Favorite Breeds?

What is your favorite breed of cattle.  List one breed and the reasons why you like this one the best, also list a couple bulls of that breed that you think alot of.  More breeds the better, I haven't heard anything about beefmasters, gelbvieh and  very little about longhorns on here to name a few.  So I was just curious where peoples loyalties were and why, some people are obvious and others not so much. 

When it comes to cattle, I love em all!  My family has had cattle all my life, mostly Angus or Angus x Hereford.  In 2001, I got to purchase my first heifers that were mine.  Neighbor down the road had 2 registered Simmental heifers for sale.  I can still remember walking into his barn and seeing them!  Since then I have grown to love and appreciate the breed for many reasons. 

Simmental cattle have many attributes.  All the cattle on our farm, from the youngest calves and new additions to the oldest matrons are very docile.  Simmental cattle make great mother cows.  In Europe Simmental cattle are actually used not only for beef, but also as dairy animals in parts of France and Switzerland. Some parts of Europe also use them as draft animals, 3 purposes, one animal!

Today's Simmental cattle come in many colors.  Traditional Simmentals will be red and white, those colors can vary to shades of yellow over to chocolate.  Newer lines are black hided cattle.  Some have white markings from star and blaze faces to traditional marked with black hides.

I travel a lot with work, but with a Calving Ease EPD, we are able to breed to make sure our calves are coming easy, then the heavy milking mommas can get the growth on the calf once its here.

Sorry to ramble, these cattle have become a huge part of my life since I bought those first 2 heifers as a Freshman in high school.  Look forward to reading about other breeds.  Thanks for starting this thread!

I'm also partial to Simmental for the reasons listed above and because that's what I started out showing. Two of the most well known bulls in our breed would be Meyer 734 and Dream On.

im like all my mutt cattle but when it comes to a breed have to pick maine anjou the registration being 25% gives you room to play around with the breeding a little and also think it keeps it from being just any breed like a chi and chill factor witch doctor midas cunia and ali have done great things for the maine breed

Shorthorns and Maines, gotta get back to TexAgs later  (dog)

Galloways- They do so much with so little... input.  Great mothers, great carcasses, feed efficient, and they eat just about anything.

Anymore, is there breeds?  

I thought cattle were bought and sold as black; colored; and eared???  

Any color other than black is my favorite, unless I'm selling to the market place- then it better be black-- or leave it in the back (lot at home).

Is Herf the only breed out there that does not allow crosses to register (females and bulls), steer excluded? 

the truth said:

Anymore, is there breeds?  

I thought cattle were bought and sold as black; colored; and eared???  

Any color other than black is my favorite, unless I'm selling to the market place- then it better be black-- or leave it in the back (lot at home).

Is Herf the only breed out there that does not allow crosses to register (females and bulls), steer excluded? 

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Truth- Galloways are one of the few breeds that have never opened their herdbook to allow breeding up.  The belteds have, but those are registered in a different herd book.

HAB

how do galloways milk compared to a 734 simmi cow?

My favorite breed is Shorthorns reasoning (aside from the obvious ) being  I have found them to be deep, thick, structurally sound and easy fleshing females that raise awesome calves.  The Shorthorn bulls have generated a lot of commercial acceptance in our area as they are fertile, easy fleshing, athletic and sound.  Shorthorns make great maternal cows purebred or crossbred.

My bull representatives are  Diamond Prophecy 21P and Northern Legend 3N.  Both of these sires have worked  in multiple herds.
Prophecy and daughters

Legend and daughters

I guess I should post on this thread.

Some of our best cows have beefmaster or longhorn in them (1/4 or 1/2 bloods), longevity and the ability to perform on little is amazing to me.  Have some shorthorns also that are doing well and look  very good.  But as far as one breed I would have to go with black angus, our herd is predominantly angus.  It's not so much that they are better than any other breed because I can't say that they are, but they are consistent in color, carcass, maternal abilities, and there is a vast pool of genetics to use.  There is also a ton of information on them which helps.  THe two bulls would be Green Garden's Primestar and Sydgen Trust, although there are a lot of good bulls out there.  It seems that every breed has their strong points and their followers.  Thanks for posting keepem coming.

Truth-  can you please be less specific on your favorite breed!!!!!!!!!!

wyatt said:

how do galloways milk compared to a 734 simmi cow?

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I have had some that are very comparable.  Pictured is a Galloway cow and her Angus cross calf before weaning.  No creep, and the cow has never seen grain, or even Alfalfa, even during our -30 winter temps.

HAB said:

wyatt said:

how do galloways milk compared to a 734 simmi cow?

Click to expand...

I have had some that are very comparable.  Pictured is a Galloway cow and her Angus cross calf before weaning.  No creep, and the cow has never seen grain, or even Alfalfa, even during our -30 winter temps.

Click to expand...

Wow thats a big calf for that little thing!!! (clapping)

HAB said:

the truth said:

Anymore, is there breeds?  

I thought cattle were bought and sold as black; colored; and eared???  

Any color other than black is my favorite, unless I'm selling to the market place- then it better be black-- or leave it in the back (lot at home).

Is Herf the only breed out there that does not allow crosses to register (females and bulls), steer excluded? 

Click to expand...

Truth- Galloways are one of the few breeds that have never opened their herdbook to allow breeding up.  The belteds have, but those are registered in a different herd book.

HAB

awesome, it really is.. Do you suspect any 'improving', such as many breeds with 'closed' books have?

nate53 said:

I guess I should post on this thread.

Truth-  can you please be less specific on your favorite breed!!!!!!!!!!

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Click to expand...

I thought I was...  Aren't they all the same now?  Wasn't the Angus the breed that 'improved' them all and turned them black?  Doesn't that right there lay claim to the king of the beef industry?

Personally, I think my favorite breed would be CharAnerf.  Char bulls on Ang/ Herf cows... (lol)

To me, every one of us young people who are dedicated to showing livestock needs to find a niche to keep on showing cattle as a new generation enters the production game. So after research and learning about several breeds, mainly because I wanted to show until I'm 21, I settled on Shorthorns. And I'll never look back. They've got the hair, plus they're really fun to work hair on and fit cause of the color. And after those first couple calves, you can go back on a clubby and get a cool marked one. Just as I did with my commercial herd, I will continue to build my registered stock until I can have some fun breeding, showing, and selling. I also just got started with club lambs to supplement my show cattle habit. We've been having increasing success in the ring with showing lambs, and I'm gonna try my hand at raising a few myself. Hopefully we'll have a good fall with the commercial cows and calves we'll sell so I can afford to keep playing the game and learning how to get great.  (lol)

Simmys of course but I've got a little interest in Maines , I've got a couple around. Gonna be different and say Power Drive , G&L Avalanche , Leachman 600 U and of course Meyer 734. These old bulls listed are real cow makers !!! Proven to stand the test of time and do it well !

nothing like looking at a pasture of tiger striped f1 braford females! easy doing, low maintenence, functional cattle at the finest

Santa Gertrudis, My favorite part is our junior association and how much they do for all of the junior members. Each class winner at our national show gets a heifer from a ranch that sponsered the class, I think its a very unique and awesome award. Not mention the not having to worry all the time about having to pull calves and genetic deffects. They are just easy keeping good eared cattle! Some of the bulls that i think of would be Hatchet, A100, Don Dan, 023/91, Geronimo just to name  few. I'm sure i'll be one of the only ones to pick this breed lol.

I would have to say angus if I were to pick one breed. In the midwest the color seems to make a difference sometimes and you can breed them to anything. I have mostly angus cross females and clubby raised bulls but I would prefer a cross over a straight bred.

I have been with Shorthorns for years-and thier influence along with Chi-Maine etc literally changed the purebred industry. I really like some of the Simmi,and Charolais crosses-and the really cool clean cattle that have been produced from carriers while the nay-sayers hid thier heads in the sand. I guess there are about 5 breeds that are my favorite-in various combinations of crosses. If theyre good,theyre good O0