What breed of cattle?

[bobrammer]

Hi: We've just purchased 42 acres in north central Texas and would like to run a couple of cows. I plan to run registered stock. Mainly just a hobby, but it would be nice if it was a self supporting hobby! I'm mainly considering Angus, Limousin or Maine Anjou. Any suggestions. I'm brand new at this, so please be gentle! LOL. Many thanks, Bob

 

[Crowderfarms]

Bob, Welcome to the Boards! There's a whole lot of Texan's here and other folks in your neck of the woods that I'm sure will be glad to help out! Good Luck.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Hi: We've just purchased 42 acres in north central Texas and would like to run a couple of cows. I plan to run registered stock. Mainly just a hobby, but it would be nice if it was a self supporting hobby! I'm mainly considering Angus, Limousin or Maine Anjou. Any suggestions. I'm brand new at this, so please be gentle! LOL. Many thanks, Bob

Start out commerical until you learn and find a mentor in your area. Registered can be a very expensive lesson with todays prices.They can help you with what will do well and sell the best in your area. I don't really care for black cows other than Brangus in Texas due to the heat factor. There are those that run them also. Lots of good cattle just have to pick the right enviroment.
I wouldn't even think of cattle until you have a mentor looking over pasture, fences, and pens.

 

[jerry27150]

this is highly unusual, but i agree with caustic on this one

 

[cowbelle]

Hi!
I do agree with the idea of commercial cows at first but one problem that I ran into with that is when I got my registered Limousin I did not have enough room for them because of the commercial hefiers that I have. So I would stick with one type of breed or build fences to seperate the commercial cows from the others.

The breed I would choose are Limousin. I my self have limousin and I Think they are a total joy to have! And if you decide on something else I would atleast get a limousin bull and have him to breed with. That way you at least get some of the breeds charatristics.


That are my suggestions so good luck,
Cowbelle

 

[bobrammer]

Hi Cowbelle:

Thanks for the input. I was leaning hard towards Limousin, but have heard they have a bad temperment. Any experience with that? Thanks again to everyone for their comments!

 

[Wilson_Cattle_Company]

Mornin,


My Father and I have just recently began our operation and we have decided that Registered Black Angus is the only way to go and that is the only way that we will go.


You can make more money with any breed for registered cattle but Black Angus is the way to go!!!

 

[Wilson_Cattle_Company]

Limousins are NUTTS!!!!!!!!!

They are to high-strung and antsy!!!


Man…… every time I hear Limousin I get nervous…. Jeez!!!!!!

 

[Conagher]

Hi Bob. I was asking myself this same question several months ago. I've been around cattle off and on most of my life but just recently started back building up my own herd.

About 10 yrs ago I started out building a reg. limousin herd but had to dismantle it due to company transfer out of state. My family always had cross bred (a little of everything but mostly herf/bra cross) while growing up. I met a man (now my father-in-law) that had a very uniform herd of limousin and I really liked them; they were also very popular at the time with several big ranches starting up in the area (lots of money being invested). So, that is the direction I went back then.

Back to the present: I still really like limousin but when I started looking around, a lot of the big limousin ranches were not around any more. So, since like you I would like to eventually have some money coming in I looked to where the money was being invested in my area. That led me to the Angus and Brangus breed. Though, still the vast majority of cattle in my area are commercial cross-bred.

This is only my opinion. Some will agree, some will not agree but it is the choice I made.

I do agree with the above posts; if you are not familar with cattle the commercial route is probably the way to go (less investment risk). I would also echo the mentor comments above, but would make it plural. There's not one person who know's everything, and some things will work better for you and your situation than others. Talk to ranchers, breeders, ag ext. agents, high school ag teachers, etc. I'm still learning daily, and hope to continue to do so.

Good Luck!

 

[certherfbeef]

So I would stick with one type of breed or build fences to seperate the commercial cows from the others.

Why? I run reg herefords with my commercial cattle. No problems there. I don't understand why you think you need to seperate them. Commercial cattle eat the same grass as the registered stock. And registered herf bulls breed them all after I AI a select few.

 

[ctlbaron]

I've seen some charlois that were pretty goofy. Had one old fruitcake cow that made the whole herd stupid.

 

[TexasShooter]

Bobrammer,
Hello neighbor! You're just down the highway from me. Anyhow, since you mentioned Limos I wanted to give you my input. I have a black Limo bull that I breed with red commercial cows and red Limo cows. I went with black so I would get a mix of black and tan/red color calves. As of today he throws 50% black calves. The reason I mention this is because many people don't realize that Limos come in black. I was told from Limo breeders that black Limo bulls have an Angus gene in their background.

Why do I like Limo and X's? They grow fast and are have a very good physique (Tall/high-ass/straight back/great muscle). You will see the difference at the sale - $$. I get the weight and the color – with a black Limo bull. Also, something else that was brought to my attention by my neighbors (that also run cattle) was how Limos and Xs keep their body shape and muscle tone year round. Their weight doesn't fluctuate like other large breeds. I realize different pastures would yield different results, but my cattle are on unfertilized pasture, no supplements (except the occasional bag of feed) and a mineral program.

Limo disposition – they are skittish when around strangers, different surroundings and when isolated. However, I don't necessarily like cattle that are too friendly. They will keep their distance from you, but they will work easy, come when called and will follow a bucket. I have noticed a difference in the X's – they aren't as skittish, etc.

Hope this helps, I know I sound like a Limo pusher but I have been extremely pleased with the breed and the X's. In fact, I am looking for about 10 Black Angus cows as we speak to X with. Anyone experimented with this Limo/Angus X?

 

[Farmgirl]

We have a purebred black limo heifer. She is the most gentle one we own. We had her in the chute a few weeks ago. She was just fine. We shake a bucket of feed and she comes running. We can pet her out in the pasture without feed and we have only had her on our pasture for about 3 1/2 weeks.

I'm sure some limos are crazy but not all are.

Farmgirl

 

[Susie David]

I would decide what you want to do with your cattle...do you want pets for your kids to play with or do you want big beef cattle to market. We have Hereford and Angus and of course the Baldies...did buy a Limo heifer this year to put under our Angus bull to bring a little growth to the operation.
The Herefords and Angus are the most mellow, in my opinion, in fact our grand kids handle the Herefords.
Good luck

 

[Bama]

I have been around most of the major breeds of cattle. I have a small herd of about 30 full blooded Limo's. (red) they don't seem to be any wilder than anything else on my place. This is a herd that has not had any outside influnce in about 30 years except for changing bulls ever so often. All the cows came from heifers held over. They do seem to notice strangers more than some of the other breeds. This herd was once at about 100 cows but has downsized due to the market falling for them over the years. A few years ago the market was more impressed with Angus. So I shifted more in that direction. I should say the market around here. Differant locations will have differant market views.

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

Hi: We've just purchased 42 acres in north central Texas and would like to run a couple of cows. I plan to run registered stock. Mainly just a hobby, but it would be nice if it was a self supporting hobby! I'm mainly considering Angus, Limousin or Maine Anjou. Any suggestions. I'm brand new at this, so please be gentle! LOL. Many thanks, Bob

May I suggest Murray Grey if you want to go with registered stock.They are gentle, docile, and easy to handle.....especially for the novice.You will find a market for the registered animals.The breed is on the rise....and people are looking for seedstock.You can PM me for any questions or links for more info. ;-) :cboy:

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

Hi: We've just purchased 42 acres in north central Texas and would like to run a couple of cows. I plan to run registered stock. Mainly just a hobby, but it would be nice if it was a self supporting hobby! I'm mainly considering Angus, Limousin or Maine Anjou. Any suggestions. I'm brand new at this, so please be gentle! LOL. Many thanks, Bob

May I suggest Murray Grey if you want to go with registered stock.They are gentle, docile, and easy to handle.....especially for the novice.You will find a market for the registered animals.The breed is on the rise....and people are looking for seedstock.You can PM me for any questions or links for more info. ;-) :cboy:

By the way, in case you are not aware,the Murray Grey breed is a cross between Angus and Shorthorn with the desirable traits of both. ;-) :cboy:

 

[lancemart]

I have Herfords--that is Polled Herfords and they all have great dispositions. I handle them a lot and they are very friendly including my bull Pasqualle. Pasqualle is very mello for a bull. I was thinking about getting some Angus, but many people have told me that they forever breakl out. My herfords never have tried to break out. I am sold on Polled herfords.

 

[Crowderfarms]

I have Herfords--that is Polled Herfords and they all have great dispositions. I handle them a lot and they are very friendly including my bull Pasqualle. Pasqualle is very mello for a bull. I was thinking about getting some Angus, but many people have told me that they forever breakl out. My herfords never have tried to break out. I am sold on Polled herfords.

Not to sound like your old High School English teacher but it's spelled Herefords.

 

[bubchub]

I would go with the Limousin. We have had a big red bull in the past and he was great. We know have a black Limousin bull and two red cows in our herd and some Limousin crosses in the herd and they are some of the best producers in the herd. The black bull eats out of my hand and the cows are gentle.