compact beef breeds to cross with our Angus heifers?

[ErinP]

OK, so both DH and I's cattle experience consists of your classic beef breeds: Angus, Hereford, Black Baldies... maybe a Charolais now and again.
But we're about to strike out on our own. We have a "herd" of three Angus heifers and are rolling the idea around of how best to proceed from here.

We're looking to get into grass-finished beef, but would like to go with a smaller breed (that hasn't been bred for decades to finish out on corn!) to cross with them. Since we'll be AI-ing, the options are limitless, but we aren't entirely sure where to start looking for info! lol

Anyone traveled this road already and have some suggestions?

[haypoint]

You could try buffalo. That should get you the stringy grass fed texture you are looking for.

Seriously, I doubt there are would be any noticable difference due to decades of grain feeding to prevent you from staying with Angus.

[browser8]

Have you looked into Dexters?

[Karin L]

Put a smaller framed Angus bull on them. One that throws smaller calves. Besst way to build up your herd, IMHO.

[Jennifer L.]

I'd go with Angus, too. Seems like they do better on straight grass than a lot of them do.

Jennifer

[godsgapeach]

Check out the discussion on the rotational grazing thread. There are several posts concerning what's best for grassfed beef. It's a long thread though--just fair warning. But it offers valid reasons for particular frame size and breed.

[agmantoo]

http://www.pharocattle.com/semensource.htm
Check out Idaho at the above site.

[agmantoo]

Be sure to read about frame size if you are going to rotational graze

[kmorisett]

I've definitely heard of quite a few people crossing Angus with Dexters, which are known to finish out well on grass.

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by haypoint

You could try buffalo. That should get you the stringy grass fed texture you are looking for.

Good grief, no!
We lived on one of the largest buffalo ranches in the country for several years. The one thing we're sure of is that we don't want buffalo!! lol
(Though I will say, I miss always having buffalo meat in the freezer. Anywhere but straight off the ranch seems to treat it like a novelty and it's ridiculously expensive)

[tyusclan]

Definitely check out Pharo Cattle Company as agman suggested.

None of his breeding herd is ever fed grain. He has some of the finest grass-based genetics in the country.

[wstevenl]

http://www.foodalliance.org/newsroom.../2008/0018.pdf

Look for some lowline angus semen.

[65284]

I've had good luck with Dexter X Angus crosses, I have 2 heifers right now I'm going to beef out. The last X steer finished at around 1100 pounds. He was grass fat but did get a moderate amount of good alfalfa hay the last few weeks. The folks that bought him, who are sometime posters here, said it was the best beef they had ever eaten. I would use a longleg/non-carrier bull though.

I also think Lowline X Angus would be good.

[Onthebit]

Dexters make an excellent cross over angus.

On the grass fed aspect here is an article that goes into a bit of detail about how the commercial breeds are not suited and the older breeds and crosses will have an advantage on grass.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Susta...-Benefits.aspx

[NWMO]

But I am using a belted galloway bull on some of my X-bred cows.....the calves are growing quickly......but have not butchered yet to see / taste the results.

But calves are small birth weight and gain quickly. Will know more at the end of summer as I hope to butcher off two then.

[Karin L]

Originally Posted by Onthebit

On the grass fed aspect here is an article that goes into a bit of detail about how the commercial breeds are not suited and the older breeds and crosses will have an advantage on grass.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Susta...-Benefits.aspx

That is a great article.

[Ronney]

Erin, stick with Angus over Angus rather than mucking around with cross breeding which isn't going to give you any better an animal - and read Agman's thread on rotational grazing to give you some ideas.

In the right conditions, all breeds of cattle will finish well on grass and I think NZ proves that. Although Angus and Hereford remain the breeds of choice, mainly for ease of care and being good doers, there are many other breeds here than finish very well on grass - Murray Gray, Main Anjou, Charolai, Simmental, Gelbveihs, Santa Gertrudas, Belgian Blue to name a few.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[ArmyDoc]

What are your goals? Beef for yourself and family/extended family? Or more towards expanding into the marketplace to make a little extra money?

If you are raising for market only, in other words breeding and selling all the offspring, a crossbreeding program will give you a boost in profits. The crossbred offspring will grow a bit faster and put on more weight, which means they will sell for a bit more. This is because all breeds are almost by definition somewhat inbred, so crossing them will produce hybrid viggor.

If, on the ther hand, you are trying to improve your herd by keeping the best of the offspring for yourself and future breeding, then I think a purebred system makes more sense, because the offspring will be more consistent.

There are several breeds that finish well on grass - Angus (red or black), Hereford, Murray Gray all are supposed to do well on grass alone.

You can read about almost all of the breeds and find links to their breed organizations here: http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/

[cur huntin' kid]

Piedmontese are great for finishing on grass. They are big though. They are double muscled, more muscle per animal. It is naturally lean so you can feed them corn and still get lean beef. But they do finish well on grass. This is not something you want to cross with a virgin heifer. They have about an 80lb calf so it would need to be in another year or two when your cows have a little more size on them. The meat also cooks faster because it is so lean.

[LuckyLegs]

If you cross it to a Dexter bull with horns, will the offspring have horns as well?