What breed to start with?

[Anonymous]

I live in southwestern Ontario, Canada and would like to start to build a small breeding herd of purebred beef animals and I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on which breed would be good to start with. I'm most interested in Limousin, Simmental, Hereford and Red Poll but my decision will be based more on the potential markets for the offspring. And I would also like to choose a breed that crosses well and produces excellent stocker calves in the event that producing breeding stock doesn't work out the way I hope it will. Thanks for your input!



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[Anonymous]

out of those 4 i would go with simmental all the way.

 

[Anonymous]

>any of those you selected would be a good choice. they all cross well with other breeds. which ever markets the best in your area would be a consideration. the limos sometimes tend to be a little snakey when you have them penned up working them at times.



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[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

> I live in southwestern Ontario,
> Canada and would like to start to
> build a small breeding herd of
> purebred beef animals and I'd like
> to hear everyone's thoughts on
> which breed would be good to start
> with. I'm most interested in
> Limousin, Simmental, Hereford and
> Red Poll but my decision will be
> based more on the potential
> markets for the offspring. And I
> would also like to choose a breed
> that crosses well and produces
> excellent stocker calves in the
> event that producing breeding
> stock doesn't work out the way I
> hope it will. Thanks for your
> input!

Based on the fact that most packers want a high marbling/high yielding carcass, the easiest way for the commercial producer to get there is to breed a high marbling breed (i.e. Shorthorn or Angus) to a high yielding breed (i.e. Gelbvieh, Simmental, Charolais, Limousin).

In most the cattle producing areas of North America Angus influenced cattle comprise at least 50% of the commercial herds. Consequently, I would encourage you to go with a breed that compliments high marbling Angus, such as Gelbvieh, Simmental, Limousin, etc.

Personally I would go with Simmentals or Gelbviehs since both of these breeds produce wonderful commercial replacement females when crossed with Angus.

 

[Anonymous]

Buy some F1 Angus Hereford Cross heifers and then breed them to an Angus bull. That cross has yet to be beaten for cow efficiency and carcass quality.

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[Anonymous]

Sure do learn a lot on this board. Lady says she wants to breed purebred cattle. Nice to know that F1 Hereford-Angus cross cattle bred to Angus are purebred. Which association registers them as purebred?

 

[Anonymous]

I'm offering a profitable suggestion. Like this world needs another purebred breeder.

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[Anonymous]

I was at the all breed sale in Ontario a couple of weeks ago. Herefords topped the sale, angus (good looking animals) did very poorly, shorts did poorly, limos very variable. It honestly appeared that the shine was off the blacks in Ontario (it was never that shiny here) and herefords are returning--this has been the consistant results here. I don't happen to be a hereford breeder, but they'd be my guess. The problem is that there are so many long time breeders of them that getting good prices for good animals for newer breeders is very difficult. Simmies--there's a resistance to the breed in the commercial sector, hard to sell bulls, females are a cinch (especially fullbloods). Limos--couldn't pay me to raise them--and a lot of my clients have them as terminal herdsires, lots of 350 lb weaning weights...Red polls--a friend looked after a herd in Texas and claimed she has never met worse cattle--stupidity and poor doers-- in her opinion.

I have obvious bias. There are many breeders in SW Ontario of Herefords and simmies for sure, likely limos as well. Red polls? WKWC!

 

[Anonymous]

Jana, You'll find many different answers on a board like this and it will be tough to sort through them. I am a more than a little biased as we have Reg. Simmentals and Red Angus. My suggestion to you would be Simmental. They cross great with Angus, Herf. or Shorthorns and the genetic range is a lot larger than some of the breeds you listed.

If you do pursue the Simmental breed I would start with red factor Simmentals. The bloom is off the fullbloods. Try to raise polled cattle as that's what most of our buyers demand. That is quite widespread here in western Canada.

One of the problems with commercial acceptance of Simmentals in Ontario was people getting stung with the old striped up, extreme type Simmental and a lot of those were fullbloods. Make sure you start with the right type in any breed and Good luck.
> I live in southwestern Ontario,
> Canada and would like to start to
> build a small breeding herd of
> purebred beef animals and I'd like
> to hear everyone's thoughts on
> which breed would be good to start
> with. I'm most interested in
> Limousin, Simmental, Hereford and
> Red Poll but my decision will be
> based more on the potential
> markets for the offspring. And I
> would also like to choose a breed
> that crosses well and produces
> excellent stocker calves in the
> event that producing breeding
> stock doesn't work out the way I
> hope it will. Thanks for your
> input!

 

[Anonymous]

> I'm offering a profitable
> suggestion. Like this world needs
> another purebred breeder.

I agree that we don't need more purebred breeders, but we can always use more GOOD purebred breeders.

Regarding your suggestion above, you ar right that the black baldy cow is a great start, but I wouldn't breed back to an Angus. You will give up much of the potential hybrid vigor by breeding back to either an Angus or a Hereford. The resulting carcasses will also not yield as well.

I think a better sire breed would be a continental breed like Simmental, Gelbvieh, or Braunvieh. You will improve the carcass yield and also produce a set of heifer calves that ought to make some mighty fine replacement heifers.

 

[Anonymous]

> I live in southwestern Ontario,
> Canada and would like to start to
> build a small breeding herd of
> purebred beef animals and I'd like
> to hear everyone's thoughts on
> which breed would be good to start
> with. I'm most interested in
> Limousin, Simmental, Hereford and
> Red Poll but my decision will be
> based more on the potential
> markets for the offspring. And I
> would also like to choose a breed
> that crosses well and produces
> excellent stocker calves in the
> event that producing breeding
> stock doesn't work out the way I
> hope it will. Thanks for your
> input!

Jana, You should seriously consider going with the Murray Grey breed of cattle.There are several breeders there in Ontario that you can check with, or go to Murray Grey International (mgi-inc).Good luck!

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[Anonymous]

is this board, check your local breeders to see what is the breed that have the market. I will personally go with Simmental, years ago I began my Simmental herd with Canadian cattle.

> I live in southwestern Ontario,
> Canada and would like to start to
> build a small breeding herd of
> purebred beef animals and I'd like
> to hear everyone's thoughts on
> which breed would be good to start
> with. I'm most interested in
> Limousin, Simmental, Hereford and
> Red Poll but my decision will be
> based more on the potential
> markets for the offspring. And I
> would also like to choose a breed
> that crosses well and produces
> excellent stocker calves in the
> event that producing breeding
> stock doesn't work out the way I
> hope it will. Thanks for your
> input!



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[Anonymous]

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[Anonymous]

> Jana, You should seriously
> consider going with the Murray
> Grey breed of cattle.There are
> several breeders there in Ontario
> that you can check with, or go to
> Murray Grey International
> (mgi-inc).Good luck! after looking at Belgian Blues and all their Muscling why arent they more popular?

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[Anonymous]

Carcass isn't desirable in the US and calving problems.

dun

 

[Anonymous]

I don't know the availability of them in canada but the australian breed, the murray grey has excellent marbling, muscle, growth rate and the market in america and japan is good.

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