is a registered Santa Gertrudis.

 

[ez14]

Were at in belding are you? Im just a little south of the old burned down whites bridge

 

[NolanCountyAG]

If you want a seedstock operation, start with seedstock.

 

[M.Magis]

If you want a seedstock operation, start with seedstock.

My first thought as well. I'm not sure how an orphan calf of unknown ancestry could possibly be considered as the foundation for a seedstock operation.

 

[dun]

If you want a seedstock operation, start with seedstock.

My first thought as well. I'm not sure how an orphan calf of unknown ancestry could possibly be considered as the foundation for a seedstock operation.

By the time the many generations of offspring would be considered seedstock the origianl would have so slight an affect all she would have been is an oven.

 

[cow pollinater]

Most breeds have some avenue to breed up to purebred. Hereford and angus are the two main breeds that don't. I'd make the first cross to a fullblood instead of a purebred to get your percentage up to a true 50% whichever breed you go with.
Good luck and have fun.

 

[M.Magis]

By the time the many generations of offspring would be considered seedstock the origianl would have so slight an affect all she would have been is an oven.

True, but aren't most people looking to buy registered animals interested in the animals family history? Using a mystery calf as the foundation of such a program sounds like a sure way to lose money. If just used as a recip cow, she wouldn't be a factor in the registration, would she? I don't have any experience in registered animal.

 

[ez14]

By the time the many generations of offspring would be considered seedstock the origianl would have so slight an affect all she would have been is an oven.

True, but aren't most people looking to buy registered animals interested in the animals family history? Using a mystery calf as the foundation of such a program sounds like a sure way to lose money. If just used as a recip cow, she wouldn't be a factor in the registration, would she? I don't have any experience in registered animal.

You would keep track of the breedings so you would be able to show the family history back until the mystery calf which would be far enough back im sure alot of people wouldn`t look that far :2cents:

 

[cow pollinater]

By the time the many generations of offspring would be considered seedstock the origianl would have so slight an affect all she would have been is an oven.

True, but aren't most people looking to buy registered animals interested in the animals family history? Using a mystery calf as the foundation of such a program sounds like a sure way to lose money. If just used as a recip cow, she wouldn't be a factor in the registration, would she? I don't have any experience in registered animal.

The first crosses are not registered in the sense I think you're thinking of but are recorded as percentage animals. With every mating of a percentage animal back to a purebred sire the percentage of the resulting calf grows until the resulting calf is considered purebred (but not fullblood, fullblood is never bred up).

 

[cbcr]

We have the Composite Beef Cattle Registry http://www.compositebeef.com

We record and display as much actual parentage as is possible. While other associations do record crossbred animals, many fail to do their due diligence and even if the dam is a registered Angus will only list the dam as Angus.

When we started the registry over 3 years ago, one of our first projects we were contacted for was to provide export certificates to over 200 head of Hereford animals that were to be exported to Russia. These heifers were sired by Registered bulls, but were out of "non-registered" dams that most of the parentage was known.

It took us about 3 months, but the Russian Federation approved our export certificate. The heifers were shipped to Russian farmers and they then used the export certificates to receive their subsidy from the Russian Government for the part of the cost of purchasing.

 

[smoothmule]

If you want a seedstock operation, start with seedstock.

My first thought as well. I'm not sure how an orphan calf of unknown ancestry could possibly be considered as the foundation for a seedstock operation.

They all started out the same, with percentage crosses

 

[tigerstripe794]

Thanks for the information!

I agree with the "start with seedstock" comment, I think that's sound advice. (I'm reminded of a quote about making chicken salad...) So, rest easy! I DO plan to spend some $$$ and get good foundation stock in the upcoming years and I don't have high expectations for this heifer. Rather I consider her my "push" to get going. Call it practice!

Thanks again!

 

[tigerstripe794]

Were at in belding are you? Im just a little south of the old burned down whites bridge

Small World!! I'm up by M91 and Ellis Ave. I'm still bummed about White's Bridge, can't believe somebody would do that.

 

[ez14]

Were at in belding are you? Im just a little south of the old burned down whites bridge

Small World!! I'm up by M91 and Ellis Ave. I'm still bummed about White's Bridge, can't believe somebody would do that.

I know we used to go to smyrna for ice cream but now its to long of a drive to go all the way around