What to cross with longhorns?

[Shorthornguy]

Hey Dun :lol: Take it easy :lol: We have a dozen Longhorn cows. We have bred them to a pure white Shorthorn bull. Most of the calves are polled. The hiefers I retained were bred to a CF Trump son. Any good hiefers out of them will be bred to a Red Angus. 1/8 Longhorn for natural disease resistance. 3/8
Red Angus for the growth. 1/2 Shorthorn for the natural grass fed marbling. Kit Pharo will be jealous. :lol:

 

[Wewild]

That said, I would go with a hom. polled angus. It will knock the hornes off of most,

Which catagory do you belong to?

 

[Brandonm2]

Why cross them with anything? You can;t make a silk purse from a sows ear

dun

I think by now, we all know where you stand on the longhorn breed. However, there must be something to em, cause the number of breeders is going up.

As an ornament they have they're place but why try to turn them into something they aren't. About like planting field corn and eating it as corn on the cob.

dun

Actuallly I picked a bushel and tried that once.....not the brightest idea I have ever had.

 

[CCRanch]

Did it. Crossed longhorns with a Beefmaster bull. Still have cows on I kept as heifers. Would never know they had any longhorn in them.

 

[Beef11]

I had a purse made from a sows ear once, it was the best purse I had seen. The sows ear was crossed with a silk worm. The hybred sows ear was awsome

How on earth did you do that? I would think that the f2 generation might have some problems.

Actuallly I picked a bushel and tried that once.....not the brightest idea I have ever had.

I used to nibble on it raw in the field and thought it would cook up alright. Turns out its way better raw than cooked and it isn't very good raw. Glad to see i'm not the only one.

 

[MoGal]

Saw my cousin at the salebarn last week and he told me they had just sold some longhorn x (black) angus calves at the salebarn and he said they didn't do too bad as the calves were black and polled.

 

[TxStateCowboy]

http://www.banderagrassland.com

check restaurants+retail, someone is catching on...

I've had some of their longhorn steaks, very tender and clean, and has flavor. Noticeable difference to ordinary steak, which now seems bland in comparison.

this is a niche market though. That means high $$$.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

www.banderagrassland.com

check restaurants+retail, someone is catching on...

I've had some of their longhorn steaks, very tender and clean, and has flavor. Noticeable difference to ordinary steak, which now seems bland in comparison.

this is a niche market though. That means high $$$.

Thanks for your support of Low Cholesterol Lean Longhorn Beef!

I guess if "Micky D's" Quarter Pounder burgers were made from Longhorn Beef you might actually GET a 1/4 pound of meet in the burger...lol. Longhorn ground beef generally is 95 to 98% lean.

Since we've been eating our own LH beef, "our" opinion is that LH beef has a better flavor. Not greasy, etc. We eat a lot of ground beef because we like it...also, our LH pot roasts, stews, are exceptional in our opinion.

 

[Bobg]

I have a couple of Longhorn cows and AI them either to Hereford or Angus. I run them on grass as yearlings and then grain them for 90 days. They have all graded "Choice" and people that have bought some say it's some of the best beef they've eaten. I upped the last steer I sold to $1.70/# hanging weight and will probably up that to $2.00 next year. If I had could come up with more pasture I would be raising more since I can't supply the customers I have.

Bobg

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Why cross them with anything? You can;t make a silk purse from a sows ear

dun

I think by now, we all know where you stand on the longhorn breed. However, there must be something to em, cause the number of breeders is going up.

As an ornament they have they're place but why try to turn them into something they aren't. About like planting field corn and eating it as corn on the cob.

dun

I agree with both of your posts, dun! We have reiterated this subject time after time! The question of "What do I breed this (Whatever) to should always be followed by the question, "What purpose do you have in mind for the progeny?? What are you planning on DOING with the offspring?" There should be a justifiable reason, ultimate function and meaning for breeding any female for the purpose of producing offspring! In this case with the Longhorn, IN MY OPINION, you should breed her to the very best LONGHORN bull you can acquire, and treat the progeny as LONGHORN cattle! Anything else is playing "Guess Who!?" and "Button, Button, Whose Got the Button?" games.

If your plan is to feed out the calf and stock your freezer, then some MEAT producing breed would be the choice. But a better plan would be to breed a "Meat Producing Bull to a Meat Producing Cow" and capitalize on optimal Terminal genetics!

The only reason to breed "Unknown Quantity Bull A" to "Unknown Quantity Cow B" is to produce an "Unknown Calf C" that you don't have a clue what to use it for. If you want to play games it is your business, but it is not very good Bu$ine$$.

Insofar as retaining the ????-bred heifers, why would you wish to keep the heifers?? To sell the progeny at a sale barn?? Why not get a Meat Producing Cow and breed her to a Meat Producing Bull and keep the replacements? Now you would have something to sell at the 'sale barn'. Now you have a pragmatic plan, rather than an "Unknown Quantity".

DOC HARRIS

 

[dun]

Better watch out Doc, folks will start squawking about discouring people or being a wise donkey.
I don;t understand why people can't get the edea of complimentary crossbreeding figured out. I guess I'm just to old to waste the years on trying to turn anything into something they ain't.

dun

 

[Shorthornguy]

We used the Longhorns because we wanted to introduce some natural disease resistance into the herd. Our goal is to be 100%
grassfed organic. We sell some of our finished steers at the salebarn but only as a last resort. When it comes to breeding cattle I like to keep an open mind. Same with marketing cattle.
If I didn't have a few longhorns the nieghbors wouldn't have anything to talk about. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[toby]

I know I asked what most folks cross with longhorns in order to sell their offspring at commercial auction. Most everyone said charolais first and either limousin or angus second.

What if you were going to retain the heifers? Would you still want the same cross for future mothers?

I have one longhorn that had calves from two different shorthorn bulls, one horned roan, one polled red, both calves have sold as something other than longhorn at 8 mo and 540 lbs.

 

[Rustler9]

Breed your Longhorn cows to any beef breed bull that you like and I still say that you'll like the crossbred heifers. They make excellent moma cows. The calving ease and mothering ability is worth alot in my opinion. Of course, any time the Longhorn breed is mentioned you'll have the nay sayers but that's fine. That's what makes the world interesting. Boy, am I glad we have the different breeds and the freedom to choose what breed or breeds that we want to raise. I breed my Beefmaster and Beefalo cows to Longhorn bulls and the calves are great. The beef is excellent and the heifers can't be beat for brood cows. By the time you breed those half Longhorn heifers back to your beef bull of choice you have 1/4 Longhorn blood in your cows but still have the hardiness, milking and mothering ability plus the hybrid vigor. Charolais is still the best cross for market calves.

 

[Joy in Texas]

I saw something yesterday at the local sale barn that I wouldn't cross with them. They ran about 30 head of steers and heifers thru. They were longhorn and jersey crossed. They were strange looking. You could see the jersey face on them and the paint bodies. A couple of the heifers didn't look to bad, but I wouldn't have bought them. They all weighed between 429-501 lbs.The cheapest sold for 69 and the highest went for 78.

 

[phillse]

I would try crossing them with either a Homo. Polled, Homo Black SImmental to get solid color pattern and add muscle, yet keep maternal triats; or I would cross them with a Black or Red ANgus.

 

[okwalker]

I picked up some LH cows a few years ago cheap. It seems a good homo polled charolais is the way to go. I have tried angus but have gotten some calves that are colored like holsteins. Other than the color, LH generally are funnel butted and fine boned. So you need a bull that will fix those problems.