Santa Gertrudis

[cross_7]

When I was a kid we were in the Texas Panhandle and we gathered Hereford cattle all summer and were shipping them.
That fall they shipped in Gerts and they were as wild as deer. I remember they were a dark red, horned cattle with lots of leather, as a kid all I had ever been around were Hereford or baldies and I thought the Gerts were the sorriest I had ever seen.
We'd pen them in the horse trap for a few days and feed them before we drove them out to pasture, but they ran through and tore up fences, tried to jump cattle guards and would fight if pressured.
I remember we had a bad ice/snow storm and we were out on the feed truck hauling hay from before daylight to past dark for seems like weeks.
We'd find them huddled up and they'd scatter but a few had frozen to death in every group.
I don't know if they every got acclimated since we didn't finish the winter there.

So there not suited for that country up there

 

[cow pollinater]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried breeding them back shorthorn to knock a little ear off kind like the brangus do with ultrablack?

I like the idea. I may try that. I've got the gert x, a Bradford x and a char I would love to cross back to shorthorn. What's the semen availability like

Slim. Most shorthorns are show stuff. ABS carries a few decent ones via Origen, which we market. Cattle visions has a good selection of ranch type shorthorns.

 

[bward]

These are some Gert X sim/Herf cross calves... In Alberta

 

[bward]

50 years ago, Gerts were thick and deep with a lot of heavy bone. They seem to be a completely different breed from what they once were. Now they are fine boned and tend to be poor muscling on a general over all basis. They do milk very well, and add a lot of hybrid vigor in a crossbreed so that the offspring are highly superior to either parent. Even with exceptional calves such as these we take a discount in price on them but that is offset by the weaning weight performance. I never lost one to freezing like 'cross7' but I did have a new import bull shiver for the first winter until he acclimatized.

 

[wacocowboy]

there are some pretty crosses in the pics that people posted I ended up buying one of the heifers looking forward to seeing what she will throw looks like she is going to be a big cow will see in a few years what she is about