Jeanne - Simme Valley":1mus1d7x said:Many people back in the early 70's chose to breed those big headed, big shouldered fullblood bulls to their small british cows.
We used AI & bred to them also, back starting in 1969. Never had any major calving difficulties - luck or management picking the right kind of bulls - don't know. But, when the Simmental breed first came here, the slogan was "Breed them All - Simmental". Well, every backyard breeder picked out their lower quality cows to "try" the new breed. Yup, those bulls were cow-killers - just ask those breeders.
But, lets get into the current day & age. Major difference. Research shows Simmentals to be easier calving than the Herefords & almost equal to the Angus (I believe within 1%).
Gelbvieh had some of the same problems as well. Look at the average birth weight for Angus, Simmental, Herefords, and Gelbviehs. Start in the 70's, and look at the average today. I can't remember where the article was and can't find it on the web, but if I remember correctly, the avg BW for Angus calves in 1073 was 68 lbs. Gelbvieh in 1978 was 98 lbs. In 2003, Angus avg 81 lbs, and Gelbvieh averaged 85 lbs. Don't quote me on the numbers, but I think that was pretty close.
Every breed has a reputation for this or that, some are myths, some are accurate.