Shorthorn for commercial use

[Dooder]

I haven't been able to find a good commercial producer forum yet or one that has this forums numbers so I thought I would post this here.

I am graduating college soon and am going to work on my uncles ranch he runs Maine/Angus cross. Eventually I will be able to have 20 cows (to start). Whether i buy heifers/cows or a mix of both I haven't decided.

I have been thinking about buying angus and crossing them with shorthorn. I'll keep replacement heifers until I have all F1 cross cows. I'll be using A.I. On my cows. I'll breed my F1 cows back to angus. I'm trying to get really good cows with great udders and that flesh easy because of where we run our cows.

I'm wondering if anyone on this forum is doing something similar and what their results have been or just is shorthorn viable for commercial cow making?

 

[RyanChandler]

I'm doing the same thing- making F1s using a Shorthorn over Brangus. Got my first blue roan last week. Wish they were all blues!

 

[Lucky_P]

Doing it here in western KY.
SH sires over high %Angus cows bred up from SimAngus base.  Coming back on those ANxSH cows with (mostly black) Simmental bulls. 
Well-pleased with the SH-sired calves - as a commercial operation, we're not going for big hair, big bone, freaky neck extension, etc. 
The SH-cross steers stack up well alongside Simmental-sired calves, and blow the Angus-sired calves out of the water.  Most of the cows in the herd are red carriers, so we're getting a significant number of red calves - and they've not been discounted at the local salebarn; sell right along with the blacks for the same price - but I've stayed away from white or roan SH bulls, using only reds.
We're liking most of the SH-sired heifers, will be interesting to see how they work as cows; only a handful have calved out so far.

 

[coyote]

We are using a Black Angus bull on some Shorthorn cows here and they have worked out fine. The only thing is the Angus bull has more spunk then what we are use to with our Shorthorn bulls.
We have also bought heifers out of Red Angus cows from some of our Shorthorn bull customers. They look like they are going to make some fine cows.

 

[Dooder]

My uncle gets reds every now and again with his Maine x Angus herd and the guys from Superior don't sort them out so I was thinking of doing more red bulls. Although i wouldn't mind having some roanies.

What are some good red SH bulls to cross with angus cows?
I think I have found a few but was wondering what some others have used.

 

[kiblercattle]

I have some Dover granddaughters and they appear to have the makings of some good commercial cows. I am breeding them to captain obvious and coalpit creek leader. All three bulls are red commercially oriented bulls.

 

[Lucky_P]

We've used several SH sires.
Waukaru bulls - Goldmine 2109, Coppertop 464, Gold Card 5042, Orion 2047;
A&T Captain Obvious, RS 034.
All have worked well.  Goldmine is dependable calving ease; I'm comfortable with him even on average Angus heifers.  No calving issues with any of the others above on 2nd-calf and older cows, have not tried them on virgin heifers.

There are several other SH sires I intend to sample over the next couple of years; probably more that I'd like to use than I can get around to, with the cow numbers we have.

 

[JTM]

We are also using Shorthorn bulls on Angus cross cows. Only a few years in but are liking the quality of calves we are getting. The bulls I'm using are both with Cattle Visions. TG/RRA Complete and A&T Renegade. I also own the bulls and they run with the cows naturally. So if you have any questions let me know.
Love your plan for creating a herd. I would go with it! <cowboy>

 

[sue]

Yes. I have a registered shorthorn/red angus composites using only registered Shorthorn and reg Red Angus genetics. Started with shorthorns ( 3rd generation) added Reds in 2006.  Absolutely love the cattle. Market both bulls and females from this cross. Shorthorn foundation for those females is A&T Captain Obvious- who I own.

 

[Dooder]

Thanks all for the replies and support!

Sue I was wondering if you had any pictures of some captain obvious daughters you would post or pm me, thank you

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Kaper 4508

 

[sue]

Thanks all for the replies and support!

Sue I was wondering if you had any pictures of some captain obvious daughters you would post or pm me, thank you

 

[sue]

Captain x red angus cross weaning time- she just had her second calf.

 

[sue]

Progeny of a captain x red angus daughter "prewean"  . She is 1 of a couple we sold - 305 is sired by a bull closely related to the captain line with alot of longevity stacked in pedigree ( like captain) . sire is a 3/4 short 1/4 RA. 305 is  a 5/8sh x 3/8 ra. Reg # AR59262

 

[RyanChandler]

I don't know that I'd be getting my heifers that fat- but I like type of the bottom one pretty good.

 

[sue]

March captain x angus photos taken May 31st 2013- Cunningham's

 

[sue]

More March Captain x Angus calves, same pasture May 31st 2013

 

[Duncraggan]

Sue, those are some smashing calves! <beer>

 

[sue]

Sue, those are some smashing calves! <beer>

Those are nate53's captain calves. Super set of mama cows.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

Good looking calves-that have the Angus early growth pattern and the inevitable added volume when you cross the 2-FUNNY-we havent heard from MR SALE BARN HISSELF-the judge-hows he like them apples (meant the red ones) LOL O0 (lol)