Why have Herefords

[Red Bull Breeder]

Hereford Char cross cow has always done well here, far better than the black baldie ever has. Seen enough Herefords that would eat you alive same as other breeds. The rest is just more bs from one side or the other. Doesn't make me any difference one way or the other.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Is there any legitimate selection criteria besides a black hide?

I'm confused ...

:shrug:

 

[dun]

Is there any legitimate selection criteria besides a black hide?

I'm confused ...

:shrug:

For what?

 

[jedstivers]

Alright to make this interesting I have a really nice group of heifers I'm saving off of Angus cows and a really good Horned Hereford bull. On the first calves I'm going to breed them to either Angus or Brahman so that isn't a question.
The question I'm putting out here is what would y'all bred them to on the second calf.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Now you already know what I would do Jed. I will even give you the semen, and let you pick from a good group of bulls.

 

[John SD]

Thing to remember is there can be just as much difference within breeds than betwen breeds.

Herefords used to be known for cancer eyes, prolapses, and bad feet. The breed has worked pretty hard to eliminate those problems, but the stigma remains.

Limos can be ringy and high headed, but I've had Herefords that way too. Neighbor crosses Hereford cows with Limo. Herf X Limo makes darn nice calves and they are pretty easy to work with.

Before I sold out I had a Char bull that I used on Hereford, black, and baldy cows. Calves were pretty and good doing out of all of them, and never pulled a calf from him.

 

[jedstivers]

Now you already know what I would do Jed. I will even give you the semen, and let you pick from a good group of bulls.

I knew what you would say and don't think I haven't been thinking of them. You and a few others have really done a lot with that breed.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

John SD that's a good post. You can find most any thing you want in most any breed out there.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Was never so much of what you had to do to them as what you needed to stay away from Jed. Or at least watch what you used getting there.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Alright to make this interesting I have a really nice group of heifers I'm saving off of Angus cows and a really good Horned Hereford bull. On the first calves I'm going to breed them to either Angus or Brahman so that isn't a question.
The question I'm putting out here is what would y'all bred them to on the second calf.

You do not want to put a Brahman bull over English cows this is known to throw behemoth bull calves not heifers for some reason.
It is more preferable to put a English bull over Brahman as this gives reduced birth weights.

 

[jedstivers]

Alright to make this interesting I have a really nice group of heifers I'm saving off of Angus cows and a really good Horned Hereford bull. On the first calves I'm going to breed them to either Angus or Brahman so that isn't a question.
The question I'm putting out here is what would y'all bred them to on the second calf.

You do not want to put a Brahman bull over English cows this is known to throw behemoth bull calves not heifers for some reason.
It is more preferable to put a English bull over Brahman as this gives reduced birth weights.

Had never heard that, we used to do it all the time.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Jed sent you a pm with the data.

 

[jedstivers]

Thanks, I'll read it this afternoon.
Back in the day most of our Brahman cross cattle came from bringing Brahman bulls to the angus and Hereford cows everyone had.
I didn't know they could throw the big calves.

 

[greybeard]

Is there any legitimate selection criteria besides a black hide?

I'm confused ...

:shrug:

Re-read Snake's post.
Red or red/white are Satan's offspring.....

 

[robert]

got Topps sale book the other day, bought a bull from them probably 7 years ago, did very well for us. I like the look of their cattle and we've used 719T some and am looking at using the 719T son that Select Sires has (as an Angus breeder they don't have a single Angus bull I'd use). Anyone had calves by that bull? As to the topic question we used the bull on straight Angus cows to make some baldies, the heifer calves were very saleable so for several years we didn't keep any, we have now and we'll see how they go. Generally they are not as easy fleshing as our straight Angus cows of the same age, teat size is a tad longer. Time will tell on longevity but we have always had plenty of Angus grannies around.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Heterosis ... it only comes about when what you're breeding is quite different than what you have. The more divergent the DNA, the more "pop" you'll get with the crossbred animal.

...so...

If you have a black-baldy cow and breed her to black angus or hereford, you bet ... the heterosis will be "used up".

However, if you stick something else on her (say, Charolais as RBB suggests above), the heterosis will continue.

This is about my favorite article on different breed's distance from their source. Really gives a idea on cross breeding, and relationship of breeds.
http://www.nbcec.org/topics/BeefBreeds.pdf

Here's a clickable link to an article on the relationship among 47 different breeds, many of which aren't on the NBCEC link above. Both tools are the types of research that should help any operation in search for true heterosis that will also work in their pastures.