What breed...

[Jelps]

My thoughts were four breeds; Hereford, Red Angus, Angus, and Gelbvieh.

 

[Taurus]

My thoughts were four breeds; Hereford, Red Angus, Angus, and Gelbvieh.

It is possible to get all four breeds in your herd. These breeds should be good for now till you take it up to next level. Don't rule the crossbreds such as black baldies out, they are good as these four purebred breeds above. Althrough Gelbvieh are a bit larger than other breeds so it might not be an ideal cow for your family.

Oh by the way...do not buying a group of heifers as your first herd!!!! Especially when you goes away from the ranch when it's calving season and the heifers often takes up all of your family's time if something goes wrong.

 

[agmantoo]

I read your intentions regarding having cattle. Are you and your family doing this for income or for hobby? You obviously are thinking about buying hay as you referenced medium quality. If you cannot sell show calves then you will have to market them. The market dictates what you raise if you intend to make money. Large breeds and breeds that give a lot of milk are going to need a lot of feed that will be costly. Niche cattle may have a market but usually the buyers are scattered and do a lot of trading among themselves. With 20 acres you are going to need "easy keeper" type animals and with the labor available animals that do not need a lot of attention. I would think you would want heifers that reach breeding maturity early and not lose body condition while nursing the calve. With 20 acres supporting 10 females what are you going to do for a bull? With a 90% conception success and no deaths you will only have 9 potential calves to market. Even at todays prices that is not a lot of income for the labor required. Would this not be a better venture once you are out of school? Poorly tended stock does not have a lot of interest to most folks.

 

[IluvABbeef]

My thoughts were four breeds; Hereford, Red Angus, Angus, and Gelbvieh.

Those are most certainly good breeds to go with. And like someone else mentioned, there's no problem going with cows that have more than one of these in them. Those baldies make some really good cows, red or black, and something I'd most certainly consider you to go into, since you did say this is for a commercial herd and not a purebred seedstock operation!

 

[Rahe Family Belties]

If you are not available to pull calves, stay away from club calves. I have friends that pull most of their calves with many cripples or dead from birth injury or genetic defects such as TH and PHA.

A niche market like Belties can be a good alternative. Few, if any birthing problems, cows that produce a long time, heifers and bulls that are fertile at early ages, cows that thrive on marginal pasture, calves that bring premium prices as breeding stock or feeders for grass-fed operations, docile cows that breed back year after year. Beltie carcasses marble well without external fat.

A person above mentioned heat stress as it pertains to cattle. What I read was that the cattle mentioned were short-haired British beef and dairy breeds. My Belties did well last summer despite our heat. Give them clean water and shade and they will do just fine.

And I haven't mentioned that added attention your farm will receive! Northern IN and Il have a lot of breeders. Stop and see one or check out Beltie.org for more info.

If Belties aren't your thing, Angus-based cattle will bring you the most returns in a commercial operation. Black calves bring 10-20 cents per pound more than reds and whites at my local sale barns.

Good luck to you!

 

[Jelps]

RAB - thanks for the info I will check the breed out as well.

Please know people that just because I'm away at college does not mean they will not get taken care of. We are not planning on buying a group of heifers to start, more then likely just one every year until we can't support any more. So it is not as if our work load is changing that much. Yes I won't be home but everybody will pitch in, and with less animals we will have for 4H the more attention my family can give the cows. For our first heifer, whatever breed it might be, next year would you all suggest start crossing her beginning on the first mating? Or building up a decent base in one breed then start the cross breeding there. My thought was to do the ladder. Also, I know I have read reports on line that say a three-way cross maximizes heterosis more so then a two way cross, what is your experience with what has worked best for you. I don't want more reading that says this and that I want your experience, and also not a discussion between two who have different opinions on why there way is better. Just how your system has worked for you. I know that not every system works for every operation.

 

[Nesikep]

Saler would be my suggestion.i have them and have nothing but praise.i have never had to pull a calf and they get up and nurse right away.hardy and will do well in your cold and they take the heat well too.fast growing and easy fleshing.

Really? We found Salers hard to finish. The calves we raised from the Saler bull were not much for docility either. That being said, They are good cows, and I do want to have a Saler bull at some point again.

A few people on the boards here have a GV/Shorthorn/Angus crosses. Personally I would replace the Angus with Saler, and make sure you have a solid-coloured Shorthorn. Here's my reasoning for this cross.
The Salers give you nice frames to work with, but I found them to be hard keepers. They have good milk from typically very good but small udders, and are good mothers, though they can be high strung (watch where you get them from). Salers are known as "One man cattle", meaning they don't like strangers (dogs, wolves, cats, etc included)
The Shorthorns again give you good frames and milk, depending on the line, they can be hard keepers. Good milk, typically good pelvic size (SH calves seem to be a bit bigger), but they area lot more docile and easier to work with.
The Gelbvieh are really there for the meat. They are easier to flesh out than Salers and SH, and have tons of meat on the back and hindquarters. I've found them pretty docile too. They come in Black, Red or Gold flavours.

If I could start all over again, I'd start with some good quality Shorthorn cows, breed them to a Saler bull, and keep the female offspring for my F1 cows. I'd breed the F1 cows to the GV for really nice steers, and I probably wouldn't have anything against the females either.

Most of my cows are 1/2 and 3/4 shorthorn, 1/8th to 1/4 Saler, and except for a couple, less than 1/8th of the original Hereford we started out with.
A bunch of pictures are here http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v153/Rx7man/Moo/

Others who have similar breeding to mine are Hoss and 3waycross.. there are more I just can't think of the names right now

Hope this helps a bit

PS. I don't know how people have 1000-1400 lb cows if they have RA, GV, Saler, SH or most other commercial breeds in them, I think my average cow mature weight is somewhere around 1500 lbs, and my target weight for a yearling heifer is 1000 lbs, 12-1300 by first calf, and it's not entirely true that "Big cows eat more", An efficient big cow can do with less than an inefficient small cow... I had 2 cows in the corral for the last week waiting for them to calf... One is 1900 lbs, the other is 1200, and they both ate the same amount... Less than 20 lbs of oat hay a day each and weren't complaining about the diet.
When a cow performs as I expect her to (not all do), they can raise a 600 lb calf the first time around, and 700 thereafter.

Also, I can recommend staying with SOLID COLOURS. If it's all brown/red, people will think Red Angus, regardless of what breed it is, if it's black, it's Black Angus.. but when you start throwing cream, roan, grey, etc, you will take a hit at the sale barn. For years now, we take top price for the week and size range at our sale barn, uniformity is a large part of this, and showing a great looking animal that reminds the buyer of what he knows he already likes

 

[Warrior2154]

Just my opinion is Hereford and angus cross to make the black baldie. My family has some in their commercial herd and they are very docile and do well at the sale barns.