What should i breed her with?

[FFACOWGIRL]

Hi, i'm very new with cattle raising. I'm raising a bull calf and a heifer. My plan is to hamburg the bull calf(cuz he's a holstein) and keep the heifer for a pet and breeding heifer. It's not really serious breeding but i would like to get a few nice calves out of her before i finish college. She is Semmental/Holstein. Came from a dairy farmer as a school project. She has an awesome temperment and is quite femine. I would love to hear your opinions. Should i breed her with semmental when the time comes of some other beef breed. She is only two months right n ow so not sure how fast she'll grow but food for thought is greatly appreciated. I will try to post some pics.

 

[VanC]

First of all, you should castrate the bull calf if you haven't already. Partly because you don't want him breeding the heifer by mistake after they get older and partly because Holstein bulls usually get pretty mean as they age.

As for breeding your heifer, most people breed heifers at about 14-15 months so they calve at around 2 years old, so you've got plenty of time to think it over. Simmental would be fine, but make sure the bull is a calving ease bull with high accurracy. I would suggest Angus or Hereford but most of the major beef breeds would be OK as long as you know it's a calving ease bull.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

As a Simmental breeder, of course I strongly suggest you use a Calving Ease Simmental bull. If your heifer is sired by a purebred Simmental bull, than she can be registered as a 1/2 blood Simmental. Than if you breed her back to a PB Simm bull, her offspring will be a registerable 3/4%.
Even if your heifer is unregisterable for some reason, by using a PB Simm bull, her calf can be registered as a 1/2 blood.
There are MANY CE bulls. You can check out my bull on my web site. He is a trait leader in birth weight and produces show quality calves, if you wanted to show in FFA.
http://www.SimmeValley.com

 

[RVF]

Unless you are wanting to be a purebred breeder, I would go for anything but simmental to get hybrid vigour. As a heifer I would breed her to a calving ease Hereford or Angus bull. As a cow I would go for Charolais. However, if you think you may be interested in producing purebreds, Jeanne is correct, breed it Simmental.

 

[luckefarm]

there are several calving ease Simmental bulls to use i would recommend CNS Dream On, or Ellingson Legacy also known as "Ollie" on ABS's website. I have a couple of Olie daughters and have no calving problems. I will be leaving on the 21st to goto 3C Christensen/NLC private treaty sale to buy an Olie son in South Dakota. I cant say enough for these Olie cattle. There born lite and grow like weeds.