The Other Black-baldie

[greenwillowherefords]

Did you know if you breed a Hereford to a Holstein, you get a black-baldie? I can think of a few reasons for having such a cross, such as a tremendous milking cross to use for embryo recipients, or to breed to a beef bull to make a 1/3 Holstein, 2/3 beef heifer, which could then be bred to a terminal cross bull. Or, if you had some inferior milkers, and wanted to get more out of the calves at the sale barn.... what do you guys think? I have a friend who bred some of his holsteins to my Hereford bull.

 

[dun]

Before much reliability was available in Holstin bulls for calving ease, it was a fairly common cross. Just as using an Angus bull on Holstein heifers was. Using a Hereford on a Holstein you will get a much more traditionally marked black Hereford looking calf, i.e. white feet, neck patch, etc.
Having used this cross in a cow herd many years ago, here's what we found. The calves don;t narket as well as straight beef, the bulls market better then straight Holsteins, but the heifers market much worse then Holstein heifers. It takes some pretty exceptional pasture or a lot of grain to keep these girls in decent condition and they milk way more then is needed. We used to have them raise 4 calves at a time. The next generation using a beef bull will start to mitigate the milk some, and the current dock for poor muscleing starts to be less significant. As gro9wn cows they bring about the same money as straight Holsteins for killer prices. If you need more milk in Herefords, there are some high milking Herefords available that won't contribute the problems of using Holsteins.
Around here they're referred to as "Hillbilly Highbreds".

dun

 

[Campground Cattle]

Did you know if you breed a Hereford to a Holstein, you get a black-baldie? I can think of a few reasons for having such a cross, such as a tremendous milking cross to use for embryo recipients, or to breed to a beef bull to make a 1/3 Holstein, 2/3 beef heifer, which could then be bred to a terminal cross bull. Or, if you had some inferior milkers, and wanted to get more out of the calves at the sale barn.... what do you guys think? I have a friend who bred some of his holsteins to my Hereford bull.

Your on the way to making a Hays Convertor.

http://cattle-today.com/Hays%20Converter.htm

 

[sidney411]

We actually have a few Hereford/Holstein cross cows in one of our herds. They all have big bags and most have been culled due to bag related problems. They are always skinnier then the beef animals and the calves are not as good as the beef animals but they always seem to breed back ahead of time so they stay around for now.

 

[Texan]

Did you know if you breed a Hereford to a Holstein, you get a black-baldie?.....or to breed to a beef bull to make a 1/3 Holstein, 2/3 beef heifer.......

Willow, I was just kinda curious about how you end up with the thirdsies. Guess I'm just not very proficient with all of the mathematical computations and extrapolations required. ;-)

 

[Copenhagen & Shiner B]

You cannot beat this cross for docility. I raised Hereford/Holstien cross on the bottle when I was comin' up. We used to wean them early and halter break'em. After that we would put them between the planted pines eatin' fescue. My only problem with this cross is that they tend to get sick easy. Daddy wants to do the same thing now, but with a Brown Swiss rather than a Holstien. Daddy grew up milkin' cows and the dairy influence has stayed with him through the years. A Brown Swiss is hard to find nowadays, but they say that a Braunvieh is the same thing.

 

[dun]

You cannot beat this cross for docility. I raised Hereford/Holstien cross on the bottle when I was comin' up. We used to wean them early and halter break'em. After that we would put them between the planted pines eatin' fescue. My only problem with this cross is that they tend to get sick easy. Daddy wants to do the same thing now, but with a Brown Swiss rather than a Holstien. Daddy grew up milkin' cows and the dairy influence has stayed with him through the years. A Brown Swiss is hard to find nowadays, but they say that a Braunvieh is the same thing.

Braunvieh and Brown Swiss had the same start just as Milking SHorthorns and beef SHorthorns did. The Swiss have been bred for milk at the scrafice of carcass, Braunviehs the other way.

dun

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Did you know if you breed a Hereford to a Holstein, you get a black-baldie?.....or to breed to a beef bull to make a 1/3 Holstein, 2/3 beef heifer.......

Willow, I was just kinda curious about how you end up with the thirdsies. Guess I'm just not very proficient with all of the mathematical computations and extrapolations required. ;-)

I'm actually pretty proficient with fractions since I use them every day on the job. It's just that late at night I get off track sometimes. Haven't heard from you in a while. How are you?

 

[hillbilly]

Before much reliability was available in Holstin bulls for calving ease, it was a fairly common cross. Just as using an Angus bull on Holstein heifers was. Using a Hereford on a Holstein you will get a much more traditionally marked black Hereford looking calf, i.e. white feet, neck patch, etc.
Having used this cross in a cow herd many years ago, here's what we found. The calves don;t narket as well as straight beef, the bulls market better then straight Holsteins, but the heifers market much worse then Holstein heifers. It takes some pretty exceptional pasture or a lot of grain to keep these girls in decent condition and they milk way more then is needed. We used to have them raise 4 calves at a time. The next generation using a beef bull will start to mitigate the milk some, and the current dock for poor muscleing starts to be less significant. As gro9wn cows they bring about the same money as straight Holsteins for killer prices. If you need more milk in Herefords, there are some high milking Herefords available that won't contribute the problems of using Holsteins.
Around here they're referred to as "Hillbilly Highbreds".

dun

I agree with all this and still have three of them.
The cows look poor but raise a great calf. Sometimes the calves have a little bit of a flat hip, but if in with a beefy group they don't seem to dock them.
The heifers from these cows are usually keepers.
I don't breed for these cattle but pick them up on occation at sale barn.
Some of these "Hillbilly Hybreds" actually work in the ozarks.

Hillbilly

 

[Dave]

I have some of these also. They work great for me. I also pick them up at the sale barn. I generally avoid the ones that have enough milk for four calves as they are the ones that have trouble breeding back or keeping weight on. I do have one of those heavy milkers. She always raises at least two calves. I take the extra effort to keep her around because she will always take an extra calf even if it is only for a few days. Having a nurse cow available comes in handy and she always makes me money.
Last year a dairy farmer talked me into raising some crossbred heifers. They are Holstein/Simm cross. Don't ask me why he bred his heifers to a Simmie bull? But I raise four of these heifers and actually they weren't that big as calves. The plan is to breed them to a Angus and keep the heifers from that cross. It is probably one of those dumb as dirt ideas but it sounded good at the time. In a couple years I will tell you how that worked for me.
Dave

 

[TheBullLady]

Holstein - Simmental cross make good calves. Especially with some of the newer bloodline Simmentals that don't have the milking capacity that the "old bloodlines" had. They'll make very good momma cows, and a great cross on a Hereford or Angus bull.