What to look for when selecting Brangus?

[jess2534]

My husband & I are about to buy some registered Brangus. We are new to the breed & we were just wondering what we needed to look for when selecting heifers, cows & Bulls. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[branguscowgirl]

:welcome:
Where are you located. (That does make a difference.)
What are your plans for them? Seed stock, showing, AI, running a bull?

 

[jess2534]

We are located in South Texas. We are planning keeping some heifers to use for breeding, but mostly just selling the calfs.

 

[Drzr]

What made you decide Brangus?

 

[Jessica06]

Any particular reason why you want them to be registered?

 

[jess2534]

My husband has always liked the breed. They are mild tempered & anything with Angus is getting about $3.50 a pound at sales.

 

[Bigfoot]

Tight sheath, and dew lap would be on my list.

 

[Tim/South]

Tight sheath, and dew lap would be on my list.

I agree.
We added a nice Brangus bull last spring. He has very little extra leather. The breeder had 9 nice young bull prospects and the one we chose was the "cleanest". He will not go on the Brangus cows though, only on the Angus or red cows.
The Brangus and some Charolais cows are with a Hereford.

 

[Caustic Burno]

My husband has always liked the breed. They are mild tempered & anything with Angus is getting about $3.50 a pound at sales.

Brangus can get hotter that a 2 dollar pistol shot five times at rodeo.
Brangus starts with Brimmer and they can be some of the mildest and
wildest cattle to handle and work if you don't know what you are doing.
Secondly you are throwing good money after bad going registered
for a terminal calf operation.

I love the breed and had them that I could lead anywhere
Get stupid in a pen with them and they would blow their nose in your back pocket.
As I stated in another thread IMO Brangus are worse about standing their ground
to fight than an F-1 Tiger when worked up.

 

[Jessica06]

My husband has always liked the breed. They are mild tempered & anything with Angus is getting about $3.50 a pound at sales.

Brangus can get hotter that a 2 dollar pistol shot five times at rodeo.
Brangus starts with Brimmer and they can be some of the mildest and
wildest cattle to handle and work if you don't know what you are doing.
Secondly you are throwing good money after bad going registered
for a terminal calf operation.

I love the breed and had them that I could lead anywhere
Get stupid in a pen with them and they would blow their nose in your back pocket.
As I stated in another thread IMO Brangus are worse about standing their ground
to fight than an F-1 Tiger when worked up.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I agree with what those have said above. Unless you have stumbled on some really gentle Brangus, you just never know what disposition you will get. I would sell any of mine with confidence that they are quiet and gentle, but I have bred and culled on disposition and they are handled from birth. Most are halter broke.

With that said, choosing Brangus females is no different than choosing any other cattle. Confirmation, fertility, udders, feet, disposition. But add cleaner underlines and dewlap along with fleshing ability and muscle.

I also don't think "registered Brangus" is a good choice for your terminal calves. It would be wasting your money. Either you are a seed stock breeder improving the breed with each mating, or you are a commercial breeder selling terminal calves. Not to say that you won't have calves to cull that will not meet the high standards, because you might.
But you want a clear end goal.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I agree with what those have said above. Unless you have stumbled on some really gentle Brangus, you just never know what disposition you will get. I would sell any of mine with confidence that they are quiet and gentle, but I have bred and culled on disposition and they are handled from birth. Most are halter broke.

With that said, choosing Brangus females is no different than choosing any other cattle. Confirmation, fertility, udders, feet, disposition. But add cleaner underlines and dewlap along with fleshing ability and muscle.

I also don't think "registered Brangus" is a good choice for your terminal calves. It would be wasting your money. Either you are a seed stock breeder improving the breed with each mating, or you are a commercial breeder selling terminal calves. Not to say that you won't have calves to cull that will not meet the high standards, because you might.
But you want a clear end goal.

Just because yours are dog gentle don't mean they will be for the next guy.
IMOO you should never start with any Brimmer ,Composite or Cross without experience or a mentor
until you get your feet on the ground.
My girls are dog gentle with me, rode down in the pasture this afternoon with the granddaughter
and they were ready to fight with all the new calves this week.
After I got her to get quite they calmed down and came up to me.
They were liking no part of strange noises with those new calves on the ground.

 

[Jessica06]

I think genetics play a (very) small part in their temperament. Like most everyone else is saying, how you handle them is by far the most influential factor. We might end up culling 1 out of 25 heifers for being too crazy to mess with. With the other 24, you just have to handle them QUIETly, and walk in them pretty often. Which is probably true of most breeds. Usually by the time they're cows, you have to push them pretty hard to get anything done on time.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I think genetics play a (very) small part in their temperament.

I respect every thing you share ricebelt, but I would have to disagree on this. I have raised Brangus side by side in the same environment with the same handling and have one be an idiot and the other be a puppy dog. I can see a tremendous difference with the dispositions of calves out of just one cow by what bull I breed her to.

 

[Rafter S]

Hello Jess,

I'm not going to get involved in the discussion about if Brangus disposition is a result of breeding or handling other than to say it's a combination of both. It will take someone smarter than I am to say how much of each. I have predominantly Brangus cows, and I practically have to push most of them out of my way to walk past them, but I have a few that I bought in 2008 that have never settled down to that extent and I don't think they ever will.

As far as what to look for, one or two people have said to look at the sheaths and dewlap. I won't argue with that, but it can be taken to an extreme. There are some Brangus cattle out there that show very little Brahman influence. I like to see a lot of depth in my cattle, some ear, and heavy hindquarters. I accept that I'm probably not going to get that without some sheath, and just hope that the bull won't get hurt because of it. Since you're in South Texas, having some ear on your calves won't hurt you at the sale barn like it will folks in some other parts of the country.

And I agree with the people who posted above who said that if you're going to keep a few heifers for yourself and send the steers to the sale barn there's no reason to pay the extra money for registered cattle, especially the cows.

 

[Jessica06]

Hello Jess,

I'm not going to get involved in the discussion about if Brangus disposition is a result of breeding or handling other than to say it's a combination of both. It will take someone smarter than I am to say how much of each. I have predominantly Brangus cows, and I practically have to push most of them out of my way to walk past them, but I have a few that I bought in 2008 that have never settled down to that extent and I don't think they ever will.

As far as what to look for, one or two people have said to look at the sheaths and dewlap. I won't argue with that, but it can be taken to an extreme. There are some Brangus cattle out there that show very little Brahman influence. I like to see a lot of depth in my cattle, some ear, and heavy hindquarters. I accept that I'm probably not going to get that without some sheath, and just hope that the bull won't get hurt because of it. Since you're in South Texas, having some ear on your calves won't hurt you at the sale barn like it will folks in some other parts of the country.

And I agree with the people who posted above who said that if you're going to keep a few heifers for yourself and send the steers to the sale barn there's no reason to pay the extra money for registered cattle, especially the cows.

Well said.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Another thing about the breed don't get confused by the look.
You can stand in a herd of registered Brangus some have more
Brahman characteristics some Angus. They are all 100% Brangus
and this had nothing to do with disposition.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Another bit of advice that's won't cost anything but time and gas. Go to the sale barns in your area and see how many calves you see bringing 3.50 a pound.

 

[TexasBred]

Note: Both are registered brangus and about the same age...One looks almost like a pureblood angus...the other much more brangus