What do breeders look for in beef cows?

Answer 1

There really is no best breed to raise. The best breed that you can raise depends on your location (which includes topography, climate and vegetation), your operational and managerial goals and objectives, your philosophies and experiences, as well as what kind of market you are looking to get into.

There are two types of cattle farming: dairy and beef. In dairy, there is only one type of farming, and that's raising dairy cows and heifers for milk production.

In the beef industry, however, there are four types of operations that you can get into in raising cattle: Seedstock/Purebred operation, Commercial Cow-calf or cow-yearling operation, backgrounding/stocker heifers or steers, and feedlot. All four (or five) operations involve farming cattle, except that the last two involve buying cattle from cow-calf producers and selling them when they are ready to be sold (i.e., have reached their target weight).

Stocker/backgrounding involves purchasing weaned calves and feeding them in a high-quality forage-only diet (involving 80% forage and 20% grain, and/or grazing them on good-quality pasture) then selling them when they reach a weight between 800 and 1000 lbs. Feedlot is the terminal feeding process where cattle are fed a high-quality grain diet (80% grain and 20% forage) for a few months until they are sold to the meat packers to be slaughtered.

The cow-calf or cow-yearling operation involves raising breeding cows (and a few bulls) to give birth to calves that are going to be raised for beef. Cow-calf involves calves being sold at weaning time (when they're around 6 to 8 months of age) after they've been born and raised on the milk from their dams; cow-yearling involves the same steps as cow-calf, except the calves are NOT sold at weaning time, but instead are weaned and fed separately as stocker/backgrounder/feeder calves until they are yearlings (between 10 and 18 months of age). Seedstock is the most challenging and demanding type of operation in the beef cattle industry since it involves raising top-quality cows and bulls to calve out heifers and bulls that are sold to other cattle producers that need them in their breeding program.

You have a more flexible breeding program when you have a cow-calf or cow-yearling operation, since you can have two calving periods (spring and fall), or choose to calve in the winter, spring, summer or fall, so long as the time you wean coincides with market prices so you can get top dollar for your calves. All a commerical producer has to worry about is whether the calves will sell well at selling time. Seedstock, on the other hand, are less flexible since bulls and heifers are needing to be sold in the spring when they're yearlings, which means having calving in the winter/early spring. You also need to advertise, show and know your breed in order to be successful at selling any of your cattle.

So with all that in mind, you need to choose a breed that will work for you and your operation. If you're willing to spend the extra money and time to pamper and care for your cattle and you want to raise cows and calves, then such breeds as Simmental and Charolais will work for you. If you are not wanting to spend as much time worrying about calving ability and mothering ability and have a ranch that requires cows to be able to care for themselves and their calves, then Angus, Shorthorn, Hereford, Murray Grey, Beefmasters, Santa Gerts, etc. are the best breeds for you.

Also keep in mind of not only calving ease, mothering ability, calf vigour and milking ability, but also of docility, forage convertability, fertility, and ability to grow well on roughage-only for selecting the best breed for your operation. The type of forage you have on your operation DOES affect your decision: some breeds do better on scarcer, lower quality pastures than others, and other breeds are better for areas where forage quality is great every year, even in drought periods. Smaller cattle like Angus, Hereford and Shorthorn are best for poorer-quality areas, whereas other areas with relatively consistent good quality pasture are better for those breeds like Limousin, Salers, Charolais, Simmental, etc. And yet, even with the higher quality pastures, there are some folks who just don't like handling big cows.

Even presence of or lack of horns can affect your decisions: a lot of breeds have a lot of polled animals, but these breeds that are historically horned can still have the potential to make some horned calves that have to be dealt with at pre-weaning. You may wish to stick with naturally hornless breeds like Angus or Murray Greys so you don't have to deal with the messy and stressful business of dehorning calves.

Take note of the seasons and weather you have experienced in the past to determine the best breed for you. Southern climates that are hot and humid are best for Brahmans, Nellore, Nguni, etc., and, especially in the southern USA, other Brahman-based breeds are good like Brangus, Senepols, Santa Gertrudis, Beefmasters, Barzonas, etc. Up north requires breeds that are more adapted to colder climates and winter snows: these include most European breeds that have historically been raised in similar conditions.

Markets also have a huge impact on your decisions for what breed is best. In most areas of the USA, Angus is a major breed to go for. However, there are many other breeds that are also following the black-fad, and you can even raise the breed you want, through a Angus bull in with your cows, then sell your calves as Angus Sourced calves to get a premium. An Angus bull on Hereford cows will also get your calves to sell for a premium since they are Angus-sired. However, other markets may be less inclined to go for Angus and may be directing more towards the red-coloured or brown-coloured cattle, which breeds like Simmental, Red Angus, Hereford, South Devon, Red Poll, Gelbvieh, etc. are great to raise to meet those market demands. And yet, you may just wish to sell your cattle through direct sales, which involve locally butchering your cattle and selling the meat directly to interested customers. With this type of marketing, you can raise any breed you want.

With backgrounding and feedlot operations, you really have no choice as to what breed you want for feeding steers intended for slaughter. Really, any animal of any breed that is healthy and can be fed is what you need to look for to buy and sell cattle for your backgrounding or feedlot operation.

With dairy operations, it's all too straight forward. You need to have cows that are high-producing and consistant milk producers. The only three popular dairy breeds (in North America, at least) that you have to choose from (or use all three, as some dairy farmers do) are Holstein, Jersey and Brown Swiss. You may choose to incorporate or raise other less-popular dairy breeds like Dutch Belted, Ayrshire, Guernsey, Canadian or Randall, depending on whether you are more interested in being a part of keeping these rare breeds alive or not.

Lastly, you need to take a look at your plans for your cattle operation and what your goals are for that operation. Do your research, make up a business plan of some sort, and don't just focus on one breed that you "may" want to raise, because that may not be the breed you want when all is said and done. Fincances, marketing, seasons best for breeding, weaning and selling, feeding/pasture management, and labour are all important things to remember when choosing the breed you want for your cattle farm.

See the related link below for a list of and information on many different breeds of cattle.

Answer 2

This really depends on where you are located, some cattle breeds are designed to with stand hotter climates. This will also depend on what you are breeding for, cow calf operation, or looking for dual purposed animals. Shorthorns are dual purposed as well as Dexter. Gelbvieh are designed to with stand warmer climates.

However, I prefer Charolais over any breed as they have high maternal instincts, high weaning rates, and when crossed with other breeds are able to produce high quality marbling.

A second opinion:Charolais are something to not consider if you don't want to deal with mothers that have poor milking ability and throw huge calves. They aren't the greatest either when it comes to having a grass-hay only operation. And, I strongly unrecommended them if you are new to raising cattle: they are often flighty and nervous animals, have the potential to get very aggressive, and at calving time, it can be very hectic as you may have to deal with mothers that are having a difficult time giving birth. They are better off with a more experienced cattle-person and for someone who doesn't mind the extra work and pampering that comes with them. If you come across a herd of chars that are very docile and such, it's because the producer has been very strict about what cows can stay and which should go: more often than not, he/she has been culling any cows that are mean, poor milkers, have calving difficulties and poor maintenance issues to get the kind of cows he/she wants.

If you want a good breed that fits the market and does great in a low-cost operation, go with Angus, Red Angus, or Hereford. Angus mothers can be nasty too, but that can also be selected out if you have a good culling plan to get rid of any cows that are aggressive towards you at any time. Red and Black Angus cattle do awesome on grass alone as well as in the feedlot, have great mothers with excellent milking ability, are able to calve out on their own no problem (most of the time), have great carcass characteristics, etc.

Herefords are actually the most docile breed out there, next to the lesser known beef breeds like Galloway, Red Poll, British White, Speckle Park, etc. They are extremely versatile as to what climate they are raised in: they do just as well in warm climates like that of South Africa as they do up in colder climates like up in Alberta, Canada or Scotland. Though they aren't the greatest for milking ability, they are good mothers, great foragers (requiring literally no grain) on extensive and intensive grazing operations, are easy calvers, the list goes on. When they are crossed with Angus the calves of these two breeds are exceptional. Black-baldies (or Black Herefords) are great to raise if you want to have cattle that have the characteristics of both Angus and Hereford cattle. And yes, there is such a breed as Black Hereford.

In my personal opinion, if you choose a breed that meets your requirements as a breed that is a dream to work with and does very well with minimal management and minimal feed costs because you have no time to deal with hard calvers, or hard keepers, go with a breed that suits those needs. Charolais, Simmental, Maine Anjou and Limousin are pretty much out of the question because of their infamous tendancy to be aggressive and flighty; Angus, Red Angus, Speckle Park, Shorthorn, Hereford (traditional red and new Black), Galloway, Dexter, Gelbvieh (another awesome and versatile breed, btw, lots of GB breeders in the US and Canada), Red Poll, Devon, British White, American White Park, etc. are a number of breeds (European-type) to consider. I wouldn't recommend any Brahman-type breeds because they take a person who understands the Brahman characteristics and personality to raise them. If you treat them wrong they will come back to haunt you; these type of cattle are more sensitive to mismanagement and mistreatment than the other breeds mentioned above are. But if you are knowledgable of that already, then breeds like Beefmaster, Santa Gertrudis, Brangus, Braford, Senepol, and Droughtmasters are some breeds to consider.

So PLEASE do your research, ask around, make a plan of what kind of cattle you want before looking at a "best breed," and look at where you are going to raise these cattle and how before you make your decision. Also, I highly recommend you take a look at the related questions and links below for more information.

Answer 3

A beef cow should be structurally sound, with good depth of rib and deep in the hindquarters. They must display femininity, but not too much so that they look more dairy than beef. They must have genetics for docility, feed convertibility (or, able to live more off of grass and hay only than needing to be supplemented with grain most of their lives), mothering ability, calving ease, good fertility, and be an all-around easy-keeping cow for producer going more towards the natural means of raising them (more grass and pasture and less grain and drylot or feedlot). Good beef cows must also have good milking ability, but not so much that they are more dairy than beef which make them harder keepers. They must have sufficient milk to raise what beef producers call a "soggy calf" or a calf that is in great condition.