What about Santa Gertrudis?

[East Caney]

Hi everyone,

(a bit lengthy, but please read.)

I've been a member of the board for a few months. I don't sign in much, but I do always get great responses and a wealth of knowledge. So, thanks to you all who do respond.

My question is:

Is there some reason that Santa Gertrudis aren't extremely popular? I don't know a whole lot about the cattle business, and I'm currently only running 10 mixed breed cows. I wanted to start shifting toward a particular breed. From what I've read, Santa Gertrudis (being Brahman/Shorthorn cross) should have heat/insect tolerance (Brahman), good mothering abilities (Brahman), good milking abilities (Shorthorn), and early maturity (Shorthorn). Also, Brahmans are known for their longevity which should keep the Santa Gertrudis producing for 10-12 years at least. Am I accurate in saying this? I thought these cows bred to a Continental breed bull (Simmental or Charolais preferably) would yield high growth calves from sound mothers with easy calving and high milk production. What do you knowledgable people out there think?

 

[Ryan]

I've always been a big fan of "Gerts" I think your assessment, if done properly, is correct. I am not real sure why they have not become more popular, I guess they just don't have near the numbers that brahman has. I think they are breed that could be crossed well, here in the south, with just about anything and produce great offspring. Continentals would be good, another breed that I have heard of having good success crossing with Gerts is Red Angus, especially if you like red. THats just my opinion on them...

Ryan

 

[jcarkie]

one of my favorite crosses are the hereford x gert cross cows.
i have heard they don't yield well????

 

[bward]

Being a Gert fan for the last 20 years, I have to say that your perception of what the Gerts are like is correct. Easy calving, excellent mothering, high milking and long living. On the less desirable side, they can have big open shoulders, lousy feet, and in a poor attempt to get clean underlines some strains have lost some depth and guts. So when choosing some to buy, look for good upright feet smooth shoulders and lots of guts. They are out there!

As far as crossbreeding with Continentals, I have done just that with Simmental, with outstanding results. You don't get the best of both breeds you get better than both breeds.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

one of my favorite crosses are the hereford x gert cross cows.
i have heard they don't yield well????

gert/ herf is a great cross. but as far as striat gert. goes i would have just soon have a jersey cow with a bad attitude. i chased more then my share horseback of um from guy's that had the long money but short minds. ;-)

 

[Beefy]

Gerts have a bad reputation for having poor dispositions and fertility problems.

 

[Tealduck]

We've been raising Gerts about 10 yrs now and they've been great. No real problems to speak of. We have one "psycho cow" which we brought into the herd last year, throws nice calves but is over zealous in protecting her calves to the point of being a danger so she's out of here as soon as this calf is weaned. The rest are easy to work with. We've had no fertility problems and they usually breed back in 6 to 8 weeks. The only draw back I've found is they mature later, ours heifer usually breed at 23 to 25 months. Hope this helps

 

[Beefy]

nice avatar.

 

[East Caney]

I hope I'm not completely changing the subject, but I do want to know more. I really want to have Brahman influence in my mother cows. I prefer not to have an F1 because I don't want an overwhelming percentage to show in the calves headed to the sale barn. The reason that I was so interested in the Santa Gertrudis is because I read in a study that that Shorthorn and Angus have a lot of the same characteristics (frame size, easy calving, carcass quality, etc.) but Shorthorns have better milking ability. So, what's the biggest difference I would see between Gerts, Brangus, and Brafords..and which do you prefer?

 

[backhoeboogie]

I hope I'm not completely changing the subject, but I do want to know more. I really want to have Brahman influence in my mother cows. I prefer not to have an F1 because I don't want an overwhelming percentage to show in the calves headed to the sale barn. The reason that I was so interested in the Santa Gertrudis is because I read in a study that that Shorthorn and Angus have a lot of the same characteristics (frame size, easy calving, carcass quality, etc.) but Shorthorns have better milking ability. So, what's the biggest difference I would see between Gerts, Brangus, and Brafords..and which do you prefer?

I prefer Brangus, but that is a personal thing. Grandaddy had Brahmans and he had Gerts (he was between Longview and Marshall maybe in your neck of the woods) He had success with them. Gerts are good cows. You are right on track. We can all argue as to why we prefer a given breed, but you will find excellent mothering in the breeds you are pursuing and they will work well in your climate. Cull the bad ones. Cross breed as you are discussing. Some ranches are big enough to keep a pure strain as well as crossbreeding. That is the ideal self sufficient place to be.

 

[Beefy]

out of those three i like brangus the best too.

 

[Tealduck]

Thanks Beefy!

 

[Lammie]

Ihad friends that raised Gerts for many years. I thought they were good looking cattle. I had one a couple years ago that I was feeding out and she had a serioius problem with fences and was low on smart. She grew wheels as soon as she was big enough. She was a head butter, too.

 

[dun]

Of thr Brahman influenced cattle I've alwasy preferred Gerts. The problem we had with them was they were too smart, but it sure taught me a lot about working cattle slow and easy, too much milk for our environment and they tended to be calf stealers.

dun

 

[eric]

If you like the Shorthorn/Brahman influence, have you considered beefmasters? They are 25% hereford / 25% shorthorn / 50% brahman cross. They cross well with an angus cow/bull and all the ones I've ever owned were extremely gentle. They take the heat really well and are excellent mothers. Might want to do some research on them if you get a chance. You can probably pick them up a little cheaper than Gerts, as most Gert raisers seem to be pretty fond of their animals.

 

[East Caney]

I had not considered the Beefmaster breed. Again, I'm new to owning cattle and didn't even know off-hand what the cross was of a beefmaster. Thanks for the knowledge. I'll check them out as well. Crossing to a beefmaster should leave the calf with a 1/4 Brahman influence (assuming the bull has no Brahman in him). Is that a low enough percentage to take away the ear? I have a Brahman cross cow right now that looks to be at least 75% (to me). She has the ears flopped way over. She's just missing the big "hump" on her back and she has a very clean underline. Her calf is a pretty smokey gray color but looks like it has wings sitting out on it's head.

Also, Dun mentioned that the Gerts were too much milk for his environment. Dun, in what condition would a cow produce too much milk? I'm not being smart, just wanting to learn. My thoughts were the more milk produced, the larger the calf weaned.

 

[cypressfarms]

Dun, in what condition would a cow produce too much milk? I'm not being smart, just wanting to learn. My thoughts were the more milk produced, the larger the calf weaned.

Not necessarily the more milk the better. A calf will only grow to it's "genetic" potential. Any milk past that is milk that is wasted. By that I mean the cow is expending too much energy in producing milk, and not enough to keep her own body in good condition (and re-breed successfully).

 

[East Caney]

Thanks Cypress.

Help me with this...

Will an English or English cross cow naturally give enough milk to support the growth of a calf from a Continental breed bull?

(assuming both breeds fall right in their averages for milk and growth.)

 

[Beefy]

yeah, beefmasters are okay too.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Thanks Cypress.

Help me with this...

Will an English or English cross cow naturally give enough milk to support the growth of a calf from a Continental breed bull?

(assuming both breeds fall right in their averages for milk and growth.)

i think what their saying that a cow can over produce the amount of milk needed for some calves and wind up with bag or teat trouble and you can bet this will happen. now a crossbred bra/herf or brangus or simbrah would give plenty of milk for a cont, cross calf cause their gonna demand more than say a angus calf on one of these