Thinking about a diferent breed of bull

[Kiwi Pete]

How much of a patriot are you @Henarar ?

Nobody has mentioned Speckle Park, but they would be worth investigating, IMHO

Not only appealing looking and a bit unique, but I have a feeling they would benefit our type of lower input system.

 

[Forever Fendt]

never had anything to do with them but don't they have temperament problems ?
I know someone that used one and soon got rid, I didn't see the cattle though

local guy selling his 4 year old,not to be trusted, the bull that is

 

[Forever Fendt]

We have been toying with the idea of running a different breed of bull, at the moment we always keep two British blue stock bulls to run with our suckler cows and heifers including our pedigree blues as well as using AI to try to get some replacements

Was thinking of just keeping one blue stock bull for our own use and getting a different breed for getting replacements from our crossbreeds and also to use on some of our ped blue females as we seem to be getting more of them than we want for pedigree breeding

It would have to be a breed that was quiet, cave easy, milky/good mother but also would want a breed that the steer calves would sell well at about 10 months,

Breeds I have thought about and my thoughts about them

Lincoln red
we have a few cross bred cows and they seem to have a good calf and calve easy to the blue bulls and seem to milk well enough keep themselves up together and are not to big, we have calved a few Lincoln red calves and they seem to come out ok,
downside maybe the steers wouldn't sell so well ?

Simmental
we have a few crosses and the seem to go well with the blue bull and calve ok, they milk well and are quiet enough, we have calved a few AI simmys and they seem ok though we have had to pull them,
downside, would hope the steers would sell ok though the last one we sold we were disappointed with, also the only two sim bulls I have had anything to do with turned in to nasty buggers

Angus
Cross well with the blue and seem to calve them ok, should be easy calving if we got the right bull, the cross cows we have had seem to milk ok and steer calves should sell well with the named sire
downside, the calves can be a bit of a handful also the only cow we have ever culled for temperament was an angus but I have dealt with a few angus bulls and they have been fine

Sheeted Somerset
a bit of a different idea, we have some heifers coming on they were calved easy and they look OK so far, should milk well, could be a selling point one day?
downside, mostly unknown, steers may not sell very well

South Devon
don't know so much about them, should milk ok ? we have a crossbreed cow and she has a good calf to the blue, we had a twin of calves got by an AI south Devon and they were very quiet and sold well, the ones I have seen have looked good
downside, could be a bit big ?


What do other folk think ?

you have forgot the Lim on your list

 

[Samcowman]

How much of a patriot are you @Henarar ?

Nobody has mentioned Speckle Park, but they would be worth investigating, IMHO

Not only appealing looking and a bit unique, but I have a feeling they would benefit our type of lower input system.

Thatd certainly be an interesting cross. But I imagine the steers would be discounted as stores due to being an unknown breed. I wonder what a speckle Park x blue would look like.

 

[JP1]

How much of a patriot are you @Henarar ?

Nobody has mentioned Speckle Park, but they would be worth investigating, IMHO

Not only appealing looking and a bit unique, but I have a feeling they would benefit our type of lower input system.

What's Patriotic about a Speckle Park?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Thatd certainly be an interesting cross. But I imagine the steers would be discounted as stores due to being an unknown breed. I wonder what a speckle Park x blue would look like.

Watch this space - I may get a couple of SP x BB calves (if I'm lucky.)
By international standards SP is really starting to be of interest.

Be a hell of a cross with a Blue.

What's Patriotic about a Speckle Park?

.....it's still a native....

(Just not as we know it, Jim)

 

[JP1]

Watch this space - I may get a couple of SP x BB calves (if I'm lucky.)
By international standards SP is really starting to be of interest.
View attachment 715902 Be a hell of a cross with a Blue.
.....it's still a native....

(Just not as we know it, Jim)

They're Canadian aren't they?

Just don't be passing it off as a Riggit Galloway

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Shamelessly lifted from Google

 

[Whitepeak]

We have been toying with the idea of running a different breed of bull, at the moment we always keep two British blue stock bulls to run with our suckler cows and heifers including our pedigree blues as well as using AI to try to get some replacements

Was thinking of just keeping one blue stock bull for our own use and getting a different breed for getting replacements from our crossbreeds and also to use on some of our ped blue females as we seem to be getting more of them than we want for pedigree breeding

It would have to be a breed that was quiet, cave easy, milky/good mother but also would want a breed that the steer calves would sell well at about 10 months,

Breeds I have thought about and my thoughts about them

Lincoln red
we have a few cross bred cows and they seem to have a good calf and calve easy to the blue bulls and seem to milk well enough keep themselves up together and are not to big, we have calved a few Lincoln red calves and they seem to come out ok,
downside maybe the steers wouldn't sell so well ?

Simmental
we have a few crosses and the seem to go well with the blue bull and calve ok, they milk well and are quiet enough, we have calved a few AI simmys and they seem ok though we have had to pull them,
downside, would hope the steers would sell ok though the last one we sold we were disappointed with, also the only two sim bulls I have had anything to do with turned in to nasty buggers

Angus
Cross well with the blue and seem to calve them ok, should be easy calving if we got the right bull, the cross cows we have had seem to milk ok and steer calves should sell well with the named sire
downside, the calves can be a bit of a handful also the only cow we have ever culled for temperament was an angus but I have dealt with a few angus bulls and they have been fine

Sheeted Somerset
a bit of a different idea, we have some heifers coming on they were calved easy and they look OK so far, should milk well, could be a selling point one day?
downside, mostly unknown, steers may not sell very well

South Devon
don't know so much about them, should milk ok ? we have a crossbreed cow and she has a good calf to the blue, we had a twin of calves got by an AI south Devon and they were very quiet and sold well, the ones I have seen have looked good
downside, could be a bit big ?


What do other folk think ?

I know you’re probably thinking of going with a more maternal/native type, but I’d seriously look at a Blonde. You’d get a stonking calf out of a blue cow that’s born easily, and Blonde cows are generally good mothers.
By the way we have a selection of young bulls for sale atm

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Stabiliser

I'm told they cross fantastically with everything, but particularly well with a BB

Not sure if that's a tongue in cheek comment?
A nice cow but I'm not sure it ticks Henarar's box of good saleable store bullocks. Could always call them blue x I guess then they'd sell on their merits

@Henarar you're welcome to come and have a look at some stabiliser x blue cows and calves here. (You never did come and see the bud box ), though these would be dairy x blue base.

 

[topground]

With @farmerclare on the case you can have all of the above and a few more in the tank for the cost of feedng a bull leave alone the risk of buying one!

 

[Samcowman]

They're Canadian aren't they?

Just don't be passing it off as a Riggit Galloway

Could be a way of improving them.

 

[GenuineRisk]

I like the idea of the Saler as well, it’s a great cross with the Blue and you’d hope the docile nature of the Blue would be a good influence plus fact you’d probably make more of an effort to ensure they’re quiet precisely because of the Saler rep?

Our bull got beat by a cracking Saler cow at Honiton, no disgrace in that whatsoever ! He got his own back at the following show, though, when she was reserve to him

There are also some great Speckle Parks about down this way - no chance of it being passed off as a Riggit - far more shape to them and size

 

[sidjon]

Noticed over they last couple of years lots of breed change in the local suck cows ,was a lot of lim, Angus and even some blues, most seem the have gone back to Devonx , Herefordx and some south devons around to most would use a limousin or char bull. Can you not just ai your suck cows once rather than have another breed and let the blue sweep up?

 

[gone up the hill]

Actually given the strong trade for them in the store ring I think henerar should get a Fri bull

Joking aside it comes down to what will sell well in the store ring if you are selling suckled calves and those breeds are Angus (N/S ) Blue/ Saler and Lim.

Breeds like Sim etc are not popular among feeders ( rightly or wrongly )

Point of note, with the news about the new sub scheme today I can see there being a sub for out wintered native cattle post 2027 grazing low input grass land.

 

[Henarar]

Limo had always produced fantastic , saleable cattle for me and mine were always good tempered, but I am sure other people will disagree!!!

Up here you see loads of limmy x blue calves and a fair number of bulls but not that many cows. I guess the milk will be a big problem with the cross as a suck cow.

you have forgot the Lim on your list

temperament and milk put me off lims, we don't feed the calves anything bar PP grass and silage/hay and milk so cows have to milk

 

[gone up the hill]

Watch this space - I may get a couple of SP x BB calves (if I'm lucky.)
By international standards SP is really starting to be of interest.
View attachment 715902 Be a hell of a cross with a Blue.
.....it's still a native....

(Just not as we know it, Jim)

0 grade beast there on our grid system so unless you can get the calve for the same price as a Fri then they wont take off in the UK

 

[Henarar]

When you say Angus calves bit of a handful. What do you mean?

I use to work with an angus heard and found them little buggers to handle but that may have just been just that herd

 

[Henarar]

South Devon, maternal cows, lovely and quiet.
Would be a good cross with a blue!

South Devon, and enjoy easily handled cows that rear growthy youngstock

As I said not had to much to do with them but always liked the look of them, don't see many around and I have often wondered why

 

[Henarar]

How much of a patriot are you @Henarar ?

Nobody has mentioned Speckle Park, but they would be worth investigating, IMHO

Not only appealing looking and a bit unique, but I have a feeling they would benefit our type of lower input system.

Thatd certainly be an interesting cross. But I imagine the steers would be discounted as stores due to being an unknown breed. I wonder what a speckle Park x blue would look like.

Know nothing about them Pete and as Sam said store steer prices may not be so good