Angus breeding advice

[Greenhorn]

I don't want to keep beating the drum with more breeding questions but advice and opinions are appreciated. I have a small commercial herd of angus bred with angus the passed 15 years with some simmi way back and gelbvieh 20 plus years ago. Last year we used a nice maine bull but I don't know what he was, the owner/breeder of him passed away from cancer and none of family dealt with the cattle. Really long bodied, good hip but a bit coarse in the shoulder. Overall I like the conformation of our cows. They are moderate, deep ribbed cattle. I had a guy suggest Friction or Full Flush. So to all of you who know what those two bulls work with might give you somewhat of an idea of what I have?  What would smooth out the shoulder and extend the neck? Looking to breed for show steers but if heifers are born would be ok to retain.

One more question...
I purchased two reg. angus cows coming 2nd and 3rd calves. They are just cows, nothing special, the price was right. They need base width and bone. I am interested in Duff breeding and would like to keep with reg angus.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I can't reply right away but will definitely check back often.  Thank You!

 

[Greenhorn]

I apologize if my questions are too broad, but that is where I am stuck. There are so may options and bulls that I am overwhelmed and don't know where to start without spending a lot of money that I don't have.

 

[kfacres]

if you want to continue to produce quality, sound, productive cattle.. you need to avoid the 3 way crossed crap...  I have always heard that friction is the way to go though-- 

depends on what your goals are...

i would think that in today's day in age, it wouldn't be hard to find out the pedigree of that maine bull-- if the guy ever registered anything, purchased bulls, or semen..  atleast you could get a danged good idea about it.

 

[Greenhorn]

Thanks for the reply. I'm not quite sure what the karma thing on the side of the page means but thanks for your input. I made it out to Denver last weekend and was blown away. I realize this takes a lot of time to learn the cow families and what clicks with what. I do want to start with some purebred Angus and Simmentals and build from there. I was thinking of trying some clubbies on the mostly angus commercial cows my dad and I have. As for the half maines that are hitting the ground now I don't know.

As for the maine bull I can try to find out from the family if they kept any of the records after his passing.

 

[kfacres]

do a search for karma.. basically say something someone likes or agrees with, you get a +, say something someone gets offended by.. get a -.

If you want to build a cowherd, or keep your cowherd's replacements...  clubby genetics aren't really what you need to use.  Also avoid carriers- obviously in your females kept back.. as later on it will only come back to bite you.

If your cowherd is pretty well where you want it, both in numbers, size, and overall a young set of cows (not first calf, and sometimes second calf heifers).. then by all means mate a huge % of them club calf if you want to try for a great one.  Don't keep too many of the heifers though..

 

[ploughshare]

I don't want to keep beating the drum with more breeding questions but advice and opinions are appreciated. I have a small commercial herd of angus bred with angus the passed 15 years with some simmi way back and gelbvieh 20 plus years ago. Last year we used a nice maine bull but I don't know what he was, the owner/breeder of him passed away from cancer and none of family dealt with the cattle. Really long bodied, good hip but a bit coarse in the shoulder. Overall I like the conformation of our cows. They are moderate, deep ribbed cattle. I had a guy suggest Friction or Full Flush. So to all of you who know what those two bulls work with might give you somewhat of an idea of what I have?  What would smooth out the shoulder and extend the neck? Looking to breed for show steers but if heifers are born would be ok to retain.

I would stay away from the flush line unless you want some attitude and hard calving.  I would also agree with BS about crossing up too much.  Clubby, yet maternal does not leave too many choices.  I would hope that you would choose something THF and PHAF if possible. For Maine sires I would think that  I-80 or Hard Core sure could work.  Dr. Who or Grizzly as composite sires.  I really don't know what to tell you. 

One more question...
I purchased two reg. angus cows coming 2nd and 3rd calves. They are just cows, nothing special, the price was right. They need base width and bone. I am interested in Duff breeding and would like to keep with reg angus.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I can't reply right away but will definitely check back often.  Thank You!

I understand the desire to use the Duff cattle.  Similar breeders would include Ohlde and Jauer.  The Duff cattle tend to be stouter, yet have the same problems as the OCCs as they have low CEM, low milk and can be dinks, but look good, flesh easy and have good udders.  Consider the Duff bulls Body Builder or Baseline.  To pretty them up, add some bone and keep maternal You might want to look at Vin Mar O'Reilly Factor, EXAR Totally Tuned, EXAR Tryon, The Answer.  Most have videos on utube.

 

[Greenhorn]

Thanks BS and Glenstory! Appreciate your input. There are a lot of posts and questions on breeding advice on here that I am still sifting through, and most are very helpful. 

 

[WJ Farms]

In the angus breed there are a lot of bulls to choose from......some bulls that have been pretty popular are Connealy Concensus, Dameron First Impression just won Denver and also and bull called EXAR Upshot!!! Just go with your instinct and stuff that you like......hope this helps

 

[kfacres]

Thanks BS and Glenstory! Appreciate your input. There are a lot of posts and questions on breeding advice on here that I am still sifting through, and most are very helpful. 

glad to see you are actually using the search feature.. a function that is highly underrated, and too many times avoided.

 

[Freddy]

The SCHAFF RANCH  has a very deep supply of good useable Angus sires ....Some add bone and much needed muscle needed in a lot of the Angus .....FINAL ANSWER know for moderate size,mateernal and calving ease ...Bismarck very easy calving and lots of growth .....NET WORTH 4200 IS more growth ,bigger birth ,very moderate with lots of guts and bone .......don't use on anything that has disposition problem ...

 

[Greenhorn]

I have heard that some of the 004 daughters can get a bit onry. We have two Density daughters and one you leave alone for a few days after she calves. I know she's just doing her job protecting the calf, but don't bite the hand that feeds ya. We have had some nice calves out of Bismark and I used Final Answer as a young sire also with nice calves but only had one heifer between the two of them. In the passed we have only AIed the heifers and bought bulls for the herd so for the most part we have only been AIing six or so heifers a year. Thirty cows and not much luck getting heifers.

Thanks again

 

[ploughshare]

After reading through this thread again (especially Freddy's post) it occurred to me that Style or Iron Mountain might also work for both situations.

 

[kfacres]

do the non creep feeders experience the phenom growth pre weaning that the SAV cattle are known for?

 

[McM93]

This is my first post, so I am sure I will mess it up and offend everyone. Rather than reading everyone's opinion, go to some sales and see what some of these cattle are bringing. Old cliche' of money talks...I am not familiar with many of the Angus bloodlines mentioned above and I am sure they are great cattle, but IF you are at a clubby oriented sale, the OCC Anchors and Legends are hard to get around. Went to a sale a couple of months ago that averaged $4900. Practically every cow had Anchor in the pedigree somewhere with a myriad of older Maine sires. IMO opinion, I would breed almost every one of them to the Anchor clone especially if they are paid for, the females will be phenomenal and the steers will be...easy doing. Then breed those resulting heifers as cows to proven Maine or Simmental bulls. Then breed those Maine and Simmental Angus to club calf bulls. Finally, fifteen years later wonder why you ever used club calf bulls in the first place and repeat the process, breeding all of them to OCC bulls, and start selling bred heifers....

 

[rarebirdz]

So many great animals out ther do a local herd search genetics that come from close to home and work for the breeder often excel when brought into a program. Check out lots of herds and bull sales youll notice that you will pick out a certan type more then likely that type will have similar backgrounds