Would this work?

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I am keeping my line of purebred Jerseys but due to the shortage of extra Jersey heifers to raise and sell I, too, am having to go Beef of Dairy. Already have 2 females bred to Angus. I would raise the steer calves for meat and keep the heifers for brood cows to build up a small herd. I have to do something with all this grass.

So, because I don't keep a bull these beef on dairy breedings have to be done AI at $100 per attempt. Eventually I would keep a 1/2 Angus bull calf to breed the cows for a year, then sell him for meat and keep another bull calf. I would keep the heifers to raise as brood cows.

I run a closed herd. I don't want to bring in any outside cattle with diseases, viruses and parasites so I'm not buying or renting a bull.

I know close inbreeding in animals can bring out bad recessive traits, but what about a 1/2 angus bull calf bred his own Jersey mom? Could undesirable traits arise in this first generation? This would be a terminal cross of course. Eventually I would be raising 3/4 angus calves, grow them all out to sell for meat. And still have creamy Jersey milk for the house and a whole lot less work than raising a bunch of dairy bottle heifers.

 

[Brute 23]

I regularly breed heifers back to the sires. Right now I have a young, retained bull on a small group of cows, one of which is his mom. I have zero concerns.

 

[StrojanHerefords]

I don’t mind incidental inbreeding but I think a better course of action would be to buy some cheap angus embryos and put them in your cows to get a full blood angus bull calf.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Thanks, but I'm not sure I can do that on the cheap. I'm not raising breeding stock and investing in empryos. No cattle vet or anybody around here that does that. Maybe I could buy a purebred angus bull calf from someone who tests and and has a closed herd policy. But then I would have to feed and keep a bull for 6 or 7 cows that I could not sell for meat every year. Not sure its worth keeping a single bull.

 

[mwj]

If you keep a new bull every year you will soon be back to just a jersey with very little Angus blood.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Right. 3/4 angus not possible. With Jersey half angus cross bred to Jersey half Angus cross that would produce nothing but Jersey half Angus cross. I would need pure angus on these half angus half Jersey heifers. I could get an Angus bull calf from a closed herd that tests for disease.

But then I would have to keep and feed a bull on a place historiclly a place with a carrying capacity of only 7 animal units. According to Google Earth years back I consistently see 7 black cows grazing on this property.

This is the situation. The ranch across the road used to lease this place and put a beef bull with 10 or 12 cows on here and put out hay every day in the winter. They grazed it down pretty close. With my 1 horse, 3 cows 2 big heifers it is belly deep in grass. Thats 5 animal units The grass growing season is done now and I am figuring on using a standing hay crop with some cow cubes for protein through the winter. The 2 Jerseys cows will calve next January so will be taken in and fed like dairy cows, hay, grain.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Right. 3/4 angus not possible. With Jersey half angus cross bred to Jersey half Angus cross that would produce nothing but Jersey half Angus cross. I would need pure angus on these half angus half Jersey heifers. I could get an Angus bull calf from a closed herd that tests for disease.

But then I would have to keep and feed a bull on a place historiclly a place with a carrying capacity of 7 animal units. According to Google Earth years back I see 7 black cows grazing on this property.

This is the situation. The ranch across the road used to lease this place and put a beef bull with 10 or 12 cows on here and put out hay every day in the winter. They grazed it down pretty close. With my 1 horse, 3 cows 2 big heifers it is belly deep in grass. Thats 5 animal units The grass growing season is done now and I am figuring on using a standing hay crop with some cow cubes for protein through the winter. The 2 Jerseys cows will calve next January so will be taken in and fed like dairy cows, hay, grain.

 

[Warren Allison]

Heck, no more cows than you have , just buy a light weight young bull every year, keep him 60 days, them sell him. You might make $100,or loose a $100, but that would be the cheapest route you can go, and you'd have a tight calving schedule. And also, no incestuos inbreeding! LOL

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

You know, I could just buy some pure Angus heifers. Can you imagine how much that would cost right now?

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Warren GREAT idea!

 

[Brute 23]

That completely goes against your 3rd paragraph?

No way Im bringing in a rando and all the risk that comes with that over retaining my own bull.

Im doing exactly what you described and for a similar reason. I didnt want to rent another bull and end up with a wild sob again. I retained a bull calf out of a good cow and put him back with the herd, including his mom, where he was born. His 90 day season will be up at the end of June. I also started leasing some bulls. Being that we have so much grass right now Ill take him to a pasture with all the other bulls to hang out and see if he will lease out. If at any time Im over it he will get sold off weight.

He has come around in to a decent bull and is extremely easy to handle. It will he interesting to see how his calves turn out.

We left 3 or 4 black Brangus type bull calves and one Beefmaser calf born early in the year, in tact.

 

[MurraysMutts]

There is no shortage of jersey heifers. Ya just gotta open the ol wallet/purse and buy em.

Linebreeding like that isn't a problem.

Personally, if I were to A.I. any jersey cows it'd be to a red brahma bull!! Sexed semen for heifer calves and keep your fingers crossed. Milk the cows and bottle raise the heifers. You will have no problem selling those dolls!

 

[Ky hills]

There is no shortage of jersey heifers. Ya just gotta open the ol wallet/purse and buy em.

Linebreeding like that isn't a problem.

Personally, if I were to A.I. any jersey cows it'd be to a red brahma bull!! Sexed semen for heifer calves and keep your fingers crossed. Milk the cows and bottle raise the heifers. You will have no problem selling those dolls!

A few years ago when we were in OK we went to stockyards in Wister and saw several Jersey baby calves sell, both bulls and heifers.
I like the idea of breeding them to red Brahman bulls. Jerseys can cross pretty well with about anything but those Brahman crossed would be great especially in places like that part of Oklahoma.

 

[Dave]

There is no shortage of jersey heifers. Ya just gotta open the ol wallet/purse and buy em.

Linebreeding like that isn't a problem.

Personally, if I were to A.I. any jersey cows it'd be to a red brahma bull!! Sexed semen for heifer calves and keep your fingers crossed. Milk the cows and bottle raise the heifers. You will have no problem selling those dolls!

She is in the wrong part of the world for selling Jersey/Brahma heifers.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Hi, Brute 23. Of course I don't want to bring in outside diseases. My lady friend and her husband down the road who I give milk to has a big Angus ranch. They raise their own bulls and it is a closed herd. They know my herd is also a closed herd. I could buy a long yearling from them then sell him back, or just sell him at auction after 60 days when his job is done.

Murry, all the dairies here have gone organic. An organic calf has to be out of an organic cow and in the 'organic computer'. Change of ownership has to be another organic dairy or else she's no longer organic. You would not believe how crazy the organic certifiers are, it gets much crazier than this. Yet, organic dairys get almost twice as much for the milk. Because people are so crazy they will pay $8+ a gallon at the store because no GMO feed was fed to the cows. If someone not organic buys a heifer calf then the chain of ownership is broken. And there are no heifers for sale anymore. They are not for sale because the replacements are out of their very best top producing cows. Not only that, because of Beef on Dairy there is a heifer shortage.

I don't sell my grown out my ready to breed heifers to newbie homesteaders who have no clue about managing dairy cows. Those are the customer base out here. People who get started with family milk cows and have no idea about feeding and milking hygiene and usually ruin their first milk cow out of ignorance. I was selling them back to dairies because I knew they would get good care and have a long productive lives. At my friend's dairy I can even go visit them and see them milked. They moo when they see me. Anyway, now that dairy is organic and my calves are not.

KY hills, I used to live in Texas and the bos indicus crossbreds are good for the heat. My husband raised Beeefmasters. And Brangus are good for the heat too. But Oregon is cooler country. We don't see any bos indicus cattle here, just bos taurus. I like the look of level top lines and no baggy hanging skin But I see they use a lot of Brahma x Jersey in the tropics.

Anyway, I am going to ask my friend down the road about her Angus. The thing is, they steer them all.

 

[kenny thomas]

If they are good friends ask them about renting a bull long enough to get your cows bred. They get the bull back and you get your cows bred.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

I will propose that. Thanks.

 

[SBMF 2015]

If you are A.I.ing anyway jersey hfr semen isn’t any more expensive than angus . Just A. I. Them jersey.

 

[Brute 23]

Hi, Brute 23. Of course I don't want to bring in outside diseases. My lady friend and her husband down the road who I give milk to has a big Angus ranch. They raise their own bulls and it is a closed herd. They know my herd is also a closed herd. I could buy a long yearling from them then sell him back, or just sell him at auction after 60 days when his job is done.

Murry, all the dairies here have gone organic. An organic calf has to be out of an organic cow and in the 'organic computer'. Change of ownership has to be another organic dairy or else she's no longer organic. You would not believe how crazy the organic certifiers are, it gets much crazier than this. Yet, organic dairys get almost twice as much for the milk. Because people are so crazy they will pay $8+ a gallon at the store because no GMO feed was fed to the cows. If someone not organic buys a heifer calf then the chain of ownership is broken. And there are no heifers for sale anymore. They are not for sale because the replacements are out of their very best top producing cows. Not only that, because of Beef on Dairy there is a heifer shortage.

I don't sell my grown out my ready to breed heifers to newbie homesteaders who have no clue about managing dairy cows. Those are the customer base out here. People who get started with family milk cows and have no idea about feeding and milking hygiene and usually ruin their first milk cow out of ignorance. I was selling them back to dairies because I knew they would get good care and have a long productive lives. At my friend's dairy I can even go visit them and see them milked. They moo when they see me. Anyway, now that dairy is organic and my calves are not.

KY hills, I used to live in Texas and the bos indicus crossbreds are good for the heat. My husband raised Beeefmasters. And Brangus are good for the heat too. But Oregon is cooler country. We don't see any bos indicus cattle here, just bos taurus. I like the look of level top lines and no baggy hanging skin But I see they use a lot of Brahma x Jersey in the tropics.

Anyway, I am going to ask my friend down the road about her Angus. The thing is, they steer them all.

Im with you. I thought yall were talking going to the AB.

Buying from a friend I would do and have done. When I bought my Bonz heifers I also bought a bull but he got sold right before April. He was too young to test, it was dry still, and I wasn't overly impressed with him. My black bulls were doing a lot better.

 

[Warren Allison]

Hi, Brute 23. Of course I don't want to bring in outside diseases. My lady friend and her husband down the road who I give milk to has a big Angus ranch. They raise their own bulls and it is a closed herd. They know my herd is also a closed herd. I could buy a long yearling from them then sell him back, or just sell him at auction after 60 days when his job is done.

There ya go! Perfect solution. Or rent, lease, or even borrow.....whatever they are willing to do.