simmentals

flatout11

anyone using simmental bulls, you happy to stick with them long term or is it just to breed replacements short term

scuggels

We go for the appoach of every second year hoping for the bull/ Heifer pattern so its about half simmental and half char. tried the new char test bull from munster KLU for next years crop, in relation to the simmental We used the new bull Is4 but we found calves to be short and stocky. They are promoting a new test bull that originated from canada forget his name seems a good bull. Hard to beat Simmental cross char animals for performance and bone structure.

Bizzum

scuggels wrote: »

We go for the appoach of every second year hoping for the bull/ Heifer pattern so its about half simmental and half char. tried the new char test bull from munster KLU for next years crop, in relation to the simmental We used the new bull Is4 but we found calves to be short and stocky. They are promoting a new test bull that originated from canada forget his name seems a good bull. Hard to beat Simmental cross char animals for performance and bone structure.

The Homer Simpson school of genetics..........Boy, Girl,Boy,Girl:D
I think over time the Bull/Heifer ratio balances itself out. Nonetheless we have used Sim on several cows over the years and I think if you use a good Sim bull on a good cow you will get good stock, both male and female.
One of our best cows is carrying to T Bone this year (no doubt a bull calf:)).
I think a tidy say LimX cow with muscle crossed with a good Sim bull will breed well.
On the subject of CH X Sim, This is a cross I like, maybe not sweet enough for export but can be excellent stock!

All in all, the Sim have a lot to offer if you get the cross right.

pakalasa

I've used Hillcrest King (HKG) and Seepa Tee jay (IS4).
HKG heifers really grow away in the second year. He has poor figures for maternal calving, so I tend to use him on cows with big hips. I see NCBC are not pushing IS4 for replacements in this years brochure. Wonder why?
Curaheen Apostle (APZ) - I plan to use him next year.
I think overall, DOVEA have far better Simmental bulls than NCBC, on paper anyway.

KFY, CUF & VIO look to be great bulls too with Eurogene;
http://www.eurogeneaiservices.com/PDF/beef.pdf

flatout11

how do you like the bull calves much of a price diff by comparision to the charolais calves?

flatout11

pakalasa wrote: »

I've used Hillcrest King (HKG) and Seepa Tee jay (IS4).
HKG heifers really grow away in the second year. He has poor figures for maternal calving, so I tend to use him on cows with big hips. I see NCBC are not pushing IS4 for replacements in this years brochure. Wonder why?
Curaheen Apostle (APZ) - I plan to use him next year.
I think overall, DOVEA have far better Simmental bulls than NCBC, on paper anyway.

KFY, CUF & VIO look to be great bulls too with Eurogene;
http://www.eurogeneaiservices.com/PDF/beef.pdf

the best i have seen recently was t-bone calves, i was going to try apz looks decent

pakalasa

flatout11 wrote: »

how do you like the bull calves much of a price diff by comparision to the charolais calves?

The Simm bull weanlings would be back a bit from the Char bulls alright, but then Simm heifers are worth a lot more. Simm are nice and quiet too, so they're a good cross for, say a good red Lim cow that might be a bit on the wild side.

bogman_bass

pakalasa wrote: »

. I see NCBC are not pushing IS4 for replacements in this years brochure.
I think overall, DOVEA have far better Simmental bulls than NCBC, on paper anyway.

Probably because he's dead and there's no more straws to be had.

I think you could be right about doveas selection

Bizzum

bogman_bass wrote: »

Probably because he's dead and there's no more straws to be had.

Excellent!!!!!!!!!!

What's the story with Icare? Why the big push on?

(Sorry for going off topic)

pakalasa

bogman_bass wrote: »

Probably because he's dead and there's no more straws to be had.

I think you could be right about doveas selection

Well they're still pushing HKG and he's dead too. I guess IS4 wasn't around long enough to produce a bank of straws.

I was wondering about Icare aswell. Maybe NCBC are worried because they have no proven easy calving Char bull so went away and did a deal on Icare. Don't know really.

HugoBradyBrown

I would tend to shy away from them. I have been getting into Limousin, largely because of their pronounced maternal characteristics. I think I saw a piece in the Journal about them in the past couple of weeks, and I think they're the way to go now.


Hugo Brady Brown

manjou

I use all simmentals and find them easy to handle and quiet.Heifers are great sellers in mart and the bulls may not make as much a kilo as others they are usually heavier so get nearly as much.Fatten most as bull beef and they come into big weights at slaughter.Agree limousin great cattle but the difference in temperment to simms is a major factor for me.

Bizzum

pakalasa wrote: »

I was wondering about Icare aswell. Maybe NCBC are worried because they have no proven easy calving Char bull so went away and did a deal on Icare. Don't know really.

I'm not so sure about the easy calving. I bought Icare straws off Gouldings maybe 5 years ago, he is around a while. I think he didn't breed the type pedigree cattle that were popular at the time.

Pat the lad

yeah use abit of sim for breeding replacements - mostly newry. find them good cattle. bull weanlings sell well for finishing and heifers sell well as replacements. see sligo have a nice looking bull drumlone anchor, might try a few of him next year. nice dark red sim sold in rosscommon last week made big money 6100 euro!!!!!
will still use mostly lim's and bb aiming for export Market

limo_100

pakalasa wrote: »

Well they're still pushing HKG and he's dead too. I guess IS4 wasn't around long enough to produce a bank of straws.

I was wondering about Icare aswell. Maybe NCBC are worried because they have no proven easy calving Char bull so went away and did a deal on Icare. Don't know really.

I think its because there saving him more so than king, for the pedigree breeders. I can still get him and will be getting him in the spring have a few of him on the way

limo_100

Bizzum wrote: »

I'm not so sure about the easy calving. I bought Icare straws off Gouldings maybe 5 years ago, he is around a while. I think he didn't breed the type pedigree cattle that were popular at the time.

were his offspring good iv being using him the last few weeks.

Bizzum

limo_100 wrote: »

were his offspring good iv being using him the last few weeks.

Still on ice for one reason or another. So in short I dunno!

Mr.Success

We have used a simmental bull sinse '06. His progency improved after about 2 crops. His daughters go over €1000 when they are 2 yrs. his sons are sold around at around 2.5-3 yrs as forward stores and this autumn they sold for 1350-1500 Euro. we are very happy with simmental and he is not hard calving.

kevohmsford

We have used a simmental bull for the last two years. Fantastic calves especially for replacement heifers. The only downside is we have to send out a limousin bull to clean up after the simmental as he only bulled about a third of the cows the first year.

Grecco

I use a share of Simmental cross cows. (50% Si X 25% fr 25% Herford ) I find they produce a super calf and then they have a nice bulk of milk which pushes on the weight of the Weanlen.
The only downside for me is that they keep pumping the milk into the Weanlen well into the autumn which if you dont keep an eye on them, leaves the cow in poor condition going into the winter