Best Dairy bull beef breed

satstheway · 29-01-2017 12:45PM #1

Hi all.
We usually ai first round of cows to frisian (to keep up our supply of frisian bulls)"joking"
Then in with a lim bull.
Lim bull for the road this year as I am not a fan of the breed.
What do others consider to be the best beef bulls to go with.
We do use some BB straws and can get some great calves but a BB bull if not right for Dairy can produce oversized hard to calve or poor quality frisian look-alikes.

What are other Dairy farmer opinions?

Icelandicseige · 29-01-2017 12:52PM

satstheway wrote: »

Hi all.
We usually ai first round of cows to frisian (to keep up our supply of frisian bulls)"joking"
Then in with a lim bull.
Lim bull for the road this year as I am not a fan of the breed.
What do others consider to be the best beef bulls to go with.
We do use some BB straws and can get some great calves but a BB bull if not right for Dairy can produce oversized hard to calve or poor quality frisian look-alikes.

What are other Dairy farmer opinions?

Yout can't beat Hereford for ease of calving and price of calf's. Bb areally ok too just some can be haRd calved.

mahoney_j · 29-01-2017 12:56PM

I bought an aubrac bull last year ,first calves due early March ,meant to be very easy calving and short gestation .herefords and Angus Bulls just too dear in comparasikn

Mac Taylor · 29-01-2017 01:30PM

satstheway wrote: »

Hi all.
We usually ai first round of cows to frisian (to keep up our supply of frisian bulls)"joking"
Then in with a lim bull.
Lim bull for the road this year as I am not a fan of the breed.
What do others consider to be the best beef bulls to go with.
We do use some BB straws and can get some great calves but a BB bull if not right for Dairy can produce oversized hard to calve or poor quality frisian look-alikes.

What are other Dairy farmer opinions?

Out of curiosity what was the issue with the limousin bull? Gestation/docility .
Thks.

satstheway · 29-01-2017 01:41PM

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Out of curiosity what was the issue with the limousin bull? Gestation/docility .
Thks.

The bull is actually quite quiet when he has settled in with the cows, it's the mad black calves I'm not a fan of. This is our 3rd lim and I really want a change.
Now I do have a liking to the red calves butility they don't turn up that often.
I know of some neighbours who have had good and bad results with BB.
I really am just asking to find out what breed ppl seam to agree they get above average good results.

Tyson Lannister · 29-01-2017 01:59PM

I've sold PT bulls to dairy farmers and its worked out well- v good demand for heifer calves as suckler cows

kerry cow · 29-01-2017 02:26PM

Use aa to mop herd good demand for calves and easy on the milking cow which is worth more than the value of t he calf .A cow in the skip is 1k down .alot of making up in that along with wobbly cows .

Who2 · 29-01-2017 02:40PM

I know from the suckling side of things if I can get decent blue heifers off friesain I'd give a premium. Like aa too many lads putting the cheapest easy calving limos on their cows and ending up with narrow basically Holstein type cattle.

bogman_bass · 29-01-2017 02:54PM

on the right cow BB are a great choice but I stress that it has to be the right cow that can calve it. Shortest gestation of the Continentals and a very saleable calf

Sam Kade · 29-01-2017 02:59PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

I bought an aubrac bull last year ,first calves due early March ,meant to be very easy calving and short gestation .herefords and Angus Bulls just too dear in comparasikn

I was going to suggest the same. The only downside is that calves could be mistaken for jex if selling in the mart.

Sam Kade · 29-01-2017 03:05PM

bogman_bass wrote: »

on the right cow BB are a great choice but I stress that it has to be the right cow that can calve it. Shortest gestation of the Continentals and a very saleable calf

I used easy calving BB ai on friesian for a few years and never had a problem, I didn't even own a calving jack back then. But of course buying a bull is different.

blue5000 · 29-01-2017 06:20PM

mahoney_j wrote: »

I bought an aubrac bull last year ,first calves due early March ,meant to be very easy calving and short gestation .herefords and Angus Bulls just too dear in comparasikn

Not a dairy farmer, suckling. But have had an aubrac bull for 6 years now. Only ever had to jack one out of a bb x aa heifer. Calves are born small, short gestation but they will look like jer x in the mart at 2 weeks old. If you are selling calves privately show buyers the bull. Get a wide bull to use on dairy cows. There may not be a market for heifer calves as suckler replacements in the future from dairy herds though.

I've never fed one by hand but you would know when you had an aubrac in the crush. Wouldn't be as bad as a lim or a blonde. If you are finishing them yourself you're sorted. Finishing mine as bulls, had one O, the rest are even split between R and U out of plain enough cows. They won't be huge, had a look at progeny in icbf and heaviest was 404kg dw.

They can be bought for half the price of an angus bull atm, but you will have to dehorn them:p I've been using the aubrac bull on aa cows and heifers and they are nearly all black, an odd red where there is lim in the cow's background. I am not sure what colour they'll be out of your cows, maybe dark brown with patches of white? Mahony keep us posted will ya:pac:

bogman_bass · 29-01-2017 07:01PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

I used easy calving BB ai on friesian for a few years and never had a problem, I didn't even own a calving jack back then. But of course buying a bull is different.

we used a lot of blue when we were milking on older cows.

I presumed the OP was using AI. I would never buy a blue stockbull

satstheway · 29-01-2017 08:41PM

bogman_bass wrote: »

we used a lot of blue when we were milking on older cows.

I presumed the OP was using AI. I would never buy a blue stockbull

Yes AI but would be unsure of a BB bull.
Probably Hereford the way to go.

Just we had good demand for BB heifers for cows and bulls look good and square at a year.

How would frisian bred aurbac look after a year?

mahoney_j · 29-01-2017 08:44PM

satstheway wrote: »

Yes AI but would be unsure of a BB bull.
Probably Hereford the way to go.

Just we had good demand for BB heifers for cows and bulls look good and square at a year.

How would frisian bred aurbac look after a year?

I'll let u know in early March 2018 !!!

Keepgrowing · 29-01-2017 08:49PM

Its Hereford here for mop up. Great sellers. I think the heifers may match or pass the Bulls in price. Have 2 guys buying them for suckler mothers. The star rating is a big plus with most making 5

mahoney_j · 29-01-2017 08:50PM

blue5000 wrote: »

Not a dairy farmer, suckling. But have had an aubrac bull for 6 years now. Only ever had to jack one out of a bb x aa heifer. Calves are born small, short gestation but they will look like jer x in the mart at 2 weeks old. If you are selling calves privately show buyers the bull. Get a wide bull to use on dairy cows. There may not be a market for heifer calves as suckler replacements in the future from dairy herds though.

I've never fed one by hand but you would know when you had an aubrac in the crush. Wouldn't be as bad as a lim or a blonde. If you are finishing them yourself you're sorted. Finishing mine as bulls, had one O, the rest are even split between R and U out of plain enough cows. They won't be huge, had a look at progeny in icbf and heaviest was 404kg dw.

They can be bought for half the price of an angus bull atm, but you will have to dehorn them:p I've been using the aubrac bull on aa cows and heifers and they are nearly all black, an odd red where there is lim in the cow's background. I am not sure what colour they'll be out of your cows, maybe dark brown with patches of white? Mahony keep us posted will ya:pac:

I'll keep ye posted blue ,won't be selling mine as calves will be kept and sold as year to year and a halves .defenitly be a hard sell as calves due to je like appearance .itll be interesting to see how they turn out as any stock after him will be from my heifers only .docility could def be an issue with them ,no way in hell I'd trust my lad .as I said earlier herefords and Angus price wise just put me off in comparasion to the aubrac .ill be buying another bull for cows this year and it'll either be a more mature aubrac or a saler

Sam Kade · 29-01-2017 09:05PM

Would an ayrshire bull be any good for selling bull calves off and keeping all heifers as replacements?

pedigree 6 · 29-01-2017 10:00PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Would an ayrshire bull be any good for selling bull calves off and keeping all heifers as replacements?

They're basically a Red Holstein though.
Although you would have a touch of hybrid vigour for your heifers for breeding and they do tend to last a long time.

There's a guy on twitter in England who has nice Dairy Shorthorns.
https://twitter.com/JRfromStrickley

If you were looking for a dual purpose cross on a sharpish cow other options would be British Friesian, Fleckvieh or some other of the red breeds.

Sam Kade · 29-01-2017 10:44PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

They're basically a Red Holstein though.
Although you would have a touch of hybrid vigour for your heifers for breeding and they do tend to last a long time.

There's a guy on twitter in England who has nice Dairy Shorthorns.
https://twitter.com/JRfromStrickley

If you were looking for a dual purpose cross on a sharpish cow other options would be British Friesian, Fleckvieh or some other of the red breeds.

The shorthorns look tempting but for some reason they aren't great sellers at the mart, whatever buyers have against them. I saw a batch of well rounded shorthorn bullocks around 400kgs at the mart a few years ago and they were sold for small money.

pedigree 6 · 29-01-2017 11:05PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

The shorthorns look tempting but for some reason they aren't great sellers at the mart, whatever buyers have against them. I saw a batch of well rounded shorthorn bullocks around 400kgs at the mart a few years ago and they were sold for small money.

If you want to go that route then the british Friesian is a good choice.
Or else the fleck or monty who have the bonus of a white head and usually have more milk than the BF.

It's hard to beat the ease of training in fr/hol heifers to milk though.:pac:

Crossbreds are tough hardy yokes though.

Sam Kade · 29-01-2017 11:33PM

pedigree 6 wrote: »

If you want to go that route then the british Friesian is a good choice.
Or else the fleck or monty who have the bonus of a white head and usually have more milk than the BF.

It's hard to beat the ease of training in fr/hol heifers to milk though.:pac:

Crossbreds are tough hardy yokes though.

What I'm looking for is a dual purpose bull for a reasonable price that I could keep the heifers and sell the bulls at a premium. On the other hand I could put all cows incalf to a beef bull and buy in heifer calves which would make things simpler.

GiantPencil · 30-01-2017 12:02AM

Have used our Saler bulls on the neighbours dairy farm to mop up any that didn't keep to ai. Never had a problem with calvings and their replacement indexes helped their resale value as well.

mycro2013 · 30-01-2017 01:50AM

Aberdeen angus for trouble free calving. The homefarm changed from hereford to angus as a sweeper bull few years back on thé dairy herd no issues with calvings, cows going down or the likes. Calves are hardy and easily managed.

satstheway · 30-01-2017 09:49AM

mycro2013 wrote: »

Aberdeen angus for trouble free calving. The homefarm changed from hereford to angus as a sweeper bull few years back on thé dairy herd no issues with calvings, cows going down or the likes. Calves are hardy and easily managed.

Were you having problems calving the Hereford?

mycro2013 · 30-01-2017 10:02AM

The cow going down is in thé extrême maybe once every two to three years.No major issues just the angus doesnt seem to knock back the cow as much as the pedigree hereford. He

Future Farmer · 30-01-2017 11:07AM

satstheway wrote: »

Hi all.
We usually ai first round of cows to frisian (to keep up our supply of frisian bulls)"joking"
Then in with a lim bull.
Lim bull for the road this year as I am not a fan of the breed.
What do others consider to be the best beef bulls to go with.
We do use some BB straws and can get some great calves but a BB bull if not right for Dairy can produce oversized hard to calve or poor quality frisian look-alikes.

What are other Dairy farmer opinions?

Hiya,

LM are in general too on gestation length (although some Kaprico Eravelle sons bucking that trend).

If I was you I'd AI to Friesian as you normally do, then do 2 weeks AI of say British Blue, which seem to be much easier than standard BB on the market for dairy cows but still with a premium, then go with a really short gestation HE (which they all are not necessarily!) or an Angus!

But that's just me....!

whelan2 · 30-01-2017 11:30AM

Had a blue calf yesterday out of dbz, decent sized calf, cow calved herself served 25th April. Would use him again. Have br/fr cows here now and theres always a demand for angus calves off them. We breed our own angus bulls so use them

Mooooo · 30-01-2017 02:26PM

BB and AA would be my preference. DBZ a good blue in ai, have had no trouble with him but obviously wouldn't be sticking him on small cows/heifers. AA stock bull the last few years had HE before that and seemed to have had a few more rough calvings with the HE, I think the smaller heads on the aa and bb help the cow ease in to calving

Buford T. Justice XIX · 30-01-2017 02:40PM

Mooooo wrote: »

BB and AA would be my preference. DBZ a good blue in ai, have had no trouble with him but obviously wouldn't be sticking him on small cows/heifers. AA stock bull the last few years had HE before that and seemed to have had a few more rough calvings with the HE, I think the smaller heads on the aa and bb help the cow ease in to calving

I went looking for an He cow, in calf, a few years ago and went to a few breeders and I was fairly shocked about how much emphasis they seemed to put on the bulls head.

I bought an AA cow instead and am happy out with how easy they are to calve.
They are my late calvers so I would be looking for a bull with a short gestation and easy calving to help bring the cows back in with the main bunch again. I like the He but their heads bring me out into a cold sweat.

Bellview · 30-01-2017 03:48PM

Buford T. Justice V wrote:

I bought an AA cow instead and am happy out with how easy they are to calve. They are my late calvers so I would be looking for a bull with a short gestation and easy calving to help bring the cows back in with the main bunch again. I like the He but their heads bring me out into a cold sweat.

Agree on the heads there are a few aa bull in ai now that are more beef than dairy sons of rossiter are a great example of these .. but dairy boys know these bulls as they have slowed using them. Also bunlahy John g sons would be for suckler not dairy man

Best Dairy bull beef breed

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