Charolais, Limousein or Simmental for Suckler Cows

TMSHope

Hi, Just wanted to get peoples views on the pros and cons of Charolais, Limousein or Simmental for suckler cows and producing quality weanlings and the economic cost of keeping each breed.

I haven't Simmental cows but from talking to other farmers it seems they take a far of bit feed to keep them up so cost more to keep than Charolais OR Limousein. I stand corrected on this just want to get information from people with experience on this

simx

TMSHope wrote: »

Hi, Just wanted to get peoples views on the pros and cons of Charolais, Limousein or Simmental for suckler cows and producing quality weanlings and the economic cost of keeping each breed.

I haven't Simmental cows but from talking to other farmers it seems they take a far of bit feed to keep them up so cost more to keep than Charolais OR Limousein. I stand corrected on this just want to get information from people with experience on this

have the three breeds in suckler herd,charlaois have good weanlings,these ch cows have sim breeding in them though plenty of milk,sim usually have good weanlings but have to keep to good weight towards a ch weanling which i think doesnt pay lim i think are so so have nice enough calf,dont have too many lim cows, they are mad b***ards though if sellling as weanlings id reccomend lim or ch over sim,mayb if you want more milky cows work a sim bull or ai for a while

flatout11

tbh the feed demand wont be that much different amoung the 3 breeds mentioned the lim may be a bit easier, if feed demand is your concern a angus-x of hereford-x are the only ones where there may be a saving there or possibly a lm x FR - so i owuldnt be basing my choice between these 3 on that merit.
i would opt for the sim cow crossed back to a charo bull using lims on the heifers - gonna take a few bucks to set yourself up with a herd of simm cows though

TMSHope

Thanks Flatout. I'm trying to introduce Simmental cows into the herd by breeding my own replacements. I have a few big wide Charolais cows that are milky (they were bred out of a good milking Hereford cows), I have put Curaheen Apostle (APZ), Starline Decision (ICO) and Planet (AS12) on them this year and hoping for some replacements next spring.

Also would know can Planet be used on Heifers, I think he is meant to be easy calving. thanks

grazeaway

simx wrote: »

have the three breeds in suckler herd,charlaois have good weanlings,these ch cows have sim breeding in them though plenty of milk,sim usually have good weanlings but have to keep to good weight towards a ch weanling which i think doesnt pay lim i think are so so have nice enough calf,dont have too many lim cows, they are mad b***ards though if sellling as weanlings id reccomend lim or ch over sim,mayb if you want more milky cows work a sim bull or ai for a while

we have limX and AAX cows, i really dont see why people think all LIMs are mad, the worse cows we ever had were FRiesans and BB's. The limo's if anything were the quitest. Was commenting with the boss man over the weekend how quite the heifers are, they are like pets. normally we would be very wary of the heifers after they calf and couldnt belive how quite they were, even the vet was commenting on it. we have bred them our sleves from our own bull and cows. Might be the breeding i suppose.

As for the SIM/CH/Lm dellimma, my uncle has SIM/CH crosses and they are huge compared to mine. We wouldnt be able for SIM cows here as they wouldnt fit in the cubicles. Lad next door has SIMx cows too and has them on straw. Not sure about feeding them but they throw fine big calfs but they also need a big tall bull to servic ethem

adne

grazeaway wrote:

Lad next door has SIMx cows too and has them on straw. Not sure about feeding them but they throw fine big calfs but they also need a big tall bull to servic ethem

Or a small ai man with a long arm!

pakalasa

I think in general terms a herd of small cows and a big bull is the most profitable. Smaller cows eat less and do less poaching damage. For this to work, the bull has to be easy calving and the cows well able to calve.
Bigger cows might leave a better weanling but they don't leave more profit.
I've a few big cows myself. It's hard to get rid of them when size is all that's wrong with them.

Cloonara Flyer

well i think charlaois is the best breed of cattle from these 3 breeds
the cow will have a bigger calf than a limousin and simmental , good carcass quality , high growth rate and usually you will get more for your charlaois in the mart than ur limousin or simmental as there is higher demand for charlaois cattle ...
the problem with charlaois cattle is they are difficult calvers and they dont have much milk

if i was buying a cow i would buy a saler
the saler are big cattle and are very easy calvers as they have a small calf but the calf starts to grow very rapidly and the milk from the cow is very fattening so the calf gets bigger very quickly ... they are a hardy breed and have great feet ... they will also live longer than a charlaois as the calving is easy on them ( charlaois - difficult calvers) and the calf will not take a lot out of the cow as she will have plenty of milk (charlaois - not much milk)