PNZMAN
Member
im wanting to use a santa gertrudis bull on angus based cows but im scared of the calving ease . does anyone have any expertise to lend besides the calf puller......and do you think this cross will do ok
krenwic said:angus is a calving ease breed...shouldn't have many problems as long as you pick the right gert bull. usually make a heck of a commercial cross cow
greatgerts":24nfxc8f said:Have you talked with any breeders? I would shoot for Edenfields at 5-E or George Alexander at Yellow Pines. Both of these breeders have excellent cattle that are moderate in size, and if they can't help you, the definately know someone that can help suit your needs.
I know I'm gonna sound dumb here but what do you mean by "the tendency to steal calves"? Just a wonderin'dun":2s44r4zn said:Around 78 or 9 we used a Gert on Angus and Angus based (some with Holstein) cows and heifers. Never had a bit of problem other then too much milk in the replacment heifers and the tendency to steal calves. That may all be pretty much attributed to that one bull, but they were dandy calves.
dun
Sylvanglades":1p6gpv1j said:I know I'm gonna sound dumb here but what do you mean by "the tendency to steal calves"? Just a wonderin'
UG":1yv2fa76 said:krenwic":1yv2fa76 said:angus is a calving ease breed...shouldn't have many problems as long as you pick the right gert bull. usually make a heck of a commercial cross cow
Angus used to be known as the calving ease breed. Over the past 20 years Angus breeders have done a great job of increasing the growth rate in the general population of their breed. However, improving their growth rate has resulted in bigger calves at birth (thus poorer calving ease) and bigger framed cattle (takes more groceries to keep a mama cow productive). There are still plenty of calving ease Angus bulls out there but don't assume that because a bull is Angus that he is a calving ease bull.
Now, back to the original post. Just because a cow may has "calving ease" genetics doesn't mean that she can handle just any bull she's bred to. Remember in the 70's (for you that are old enough to remember). There were lots of good, easy calving Angus and Hereford cows that were killed by giving birth to HUGE Simmental, Chi, Blonde, and Maine bulls.
So, in summary, most mature Angus cows should be able to calve without problem to SG bulls; just make sure the bull doesn't have shoulders as wide as a garage door and a 120 birth weight.
jerry27150":c5kbudry said:used to use some angus bulls on holstein heifers b/c they were supposed to be small birth weight, but it seemed they had bred away from that to bigger cattle, had more trouble than i did with holstein bulls