Which breed/cross for grass only fed beef?

[Whitepeak]

Okay, so probably been covered before but with more people trying to go towards completely grass based beef systems what breeds seem to be performing best? Essentially what breed/cross is proving to be the most profitable for you?

Assume you are you going to be selling finished? Are you going to retail the meat yourself (box scheme, farm shop etc)? Or sell liveweight or deadweight through the regular channels?
If going down the own retail route, look at either your most local native breeds for provenance or go for the slightly more unusual e.g. Dexter, Wagyu, in other words something you can sell a story about. If however you want to carry on selling through the usual channels, a continental (obviously Blonde ) crossed with a native would be the most saleable.

 

[DrDunc]

Angus or Hereford. Or cross between the two.

Black baldies I believe the AA x Hereford were known as.

But is there a store market for them if you decide not to finish?

I'm mainly blondes and Shorthorns here, selling yearling stores off grass (1000 foot steading hill farm on the wet end of the Pentlands).

Looking to replace the blonde bull and have a few AA cows that perform well here, so considering an AA bull. However it seems that the way to reduce the value of your store by a hundred pounds a head is to buy an AA bull? Or am I being paranoid?

 

[Cowgirl]

A lot of people posting here about "grass based", not "pasture for life", but unless you are committed to PFLA it doesn't much matter - I think most people who keep beef cattle are not making much profit! However I believe there is a growing market for pasture fed - people interested in paleo or gluten free, high welfare etc. Also must reiterate the difference between the "wet west" and the "dry east" - even in Scotland it makes a vast difference. And if you are thinking of selling suckled calves or stores at your local market, don't even think about it! And if you go down the Angus or Hereford route do a lot of research into bloodlines or talk to someone who is doing it - I'm always pleased to talk!

 

[Devil's advocate]

as has already become clear, there's as many answers as breeds.

Really, there's a lot more detail about your ground, labour skills and availability, and what your expectations are, to give concise answers.

Rainfall levels and mineral content/structure in soil are king.
If your 1000' ground is catching 90" of rain, facing the Western seaboard, with undrained peat and a ph through the floor.....well, I'd give up the idea of cows now while you still can.
If not, start loving Galloways or highlanders, and reset your watch to glacial timescales.

Everything gets easier from that point back.
At the opposite end of the scale, if your ground is good enough but you don't want high inputs, South Devons or Conti crosses. (SDs if your skill base is low)

'Grass-based' and housing availability suggests you're game to winter stock indoors on conserved fodder, and possibly utilise some hard feed.
This really opens up almost any possibility.

It sounds like South Devons for me then.

They do have a reputation for been quiet. I do remember Forage Trader saying on here, that if put to a Charollais bull the calves were superb but very hard to calve.

 

[JP1]

as has already become clear, there's as many answers as breeds.

Really, there's a lot more detail about your ground, labour skills and availability, and what your expectations are, to give concise answers.

Rainfall levels and mineral content/structure in soil are king.
If your 1000' ground is catching 90" of rain, facing the Western seaboard, with undrained peat and a ph through the floor.....well, I'd give up the idea of cows now while you still can.
If not, start loving Galloways or highlanders, and reset your watch to glacial timescales.

Everything gets easier from that point back.
At the opposite end of the scale, if your ground is good enough but you don't want high inputs, South Devons or Conti crosses. (SDs if your skill base is low)

'Grass-based' and housing availability suggests you're game to winter stock indoors on conserved fodder, and possibly utilise some hard feed.
This really opens up almost any possibility.

Very pleased to see you'e recognised your glacial timescales and low skill base in one post !!

 

[egbert]

It sounds like South Devons for me then.

They do have a reputation for been quiet. I do remember Forage Trader saying on here, that if put to a Charollais bull the calves were superb but very hard to calve.

Easiest sucklers to work with by a mile.
Calving used to be an issue (Char or pure) after the step away from milking/dual purpose in the 60/70's, and the drive for beef went too far.
(some smart fellas tried retaining the naturally occurring double muscled mutations....didn't end well)
Seldom have any bother now, albeit mine are always a bit plain.

Fella name of Charlie Hinchcliffe your way up north used to have a lot...a big lot. Now he was a character!

 

[egbert]

Very pleased to see you'e recognised your glacial timescales and low skill base in one post !!

Might as well get it now before you do

 

[unlacedgecko]

It sounds like South Devons for me then.

They do have a reputation for been quiet. I do remember Forage Trader saying on here, that if put to a Charollais bull the calves were superb but very hard to calve.

The basic requirements of any herd/flock female should be to become pregnant, give birth unassisted, rear her off spring to weaning without supplement and become pregnant again within an economic time period.

Why would anyone purposely breed something which had trouble giving birth?

 

[egbert]

I quite agree, to an extent that I can hardly say on a public forum.


But with the SDs (and not a few other breeds) in the 1970-80's..... some were chasing muscle and size*, arguably at the expense of calving ease.
It was the principal reason the breed seldom made in-roads in the antipodes or the new world.
*and if you wanna go BIG, SDs have some genetics in their background to do that alright!
As I've said, it's decades past now, and I very seldom have to do much to calving cows.

I suppose it's hard to fathom nowadays, when cattle are worth nothing in real terms, and labour/land is so dear by comparison.
Think about it.
When a mans weekly wages were maybe 15% of the value of a fat bullock, and the fat bullock was worth almost as much as the acre of pasture he stood on, your attitude to having to watch over, and work with, your stock would be very different.
We live in different times.

 

[gatepost]

I finish cattle for the daughters butchers shop, native heifers easiest off grass alone , just put in a pair of pure ruby heifers for xmas o+ 4L and r 4L 285kg , before that Herefords , pures got to 302kg xbreds 310 all o+ or R 4L, angus did very well killed out best and had best fillets, Hereford pure could get a bit lardy if not watched but easy to do of grass , I buy them all in as weanlings so always a bit variable,

 

[Jones24]

I would go with the saler x Galloway... cross your best cows back to the saler or galloway bull for replacements and char or lim on rest.. will be a good hill cow. Easy calving and small rough grazers with plenty of milk.. just my experience anyway.

 

[Cowgirl]

Just another thought - if you’re just starting out you might be wise to consider temperament too - that’s why we started with Herefords.

 

[Kelso690]

Angus X Blonde here and very happy with them. The Angus in them keeps the weight on them over the winter and the Blonde adds a bit of shape. I should add that through the winter my calves get a small amount of creep feed - ad lib to 5 months then rationed (1kg) to 10- 12 months when they are sold. This is an AYR calving closed herd. The biggest issue I have is that my cows are getting too big!!

Are the cows Angus x blonde or do you use blonde bull over Angus cows, have you any pictures. Have used blonde bull over some of our Angus x cows this year am interested to see what calves will be like. Thanks

 

[Roy_H]

(This reply was a lot longer in my mind last night, Tramadol made it come out different..)

For a very thrifty cow who can produce and finish off entirely grass I think the ruby red Devon takes some beating.
However carcass size and overall growth isn’t great
Limo crossed onto the ruby red was still producing a finished carcass off grass and this year we tried south Devon bull onto the ruby cow

From the animals at work, it is consistently the Hereford crosses doing better off the grass and have faired better in the drought than the Angus bred animals

I think going forward if we were to increase cows it more be still towards a thrifty grass based cow (perhaps try a Hereford maternal line).
But wouldn’t have south Devon again, probably would try a stretchy Angus next time

How about Sussex? Similar to a Ruby Devon but a bit bigger.

 

[Keepers]

How about Sussex? Similar to a Ruby Devon but a bit bigger.

That’s true! Not a bad shout at all, and should be thrifty to do well off grazing?

 

[Sheepfog]

Sussex cattle are great forage converters and get fat on fresh air! Butchers like the heifers. It’s a shame they’re not spread around the country

 

[Sheepfog]

If you want to finish cattle off grass maybe it’s a better idea to buy stores in and finish? Costs soon add up for 2 winters and summers and the cost of keeping the cow.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

Just to throw another breed into the ring, seeing as most others have been mentioned .
If you are going for direct sales, Longhorn will take some beating. Excellent eating quality, do well on grass, easily outwinter, look the part to, whether for your website/ fb page, leaflets or for passing trade - a herd of longhorns by the drive attracts attention.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

You'd assume that NZ, with some of the lowest finished beef prices in the world, would be trying to "breed some size" into cattle - but the opposite is apparent.

It's usually eminently more profitable to run ten smaller cows where 8 big ones would do, on a grass-for-life system.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

Are the cows Angus x blonde or do you use blonde bull over Angus cows, have you any pictures. Have used blonde bull over some of our Angus x cows this year am interested to see what calves will be like. Thanks

Both. I have a closed herd so I put the Blonde on Angus cows and heifers and the Angus on the Blondes. Heifers have a DLWG of just over 1kg/day and steers just under 1.2kg/day. Will try and sort some pics out tomorrow.