Blonde breeding

squinn2912

Anyone got wisdom on blonde bulls? We haven’t had a blonde in years but I always thought them a decent alternative for serving heifers. Can anyone give me pros/cons

jimmy G M

We let a Blonde bull out on about 12 cows last summer. Most calved down at this stage. Calved on their own and no difficulties. Calves up and sucked pretty quickly. Seem to be similar to lim in that regard. Colouring seems to be redder than a Char off red lim cows, a bit like Hereford.

Overall vs Char they dont seem to be as square behind, but by all accounts develop on well.

Supposed to be harder to finish than char, but we usually sell bullocks on as forward stores so cant comment on that.

Pic attached - black blonde off a black lim cow. Also in background red calf with white face off BWH cow (one of a twin) so not the greatest calf we ever had but both healthy.

squinn2912

jimmy G M wrote: »

We let a Blonde bull out on about 12 cows last summer. Most calved down at this stage. Calved on their own and no difficulties. Calves up and sucked pretty quickly. Seem to be similar to lim in that regard. Colouring seems to be redder than a Char off red lim cows, a bit like Hereford.

Overall vs Char they dont seem to be as square behind, but by all accounts develop on well.

Supposed to be harder to finish than char, but we usually sell bullocks on as forward stores so cant comment on that.

Pic attached - black blonde off a black lim cow. Also in background red calf with white face off BWH cow (one of a twin) so not the greatest calf we ever had but both healthy.

Thanks a million nothing wrong with that calf he’s a great thick one.
They seem to be very easy calving and we’ll muscles for that. I’ve read that they don’t weigh well at Mart but kill our high percentage.
I’m wondering too if they make good replacements?

blue5000

squinn2912 wrote: »

Thanks a million nothing wrong with that calf he’s a great thick one.
They seem to be very easy calving and we’ll muscles for that. I’ve read that they don’t weigh well at Mart but kill our high percentage.
I’m wondering too if they make good replacements?

I had a blonde bull a few years ago, bought him as a terminal sire to use on aaxfr cows. I still have a few of his daughters as cows.
Pros
easy calving,
good to grade,
great cattle to kill, 60% ko with bulls.


Cons
docility,
colour, but only if selling weanlings, mine are almost all black, only reds are where there was lim blood in a cow
hard to finish, but will keep putting up weight to the end
No milk in the cows.

I didn't use a blonde on heifers, wouldn't recommend it unless you had calves already by the bull and had no problems.

On the milk, it might be there in a few bulls, but if I was buying another one I'd be buying as a terminal sire.

squinn2912

Hmm not a ringing endorsement. Seems they’d be good for finishers but in a mixed system like ours not the one.
It nearly always comes back to lim & char.