small corriente cow to angus bull problems with BW?

[raykour]

I acquired a corriente cow and her calf. The cow bred back and appears to be about 4 months along by palpation. The calf was born last April and is 275 lbs. The cow is probably 5 years old. She is a tiny thing, probably 350 lbs. Without going into the debate of why I would bother, it would be easiest for me to turn her back out with a beef bull in the summer. I've read around that angus x corriente is not an uncommon cross to make, but the cow is just so little it almost seems ridiculous to me. I asked some folks that raise some roping stock and they say their horned cattle never have any calving problems and don't seem to think twice about the idea.

Anyone have any *constructive* thoughts.....

 

[Bigfoot]

I haved calved out corriente cows, that were bred to a charlois bull. The half corrientes have a body shape that seems very condusive for an easy birth. With that said the smallest corriente cow I've ever calved was maybe 550 or 600 pounds. If my wife will post a pic, I'll put up a pic of a longhorn heifer, and her charlois calf. You'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[Bigfoot]

Hard to believe this calf was out of this heifer.

 

[raykour]

Ha, love the picture.

With horses, the size of the sire is no issue in breeding. Of course, there is the actual size difference when mating that can become an issue in extreme situations. Small mares (think Shetland ponies) can be AI'ed to draft type stallions and the mare limits fetal size in utero. Then the little critter quickly has to practically kneel in order to nurse as it outgrows its mother very fast. I once had a full sized paint stallion (15.1 hh, or 61 inches at the wither and about 1100 lbs.) breed a much smaller (12 hh, or 48 inches at the wither and probably 450 lbs) mare and she foaled out a little foal that dwarfed her by the time it was a yearling similar to the two in the picture.

The point is, I wonder if somehow these Spanish type of cattle have this ability in some way.

The cow is a little light, and could probably use 75 lbs. of flesh on her but even with that she'll still be small. I have 6 months to decide what to do with her.

 

[Taurus]

My friend raised roping stock corriente cattle for the rodeo but after he has a kid, he settled down and let the corriente cows running with his father's commercial angus cows and registered black angus bulls. Never had any problem with the corriente cows calving out angus sired calves.

 

[glacierridge]

Thanks for this thread.
I was looking at buying a Mini Herf x BB heifer...
And was hoping to breed her to a solid CE Simmy after her first calf (she's currently bred)
I had reservations, but her style is making the purchase too hard for me to resist.
I was just worried about calving.
I think she goes about 700-750 just from eyeballing her and she's still young so she may get a little bigger.

 

[raykour]

I took this cow and weighed her this morning and she has more frame than I thought-500 lbs. I am confident she will flesh out a bit too so after what I have heard here I am confident breeding her to a beef bull.

Also glacier ridge I keep a few dairy cows (jerseys) that can't weigh more than 800 lbs and are pretty piddly looking that I have had no issues breeding them to gelbvieh and Simmental bulls so I think you are good to breed the smaller heifer to whatever especially after a first calf.

 

[Bigfoot]

That cow will be fine. Your just not used to seeing them. They will fool you.

 

[glacierridge]

This is the heifer I'm looking at.
She's about as tall as a hay ring if that helps anyone??
Advise welcome.
Looking at spring to get her.
Quite like her.

 

[Curtis36]

I like her too.

Who would have ever thought to cross those two breeds... or was she a oops? Which one was the dam and what is she bred to?

Where did you find her at?

 

[Bigfoot]

Glacier,

Just throwing this out there. I think the shape of the half corriente calf is what allows the cow to have the calf. I have never taken a pelvis measurement on one, but it has to be small. I would have that heifer measured.

 

[glacierridge]

Curtis
She was an oopsie child.
The dam was a percentage BB (I guess there was a little Holstein in the mom but she was mainly BB)
The sire was the mini.
The bull looks pretty good sized but just a short frame.
Looks like he has a lot of mass on his little frame.
At any rate I wish I could have watched. Lol.
They are at my friend's place who we've gotten BB semen from.
He said the dam was over a foot taller than that little Casanova. :lol2:

 

[cross_7]

I acquired a corriente cow and her calf. The cow bred back and appears to be about 4 months along by palpation. The calf was born last April and is 275 lbs. The cow is probably 5 years old. She is a tiny thing, probably 350 lbs. Without going into the debate of why I would bother, it would be easiest for me to turn her back out with a beef bull in the summer. I've read around that angus x corriente is not an uncommon cross to make, but the cow is just so little it almost seems ridiculous to me. I asked some folks that raise some roping stock and they say their horned cattle never have any calving problems and don't seem to think twice about the idea.

Anyone have any *constructive* thoughts.....

My 2 cents
I had a big ol rough place and I bought some 1/2 angus/correinte
I bred them back to a brangus bull, because that's what I had and was using.
Most had pretty good horns and looked like a beefy corriente and they were solid black, their calves were small and most had horns and still had a corriente look to them.
I never compared exactly but they were lighter at sale time, I bet as much as 150-200# lighter.
The cows didn't do any better than the brangus/cross bred type cows
I wanted a cheap cow that could work in that rough country and they fit, but I had crossbred cows that did just as well and raised a heavier calf
Point being I see no advantage in a cow that going to raise a dink calf

 

[Bigfoot]

Just like I'm "not a goat person", but I've had some goats. I'm not a "corriente/longhorn person", but I've had some.

 

[heath]

My exexperience with running a brangus bull on LH or corriente cross cows is it doesn't work. You need to run a bull that will add muscle and bone to the calves.
The cow is only half the calf, the right type of bull has to be used to make it work.

 

[Beef Man]

I guess that I would believe that nature long ago took care of the problem calving corriente and longhorn cows. Being a producer of primarily english beef cattle<,I would be a little anxious to cross some of our recently developed minatures with a sire that showed a large birthweight. In some things mother nature does a better job selecting for things than we do, alltho her methods are quite cruel. Witness some of the problems with a lot of the contenental's when they were first imported. Most of them wer e bred and raised in a small indoor like operation's so always had someone looking after them and when turned out on there own had some interesting problems. I have wondered if we are'nt doing some of the same things with our cattle today? I do realize that we all have to select and manage our cattle,in these times, so as to make them as profitable as possible because inputs are so high. But at the same time are we looseing some quite important natural instinks? Some where there is a happy medium and everybody can make things work out.

 

[raykour]

Cross_7
I train up some horses and mainly I will use this cow and her calves to track around the arena and throw a rope at from time to time. I acquired her with her calf and bred back for a pittance and I bet I can sell her future offspring to my friends for the same use. It doesn't sound like she will hardly make a dent in a feed bill so I'll just see. I just didn't want I kill her in the process.

 

[cross_7]

Cross_7
I train up some horses and mainly I will use this cow and her calves to track around the arena and throw a rope at from time to time. I acquired her with her calf and bred back for a pittance and I bet I can sell her future offspring to my friends for the same use. It doesn't sound like she will hardly make a dent in a feed bill so I'll just see. I just didn't want I kill her in the process.

I didn't intend to be impolite
I wouldn't worry to much about her unless your breeding to a big hard calving bull

 

[skeeter swatter]

Thanks for this thread.
I was looking at buying a Mini Herf x BB heifer...
And was hoping to breed her to a solid CE Simmy after her first calf (she's currently bred)
I had reservations, but her style is making the purchase too hard for me to resist.
I was just worried about calving.
I think she goes about 700-750 just from eyeballing her and she's still young so she may get a little bigger.

The same "rules" that apply to a corriente or jersey will not apply to a half BB

 

[Taurus]

Thanks for this thread.
I was looking at buying a Mini Herf x BB heifer...
And was hoping to breed her to a solid CE Simmy after her first calf (she's currently bred)
I had reservations, but her style is making the purchase too hard for me to resist.
I was just worried about calving.
I think she goes about 700-750 just from eyeballing her and she's still young so she may get a little bigger.

The same "rules" that apply to a corriente or jersey will not apply to a half BB

and what you mean? That a BB isn't a calving ease breed?