santa gertrudis breeders

[midtncattle]

Just got my first registered heifers this weekend. Going forward, is there any specific bloodlines I should look for when purchasing heifers to or cows that would work well as good commercial mommas.

 

[saintgert]

Congratulations! and Welcome!
I think the answer will depend a bit on what lines you're starting with and also what you are looking for in cattle. We tend to focus on the show side of genetics, but when I think of breeders who produce purebred cattle that work for commercial markets, I tend to think of genetics from Harris, Briggs, Wendt, Red Doc, and Winrock broadly. All are large breeders that have been around for a long time with names that can be found in pedigrees around the country.

Some popular, timeless bulls that you will see in many pedigrees include:
Hatchet 150 (Tinney Farms)
Partner 5273 (Wendt)
Briggs 023/91 (Briggs)
Geronimo 3983 (Wendt)
Grizzly 3308 (Primarily you will see in pedigrees carrying Cotton Branch or Liberty Ranch genetics)

These will at least give you a place to start on pedigrees, if that is what you are looking for.

Some other common genetics you will likely see are:
Clarendon 740
Hustler 920
Strut 55
Top Gun 244
Ricardo 182/02

These genetics really get into people's stylistics. The Hustler/Strut combination was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but is somewhat less common now. From what I can tell, opinions in the breed are fairly mixed on Top Gun and Ricardo, with some folks loving them and some folks not as much, but both have played a large role in the breed over the last 10 years, and both have produced quality descendants. Clarendon 740 is very popular among the show crowd, and you will see him in a lot of pedigrees.

You will, of course, find animals from outside these pedigrees that are of high quality, I'm simply trying to provide a snapshot. All of these bulls are well-represented in the semen catalog in the January magazine (also available online at http://www.santagertrudis.com). You might consider attending the College of Knowledge in conjunction with the Crimson Classic Sale in Hanceville, AL at the end of April.

Others may have different impressions or opinions from mine, but that's a first run.

 

[midtncattle]

Thanks for your response. Been looking at some mommas currently breed to a briggs bull. My main goal is lbs on the ground out of the mommas. Will likely cros with char bull. I am starting to get interested in the star five side of things.

 

[saintgert]

Wish you the best of luck! That combination should work well (GertxChar).

What source did you wind up using for your seedstock, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[greatgerts]

Those are some of the bulls that have had some sort of impact on the breed. We have used most of those lines in our herd and have seen a lot of success with them. One of our current sires came from Harris Riverbend Farms, and his sire is a bull called C3 20. This bull was very popular in the late '80s. He and a son, Riverbend's Brazos were champions all over the place. Both are trait leaders in EPD's. David Harris used the C3 20 bull on a few flushes and got some amazing calves out of it. He is using the old and the new and seeing great results.
The Briggs line should give you some animals that will work anywhere. If an animal can make it in those harsh conditions, and you move them to an area with a decent amount of grass, I think you will be happy with what they can do.

 

[midtncattle]

Thanks just wanting to get some milking mommas to add lbs at sale.

 

[bigrob]

I'm very interested in this breed as well. How well do they perform in general as a breed?

 

[thendrix]

I have heard that Santa Gerts are prone to prolapse uterus? Heard the same about Beef Masters. Is this true? More so then any other breed?

 

[saintgert]

The prolapse problem has really been cut back: we culled pretty intensely, knowing that when it gets passed down, it's typically through the dam, so we haven't had a prolapse in a long time. I should imagine other breeders have done the same if they've been around the breed for any length of time, making it much rarer than it was 20 years ago. It's a shame that reputations like that stick around for so long.

We've been involved with the breed for more than 50 years, and have been very pleased. My grandfather bred up from a hereford base in the 1960s, sold out in the 1970s, and got re-involved when my dad moved back in the 1980.

In general: heat tolerant, hardy; some bloodlines are more efficient than others, excellent maternal instincts, and generally good longevity. Gerts have become very popular in crossbreeding for the brahman influence and heat tolerance they bring. There's a good market for them in Texas on the feedlot side, from what I understand. The breed is undertaking efforts to improve the gathering of performance data through the feedlots and bull tests. Our numbers of breeders outside of Texas has been on the decline as people will take the Santa Gertrudis base herd and throw and black bull on them, but we've reclaimed a few because the quality of animals has increased. Will be interested to see if any interest grows in our area since the recent dispersal of Double E Farms threw 200 head of Santa Gertrudis influenced cattle into the market.

I will add that there's nothing prettier than a pasture full of Santa Gertrudis.

 

[bigbull338]

I'm very interested in this breed as well. How well do they perform in general as a breed?

ive been in beefmasters for 5yrs,an i havent had amy probs with prolapes of any kind.

 

[SSGenetics]

Midtncattle, where are you in middle TN? Lots of good SG breeders here in the sountheast. There is a sale down in Hanceville, AL in April called the Crimson Classic. They will have purebred and commercial lots. Ill be there, so let me know if you go.

If you are going strictly commercial, I would suggest going with the gertXherford super baldy or gertXred angus and put the terminal bull of your choice on them and watch the scales explode at sale time. Straight bred gerts will do the same thing, just might be a little harder to find commercial straight breds.

Ive been lurking on these boards for quite some time now, and have noticed your interest in Santa Gertrudis. Let me know if I can be of any help!

 

[midtncattle]

Planning on going to a few upcoming sells. Plan to go to the Crimson Classic, but mainly as a spectator. I understand those are premium cattle sold there and prices will relect that. To be honest I have had an easier time finding the straight gerts than the star 5 combinations. I got a few good conections now and am looking a gradually picking a few good females along to grow my herd. Would even like a few red bramngus but they are hard to find in TN or AL.

 

[saintgert]

Kersey Colley Farms of GA will be holding a herd reduction sale at the Cullman Stockyards in Cullman, AL on March 24. Both purebred and Star 5. 96 head to sell.

 

[midtncattle]

Already made plans to attend.

 

[midtncattle]

Will be interested to see if any interest grows in our area since the recent dispersal of Double E Farms threw 200 head of Santa Gertrudis influenced cattle into the market.

Would have loved to been able to attend that sell. Can you tell me what price range the gert hereford and gert red angus cows brought?

 

[saintgert]

The prices were very good. Most lots hovered between 1400 and 1700 regardless of breeding; high selling lot I saw was about 2550. We did not hang around for the young lots after we bought one we had targeted. It was a great sale, but there were not many bargains that I saw.

 

[midtncattle]

The flyer I saw had some good loking cattle. Everything is high now. Some of those pricess on Cattle Range are hard to imagine.

 

[bward]

I never had a uterine prolapse in a gert but I have had 2 vaginal in the last 27 years. Gerts in the 50's had a lot more muscle than they do now. I don't know if its because of the show ring or what but modern gerts are not as deep as they used to be, and the muscling has decreased to where most herds seen in advertisements show a lot of hip bones and the style is much more angular then the ol roundedness they once had. Its almost like the effort to decrease naval flap has inadvertantly removed the beefiness, depth, and easy doing traits in one fell swoop. A bull like Hatchett who is a 'meat wagon' himself seems to have a low heritability in his offspring for that meatiness. You might want to try some of that "Noddy" semen ( I think thats his name) He is Australian and I do have to say that the Aussies did a much better job of improving their herds than we did. They have some incredible specimens. Congrats on getting your Gert Girls by the way.

 

[bward]

I forgot to mention that just about any other breed mated to your gerts will give you tremendous hybrid vigor and excellent weaning weights. We use Simmental to cross with and another breeder up here in Canada uses Blone Aquitane. You want that first calf small though, so stick with gert for your first calf.

 

[midtncattle]

They are breed to black angus, should drop by end of March.

Granddad had gerts in late 80s early 90s. Through my shopping for my cows I have noticed that today's models I have also noticed that those in the field are not as beefy and that thier hip bones stick out. My uncle even stated that they don't look graddads used to.

Gonna keep trying to add a few good milkers along the way. Prob cross with char.