My parents milked a small (~20) herd of holsteins for 50 years, before retiring last summer. They sold the milking cows to another farmer, and sold the farm to me. My dad still has some heifers and steers on the farm, and I've been getting more and more involved with helping out with them. I'm looking to transition over to beef. We've got 7 holstein heifers that are at or near breeding age. Two of them are Red, the rest are black. My plan is to get them all bred to Angus bulls (Red on the Red and Black on the Black). After calving, the holsteins would be sold to local dairy farmers, and I'd retain the calves. I'd raise the males as steers, and raise up the heifers to most likely be bred to a Simmental bull (Red on Red, Black on Black). Eventually I'd like to settle into a 4-breed rotation of Angus, Simmental, Hereford, and Gelbveih.
This would be more of a hobby for me than a profit venture. I'm looking to provide meat for the family, and perhaps sell some to neighbors or co-workers at some point. I realize that starting with a dairy foundation is probably not the ideal way to go, but I've also got a bit of an emotional side which wants to be able to say that my cattle can be traced back to my parent's herd.
Anyone who has any advice for dealing with the initial Angus/Holstein cross...or with the long-term 4-breed rotation...I'm all ears.
This would be more of a hobby for me than a profit venture. I'm looking to provide meat for the family, and perhaps sell some to neighbors or co-workers at some point. I realize that starting with a dairy foundation is probably not the ideal way to go, but I've also got a bit of an emotional side which wants to be able to say that my cattle can be traced back to my parent's herd.
Anyone who has any advice for dealing with the initial Angus/Holstein cross...or with the long-term 4-breed rotation...I'm all ears.