What is your favorite cross for mother cows?

[ALACOWMAN]

the brahman/holstein cross. sound's like you would have too much milk and not enough mass. cause from my experiance the brahman is a adequate milker by her self. but dont need something with any more frame and less meat added to her.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Some of the highest quality calves I've seen came out of registered Braford cows bred to Charolais bulls. The calves were thick, fast growing, and structurally correct.

same here, and a charolais on brangus makes a fine calf

 

[*Cowgirl*]

I love my Chis, but man those Angusford black baldy mommas make some good cows.

 

[greenwillowhereford II]

SimmAngus - number 1 Continental crossed with the number 1 british breed.
Also, pretty hard to beat the old BWF (Hereford x Angus)

Maybe those old BWF raise a pretty good calf sired by a Simm bull?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Hereford x Angus

Do you see any advantage (other than color!) using red vs. black angus in this cross?

 

[ANAZAZI]

Thank you all but I want another fortyfive suggestions!

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Fullblood on any breed of cattle you want to use them on. Big butts is our busness!!

 

[Anguscollegekid]

50/50 English Continental are great for mothers, feeding, and carcass, an Angus/Simmi milks like crazy and lives forever. Had some Salers/Hereford cows that were really good cows too-milk, capacity, and bred every year-finally culled the group out at 14 or 15. The Angus/South Devon/Tarentaise composite was a good mother cow-moderate with rib, milk, and fertility. Angus/Hereford/Simmental/Gelbvieh pretty good too, seemed a bit harder breeding though, maybe a bit too much muscle. Throw a little Shorthorn or Jersey in any mix for a little extra milk and fertility and you may have the optimum cow, except the calves will likely be hard to get sold so then she'll no longer be the optimum cow...

 

[Jovid]

MARC did an extensive study on this issue and one of the best cows they came up with was a Angus/Hereford/Red Poll/Pinzgauer crossed on any continental bull

 

[shortstuff]

Angus X Tarentaise females... lots of them around here & there is a reason.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Angus X Tarentaise females... lots of them around here & there is a reason.

Good Tarentaise promoter!
I do not know of one in NY - sure there must be some, but I've never met anyone with one.

 

[Jovid]

wrong Jovid....

According to Marc and Dr. Dan Moser Kansas State Univeristy...Salers are the best continental breed to cross with English based cows.




At the recent breed Summit meeting held in Kansas City, Dr. Dan Moser from Kansas State University presented an overview of the Salers breed.
Dr. Moser simplified the information down to comparing continental breeds: he looked at the current breed average EPDs for growth and carcass traits, utilized the current U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) across-breed EPD adjustment factors and then listed the information on an Angus base. Chart 1 shows what those comparisons look like.
Salers have the lowest and most optimal birth weight coupled with growth and performance for crossing with Angus. It's really as simple as that. The milk EPDs, also show the Salers breed with maternally oriented milk production levels when combined with Angus genetics. With the other continental breeds; you have to sacrifice calving ease, growth or maternal. No other breed combines all traits as well as Salers.
Dr. Moser then evaluated the across breed EPDs for carcass traits. Chart 2 shows the carcass comparisons adjusted to an Angus base. The results found Salers to be the highest grading continental breed and comparable in Red Meat Yield and Ribeye Area to the other continental breeds which were substantially higher than Angus and Red Angus. To quote Dr. Moser, "Salers are superior to competing continental breeds for marbling, and equal for yield".
While much of this information has been gathered and reported for some time, evaluating the across-breed comparisons for EPDs is another way of analyzing it.
So, as you visit with other cattlemen, potential new Salers breeders and commercial customers, be sure and tell them how great Salers cattle are. According to the MARC data, Salers have optimum birth weight and growth performance for crossing with Angus. Salers are superior to competing continental breeds for marbling, and relatively equal for yield. Of course you need to mention this as you share your experience and give your own examples of how well the calves are born without assistance, how they get up and nurse and what great mothers the cows make. Dr. Moser went on to state, "Continental with the most calving ease and marbling should be an easy sell."
"Salers are superior to competing continental breeds for marbling, and equal for yield".
"Continental with the most calving ease and marbling should be an easy sell."
Chart 1
Current Breed Average EPDs Adjusted to an Angus Base
Breed
BW EPD
WW EPD
YW EPD
Milk EPD
Angus
2.3
40
74
20
Salers
5.3
47
71
21
Limousin
5.9
37
47
9
Gelbvieh
6.1
48
53
24
Simmental
7.4
57
75
19
Charolais
10.9
62
87
10
Maine-Anjou
9.5
37
46
13
Lowest Birth
Chart 2
Current Breed Average EPDs Adjusted to an Angus Base
BreedMarblingFatREARetail ProductAngus0.090.040.160.08Salers-0.27-0.20.923.12Limousin-0.751.65Gelbvieh-0.62-0.251.04Simmental-0.45-0.231.17Charolais-0.5-0.260.95Maine-Anjou-0.56-0.251.184.46
#1
Continental
Dr. Dan Moser
Kansas State University

I didn't specify which continental breed. If you like Salers that is fine with me.

MARC did an extensive study on this issue and one of the best cows they came up with was a Angus/Hereford/Red Poll/Pinzgauer crossed on any continental bull

 

[goodbeef]

Fed out a group of Saler steers once, NEVER AGAIN ! Have neighbors that feel the same way, so they would not be part of any cross that i would ever be interested in. These Saler steers made southern cattle look like puppies, instead of just being wild and crazy they would come after you. If you Saler people want a positive.... they were a nice punch of steers to look at.