zebu ??

[MACVSOG]

recently saw a herd of zebu for sale. i am not sure this is allowed on a cattle forum as i always thought zebus are a unique kind of creature. but the ad just aroused my interest. one thing i read about zebu is that purebred zebus always have horns, dewlap, and hump. from that i inferred that if not purebred they may not always have all those characteristics.

zebu as i read can weigh on the large size maybe 600 pounds or more like a small/medium size corriente. they seem to be hardy creatures again somewhat like corriente. i went through a scenario in my head (lots of empty space in there) about crossing zebu with beef cattle. start with open cows, breed to angus, charolais, or polled hereford. after the offspring have calves separate heifers hopefully at least half are heifers, might require a large initial group. now two years until they are able to....................... , that will take a lot of time and i won't be around long enough to see if this comes to fruition or not.

so the better plan, ask. does anyone know of someone who does/has been able to eliminate the zebu hump over time? can the hump be "bred our" over time or not possible.
anyone reading this would ask who cares or why would anyone try this. well, just because. if possible i would purchase a few just for fun.

 

[Hereford2]

First thing that comes to mind is, why would you want to make your calves bring Waaaayy less at the sale barn? Even private party they aren't worth a whole lot.

 

[wbvs58]

Here the word Zebu is interchangeable with Brahman. Lots of good Brahman and associated crosses already out there.

Ken

 

[Allenw]

Here the word Zebu is interchangeable with Brahman. Lots of good Brahman and associated crosses already out there.

Ken

Zebu here in the US is a second rate miniature Brahman type animal.

 

[Warren Allison]

recently saw a herd of zebu for sale. i am not sure this is allowed on a cattle forum as i always thought zebus are a unique kind of creature. but the ad just aroused my interest. one thing i read about zebu is that purebred zebus always have horns, dewlap, and hump. from that i inferred that if not purebred they may not always have all those characteristics.

zebu as i read can weigh on the large size maybe 600 pounds or more like a small/medium size corriente. they seem to be hardy creatures again somewhat like corriente. i went through a scenario in my head (lots of empty space in there) about crossing zebu with beef cattle. start with open cows, breed to angus, charolais, or polled hereford. after the offspring have calves separate heifers hopefully at least half are heifers, might require a large initial group. now two years until they are able to....................... , that will take a lot of time and i won't be around long enough to see if this comes to fruition or not.

so the better plan, ask. does anyone know of someone who does/has been able to eliminate the zebu hump over time? can the hump be "bred our" over time or not possible.
anyone reading this would ask who cares or why would anyone try this. well, just because. if possible i would purchase a few just for fun.

Zebu in the context you are talking about is the name given to mini-Brahmas. They are like mini Herefords and mini Jerseys...mini horses and donkeys etc... a novelty item that sells for a lot of money. If you bred them to your angus, charolais, or polled herefords, then you will get mini f1Brangus, mini f1Braford or mini f1 Simbrah. And they will have as much ear, leather and hump as regular sized ones do.

Zebu is the name for bos indicus cattle. Brahma, Gyr, Nelore, etc, are all Zebu cattle.

 

[Lucky]

Only Zebu I was ever involved in was a Zebu bull. Meanest thing I ever been around. Every now in them they'd throw him in a local roping at the end. He gave two people a trip to the hospital. He belonged to a friend of mine that has a good size ranch his kids and they're buddies thought it was hilarious to get in a pen with that stupid thing and see who could last the longest.

 

[Brute 23]

Why would you want to breed the hump out? It is considered a delicacy.

 

[MtnCows93]

ive got 1 zebu cow that only weighs about 500lbs I use a low birth weight angus bull and got 1 calf so far, she had a 30lb heifer calf that was black and weighed somewhere around 250lbs when it was 8 months old when I sold it and it brought $1.75 a pound at the sale this fall. the calf was light muscled and had a humped neck. so that's about what you can expect not really a big money maker lol

 

[WFfarm]

Zebu are the Shetland pony of the beef cattle world. The only ones I've seen have been in petting zoos and not much bigger than the sheep.

 

[MACVSOG]

Zebu in the context you are talking about is the name given to mini-Brahmas. They are like mini Herefords and mini Jerseys...mini horses and donkeys etc... a novelty item that sells for a lot of money. If you bred them to your angus, charolais, or polled herefords, then you will get mini f1Brangus, mini f1Braford or mini f1 Simbrah. And they will have as much ear, leather and hump as regular sized ones do.

Zebu is the name for bos indicus cattle. Brahma, Gyr, Nelore, etc, are all Zebu cattle.

this is the response i was looking for. if the zebu will retain the hump regardless of cross breeding then i accept that. i have owned several kinds of beasts just to see how they fare.

i mentioned having a small herd of longhorns. anticipation of every birth just to see how the calf looked never disappointed as i had paints, spots, white tails, etc. not money makers was ok. when i sold the last angus/longhorn calves, had a bunch of same sized angus calves with them. the angus brought twice$ of crossbred calves. coleman texas auction market report lists a separate category "longhorn & spots." i still have my watusi. no money there either, just like the novelty of having biggest horns around. surprisingly all of the current new crop is all solid color calves. but not the same solid color.

so i like novelty items. in that regard will look into acquiring a few zebu to look at, just because. if i don't like them i can eat them. someone mentioned hump as a delicacy. will check into hump recipes. yes, i do have to make money too to continue. i have spent my life with the majority of my cattle being hereford and angus cattle. don't see any need to veer from that course.

thanks for the responses.