Up the Dale
Member
@Wolds Beef we also have 30 Lincoln reds, such easy cattle! cows never need assisting and they are so easy to handle! Best thing about them is the meat, its second to none. We have put heifers with a limmy and they have done well.
Opinions on the "best" suckler cow
- Thread starter Up the Dale
- Start date
applejack
Member
- Location
- just south of middle england
@Wolds Beef thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately we ceased dairying a couple of months ago, I do certainly like the look of the Lincoln Red and might consider dabbling my toe in the water with them in the future .
Wolds Beef
Member
@Up the Dale Are they Pedigree? What's your herd prefix and where are you based near?
WB
WB
- Location
- mid devon somewhere
I have experimented with our Red Ruby Devons this year and put some to Beef Shorthorn and some to Simmy buying a couple of fairly useful bulls. so far i am mighty impressed with the BSH x calves who have all calved themselves , got up and sucked and are growing like weeds, Mind you the Simms have done well too and are both a mile on from the Ped Devons. Bred for replacements I have every confidence that both crosses will make hardy, milky and growthy cows that can be put to virtually any bull in the future. Maybe these will be my best suckler cows??
Sheepandcalfs
Member
What’s people’s thoughts on simxhol fr for a suckler cow been asked if I’d b interested in a few bulling heifers not sure what to ai them with if I do go for them any ideas folks?
ADHDan
Member
Going to bump this old thread because I didn’t think it worth starting a new one... I’ve read through many of the debates about the perfect suckler cow and the one thing that just about everyone agrees on is that the British Friesian x Hereford is or was the perfect cow so why aren’t people buying BF straws and AI’ing there own?
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
Woolless
Member
- Location
- Berwickshire, Scottish Borders
Listening to pasture pod podcast the other week when Michael Blanche was interviewing Robert Fleming and that's exactly what he's done. He felt that his heifers were lacking milk and so bulled some to sexed BF semen. That was recorded a couple of years ago, so he might even have heifers to bull now.Going to bump this old thread because I didn’t think it worth starting a new one... I’ve read through many of the debates about the perfect suckler cow and the one thing that just about everyone agrees on is that the British Friesian x Hereford is or was the perfect cow so why aren’t people buying BF straws and AI’ing there own?
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
Danllan
Member
- Location
- Sir Gar / Carms
It's an interesting thread, I missed it first time around. I think the BF x H was only ever 'the best' in the opinion of a fairly vocal few, it was also easy for a lot to do at one time so it was 'the best', i.e. because they did it.Going to bump this old thread because I didn’t think it worth starting a new one... I’ve read through many of the debates about the perfect suckler cow and the one thing that just about everyone agrees on is that the British Friesian x Hereford is or was the perfect cow so why aren’t people buying BF straws and AI’ing there own?
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
Looking at suckler herds run by myself, a couple of cousins and a few friends, all of which are paying well enough, you'll find three pedigree herds (Belties, Herefords and AAs) and three that run crosses, two Jersey x assorted (?) and Lim x assorted. It's horse for courses really, what suits your place, what you like and what you (think you) can sell - ideally all three at the same time... ideally...
johnspeehs
Member
- Location
- Co Antrim
Going to bump this old thread because I didn’t think it worth starting a new one... I’ve read through many of the debates about the perfect suckler cow and the one thing that just about everyone agrees on is that the British Friesian x Hereford is or was the perfect cow so why aren’t people buying BF straws and AI’ing there own?
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
Well I suppose if you have pure herefords it might be ok but I'm guessing there arent that many herds of them about. What kind of colours do you think you will get?. I know it makes no odds but if your selling them it definitely will.
- Location
- Buxton, Derbyshire
Probably a few reasons in my opinion
Firstly back in the day HerXFri was an extremely common cross, much like BBxHol is today. So maybe only popular as they were easy to source and cheap??
The modern friesian wouldn't be as 'beefy' as the more traditional types from 20-30yrs ago, some lines are verging on appearing to be mini holsteins. So the cross might not be as good as it once was.
Didn't the NBA or someone host a farm walk somewhere recently where they were using Norwegian Red semen to breed replacements, I think out of SDxLim cows??
Firstly back in the day HerXFri was an extremely common cross, much like BBxHol is today. So maybe only popular as they were easy to source and cheap??
The modern friesian wouldn't be as 'beefy' as the more traditional types from 20-30yrs ago, some lines are verging on appearing to be mini holsteins. So the cross might not be as good as it once was.
Didn't the NBA or someone host a farm walk somewhere recently where they were using Norwegian Red semen to breed replacements, I think out of SDxLim cows??
M-J-G
Member
Her x BF is/was an ok cow, I wouldn't say they compared that favourably to some alternatives. They are remembered by many through rose tinted glasses and if they were here today they'd maybe be looked at differently.
The main issue with taking an eye off the ball when it comes to maternal traits, and why if they are lost that it takes fairly drastic measures to reintroduce them.
I don't think I'd use a BF on a beef cow, nor would I use a Scandanavia Red mainly due to poor beefing ability.
If I found myself in that situation I'd go for a Montbeliard or Fleckvieh.
As for the idea of using a BF onto a pure Hereford, a dairy cross calf reared on a cow with next to no milk isn't a pretty sight. One neighbour had a B&W bull serve a Her cow and the calf was the worst of both worlds.
The main issue with taking an eye off the ball when it comes to maternal traits, and why if they are lost that it takes fairly drastic measures to reintroduce them.
I don't think I'd use a BF on a beef cow, nor would I use a Scandanavia Red mainly due to poor beefing ability.
If I found myself in that situation I'd go for a Montbeliard or Fleckvieh.
As for the idea of using a BF onto a pure Hereford, a dairy cross calf reared on a cow with next to no milk isn't a pretty sight. One neighbour had a B&W bull serve a Her cow and the calf was the worst of both worlds.
M-J-G
Member
What's wrong with your Hereford cows that you need to use a BF onto them to get a calf that sells?Going to bump this old thread because I didn’t think it worth starting a new one... I’ve read through many of the debates about the perfect suckler cow and the one thing that just about everyone agrees on is that the British Friesian x Hereford is or was the perfect cow so why aren’t people buying BF straws and AI’ing there own?
Is it that the BF gene pool is diluted now with H because plenty of BF semen for grabs in the catalogues ? ... I mean if some guy with a herd of Herefords AI’d them all to sexed BF everyone would be biting his hand off so why isnt everyone doing it? Unless I’m missing something here I intend to do just that and take a batch to Newark
ADHDan
Member
I did wonder if it more a case of ‘because every dairy farm had BF x H heifers for sale’ that they was best, would someone pay more for BFxHE then the surplus of HolsteinxHE , I don’t know.
For me growing up doing the relief milking the only difference I noticed when our farm started to switch over to Holstein was that my arm became ‘less sore’ when milking.
I can see in our herd now a big difference between that 14 year old cow that still has some BF in its makeup and the later generation Holsteins. Certainly our longest lived are always the progeny of the older cows that have more BF in them.
We use south Devon heifers x saler then south devon x saler to limousin. We only winter for 3 to 4 months and they are grazed on marshes, completely grass fed, no creep for calves. When housed are fed grass silage with straw. Sd and sd x saler heifers kept as replacement everything else sold as stores between 8 and 12months.
ADHDan
Member
I might of mislead a bit, the only ‘pure’ Hereford I have is the bull and plenty of Hereford x Holstein but I have wondered why if so many people say BFxHE were the best why there using something else when they grow there own replacements anyway.
The HEx heifers sold very well , much better then If we’d finished them
Later this year I’m stopping the milk job but keeping cattle (for better or worse) , bit of a blank as to what I’m aiming for
got the BBx HEx heifers in calf with stabiliser and Saler and the cows not on the sh!t list have spent summer with the Hereford bull
- Location
- Cheshire
I've got 1 that can claim that... If we all club together we might get a small herd built up! ?
ADHDan
Member
since im in the midlands im somewhere in the 'middle' and an ideal place to create this super herd.. so if everyone would send me there perfect cow i'll look after them for you at my place ?
- Location
- Cheshire
Well she passed the to test last week and is altering to calve within the next couple of days. I'll send her down when the calf is up and running. You can send me the calf back in October and you get the pleasure of looking at my best cow! ??
M-J-G
Member
They've never really been there, vanity has always been false economy.
Topping the market means next to nothing unless everything else is tip top as well.