What would you breed her to?

[showmomof2]

It is time to think about breeding this heifer. She is 3/4 maine and 1/4 shorthorn. The place we bought her from wanted to breed her to their angus bull. He is nice and muscular. Of course, we will check birthweights on anything we breed her to first. My daughter wants a shorthorn calf to show and since this heifer is 1/4 shorthorn would it be feasible to breed her to a shorthorn bull? The calf would be over 1/2 and eligable for the appendix shorthorn registry if I'm not mistaken. Also, do you think we could get some color? The daddy to this heifer is very colorful-red and white. What do you think? This heifer has put on some more condition since this picture, but this is the only one I had of her on this computer. Thanks.

 

[SKF Show Cattle]

Breed her to an Angus bull first then you can breed her to a shorthorn. You may get color with a shorthorn but the most important thing is to get a live calf so the angus is your best bet for her first calf. Before you breed her to anything with miane or shorthorn in it you need to make sure she is PHA and TH free if you don't test her ONLY bred her to a bull who has tested clean. Good Luck

 

[farmwife]

Breed her to an Angus bull first then you can breed her to a shorthorn. You may get color with a shorthorn but the most important thing is to get a live calf so the angus is your best bet for her first calf. Before you breed her to anything with miane or shorthorn in it you need to make sure she is PHA and TH free if you don't test her ONLY bred her to a bull who has tested clean. Good Luck

Even though I'm a Hereford breeder, an angus would be my choice. Your daughter could show the calf no matter what since there are commercial classes for heifers in Arkansas as well as steer shows.

 

[randiliana]

You could breed her to anything, just make sure of the BW and Calving Ease. You can have as much trouble calving with Angus as Shorthorn or for that matter any other breed.

As for color, she will carry 1 gene for spots, if you breed her to a spotted bull you would have a 50% chance of getting a spotted calf I believe. Spots in Shorthorns and Maines are recessive.

Ss x ss =
Ss
Ss
ss
ss

 

[chippie]

If you are worried about calving ease, you can always breed her to your Jersey bull. If it is female, you get a good commercial heifer, if it is a male, you can eat it.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

ANGUS does NOT always equal calving ease. Arg this is a peeve of mine.

You can breed to a calving ease bull of any breed. It would be perfectly fine.

 

[showmomof2]

My daughter would freak out if we even mentioned the jersey bull! He and the hereford broke in about a month ago and daughter was very upset. The angus is nice and we were all set to go that direction if calving ease and birthweight were good. Do shorthorns usually have a higher birthweight? The heifer was 80 lbs at birth and our vet said that the cows birthweight figures in there too.

 

[chippie]

The most important thing is getting her first calf on the ground without possibly endangering the heifer.

How old is the heifer?

Usually a Jersey will guarantee a light birthweight calf.

What until the bull starts breaking in with the cows. Then the fun will really begin.

 

[Ryan]

you can find good heifer bulls in any breed. go with the breed you want and what you like, then find a bull that suits your needs of that breed.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

My daughter would freak out if we even mentioned the jersey bull! He and the hereford broke in about a month ago and daughter was very upset. The angus is nice and we were all set to go that direction if calving ease and birthweight were good. Do shorthorns usually have a higher birthweight? The heifer was 80 lbs at birth and our vet said that the cows birthweight figures in there too.

Most popular Shorthorn bulls have a higher BW EPD, but there are Calving Ease Shorthorns are out there.

 

[farmwife]

The most important thing is getting her first calf on the ground without possibly endangering the heifer.

How old is the heifer?

Usually a Jersey will guarantee a light birthweight calf.

What until the bull starts breaking in with the cows. Then the fun will really begin.

Can't speak for everybody, but breeding a beef cow to a dairy bull is not a practice that is used very often in the area that I live in. In fact, I don't know of anyone who breeds their beef cattle to dairy bulls. I can agree that you will get a light weight calf, but it's really pointless in a beef herd to have that much dairy influence.

 

[chippie]

It may be more common than you think. There is a rancher who breed his first calf brangus heifers to jersey and markets them as Smooth Blacks. He always has commercial cattlemen waiting to buy his heifers.

When the heifers are bred to a beef breed bull, they produce a meaty calf and they can raise it without any problems. They grow fast.

Also the dairyxbeef heifer grows well and matures quickly giving the producer better chances of her calving as a 2 year old.

To each his own. It was just a thought. They have the bull and could pasture breed and the heifer is a crossbred herself.

 

[showmomof2]

The heifer turned a yr on May 1. We are hoping to raise a show quality animal from her. I think the angus would do it. The jersey bull is in with 4 of our replacement heifers at the moment, then he is going to my mother in laws to breed her jersey cow and my brother in law wants to breed some heifers to him, then after our cow calves hopefully we can take her over there to breed her to him, so for awhile he will be out of our hair! We don't usually breed our heifers to a jersey-this is the first time. We mainly did it because we didn't have a place to keep him and didn't think 4 jersey babies would hurt us to bad. In fact, one of the heifers is 1/2 jersey 1/2 angus, so if its a heifer hopefully she will make a nurse cow. We would like to have a couple on hand to make some extra income on.

 

[*Cowgirl*]

This guy might work
*x4058319 Jake's Proud Jazz 266L


Here's where the semen's for sale http://www.cattlevisions.com/Shorthorn/JakesProudJazz.php


EDIT:better pic

 

[*Cowgirl*]

This guy might work too....Stop me now I'm having WAY too much fun....

http://www.muridale.com/buster.html

Semen:
http://www.cattlevisions.com/Shorthorn/Muridale Buster.php

 

[SKF Show Cattle]

True not all angus bulls are calving ease of course any bull can thow a large calf even if it is a claving ease bull. Our Maine bull who is a BK Power Plus son throws smaller birth weight calves then our angus bull but the angus calves are smaller build. Birth weight is not the only factor you also have to consider the build of the calf. Our shorthorns have been bigger build calves and have had calving problems. Our shorthorn bull on paper looks to be calving ease but we lost an 86lb bull calf last year because he was build like a tank and then we had a 102lb unassisited bull calf from our angus bull on a 1st time heifer because he was smaller built. Who is your heifer out of? Just remember if you deside to use a shorthorn make sure it is TH and PHA free because a TH or PHA calf WILL cause serious calving problems. Remember a live healthy calf that came unassited is the most important thing with a heifer you can always go for the a flashier show calf the next time. Good Luck!!!

 

[karlie45]

The two shorthorn bulls that Cowgirl posted would work well. I wouldnt breed dairy to her if you are looking for a show calf. She just wouldnt be able to compete with heavier set beef cattle.

Sure, some commercial cattlemen do it, but in the show world. (and around here, commercially) It is pretty much unheard of.
To each his own. Whatever works, works.

 

[showmomof2]

I guess we'll go for the angus if bw is ok. Better safe than sorry! That 2nd shorthorn bull is nice and the type I had in mind. The heifers sire is MSC Total Profit, grandsire is 4D Double Trouble and great grand is AHL Double Stuff 306.
On the dams side we have DMCC Gold Medallion, and DF Midas.
Being new at this I don't know much about shorthorn and maine bloodlines yet. Heck, I'm having trouble reading these epd's! Am looking up websites and trying, thoubg.

 

[CPL]

I guess we'll go for the angus if bw is ok. Better safe than sorry! That 2nd shorthorn bull is nice and the type I had in mind. The heifers sire is MSC Total Profit, grandsire is 4D Double Trouble and great grand is AHL Double Stuff 306.
On the dams side we have DMCC Gold Medallion, and DF Midas.
Being new at this I don't know much about shorthorn and maine bloodlines yet. Heck, I'm having trouble reading these epd's! Am looking up websites and trying, thoubg.

Here is a nice site about general EPDs:
http://perksranch.com/herefords/understanding_epds.html

As for using EPDs for breeding, find the breed average and go from there. Your showy type cattle usually have awful EPDs, while some of the more performance cattle have near perfect EPDs. The higher the accuracy the truer the EPD is (in MOST cases). However, remember calves aren't born on paper.

How about using a good Polled Hereford bull? :lol:

 

[Keren]

ANGUS does NOT always equal calving ease. Arg this is a peeve of mine.

You can breed to a calving ease bull of any breed. It would be perfectly fine.

I get worked up about this too. Angus does not equal calving ease, and for that matter neither does Jersey. And birthweight is only one factor calving ease, in my experience calf shape (and bull shape) and dam pelvic capacity and shape are the main influences.

I like both the bulls posted, but I wouldnt use them until I
could get a REAL figure for their birthweights ie. a raw average not an EBV (Extremely Bl00dy Variables)