Santa Gertrudis

[Anonymous]

Does anybody have any information or input about raising Santa Gertrudis cows? Good, bad, inbetween, all info/opinions would be helpful. What type of bull would you cross them with? I'm located in east-central Texas, so it gets plenty hot in the summer and I've heard they are very heat tolarant. We already run angus cross cows and were just looking for something alittle different.

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[Anonymous]

Australian Gert Association: <A HREF="http://www.clearlogic.com.au/SGhome.htm">http://www.clearlogic.com.au/SGhome.htm</A> Folks in Canada with Gerts: <A HREF="http://www.gottagettagert.com/">http://www.gottagettagert.com/</A>

When we lived in the Mojave Desert and the CA Central valley we used a gert bull on our X-bred angus cows and heifers. The desert environment was dry-lot, the central valley was pasture. They did well for us in both areas, maybe a little too much milk but that was the particular bull we were using. I had, at the time, a custom AI service. We bred customer cows from Jerseys to Ankina (now called Chiangus), the calves came in all sizes and colors but you could always pick his calves out of the herd even when there were Brangus calves too. I had thought of adding a touch of ear to my herd here in the MO Ozarks, if it wasn't for the severe penalty for eared cattle, you can bet I'ld have Gerts or Gert influenced cattle again.

dunmovin farms

> Does anybody have any information
> or input about raising Santa
> Gertrudis cows? Good, bad,
> inbetween, all info/opinions would
> be helpful. What type of bull
> would you cross them with? I'm
> located in east-central Texas, so
> it gets plenty hot in the summer
> and I've heard they are very heat
> tolarant. We already run angus
> cross cows and were just looking
> for something alittle different.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll just give you a few thoughts....I find they milk adequately to heavy, but don't blow out their udders as much as other heavy milkers due to the looser hide on the body and udder. Their skeletal structure is different in that they have a deeper pelvis than other breeds. This and the slope of the pelvis is the main reason they have calving ease. The bulls naturally herd their cows. I have never seen any other breed of bull do this... Perhaps Brahma does? Penalty for ear. My breeding program is aimed at producing rapid growing heavily fleshed animals and those calves bring premium dollars no matter how much ear they have. However everyone including me has a few dogs and they are priced accordingly. Our crossbred gert yearling heifers almost always sell in the top 25%

Things to look out for if selecting a Gert bull Buy a bull with upright pasterns.. soft pasterns are inherited by daughters and will lead to foot problems. Avoid buying bulls with big open shoulders.Some blood lines are notorius for that. Don't buy a bull with a clean sheath with the mistake of buying one with no guts. In the last 15 years, breeders in their attempt to clean up the sheath have made bulls too pipe gutted. Buy a bull with depth in his body and a good spring of rib.

If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.

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