Best breed to start with

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what is the best breed for a new breeder to start with

  • angus

    Votes: 20 38.5%
  • herfs

    Votes: 9 17.3%
  • simangus

    Votes: 17 32.7%
  • composite/club calves

    Votes: 8 15.4%
  • none

    Votes: 6 11.5%

  • Total voters
    52

CPL

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Joined
Jun 15, 2007
Messages
608
Honestly the best answer I could give you would be that it absolutely doesn't matter. It all depends on you. Basically it boiles down to your preference and your market's preference. No matter what breed you select you will still have to work hard, and act smart in the decisions you make. You are not just going to be able to wake up one day and sell a $10,000 bull no matter what breed you go with.

I think it's much more important for you to focus on having good cattle rather than having the most popular breed at this given time. Define your market. If you are going to be selling to commerical cattlemen your not going to want to have clubbies. Again it really all depends what you want.

With all that said I voted for Herefords.  ;)
 

FutureBreeder2013

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Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
1,149
Location
New Hampton, Iowa
thanks for the input so far guys. Ive been thinking and looking and thinking some more so from what i know if i am wanting to sell show steers and heifers i should chose composite / clubbies ,but if im wanting to market to commercial cattlemen i should chose a british breed?
 

kanshow

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May 24, 2007
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2,660
Location
Kansas
I'd go with Simmental because it leaves you with more options.  You can always make your own SimAngus but it takes 2 generations to get back to PB. 
 

MYT Farms

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Oct 28, 2008
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1,061
Location
Peyton CO
A black hide and polled head has always been in style and they can perty near improve anything. Yes, all breeds have their strong and weak points, but I'd go with tried and true. Black cattle sell best at the sale barn. Herefords are another tried and true breed. Cross up Angus and Herefords and you can't hardly go wrong. Black Baldies fit into jus' about any mold.
 

rtmcc

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Oct 11, 2008
Messages
727
Location
Peterson, MN
Depending on the commercial market in your area, I would go with Angus.  This way , if you decide to branch out you can develop your own SinAngus, Limflex, Balancers or clubby mommas.  No matter which path you decide to take, you have to start with good mommas.  The Angus influende sure helps this
<cowboy>

 

clubcalve

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Jun 21, 2008
Messages
810
rtmcc I agree with you I would start with angus and work up to adding some clubby breeding into them. Thats what I did. hope this helps ;D
 

doubled

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Sep 8, 2007
Messages
1,004
Location
Iowa
My love is Herfs but to be pratical you should start with Angus as they seem to be the best building block for any breed you wanna cross them with
 

Diamond

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Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
715
Location
CT
depends, do you want beef cattle or show cattle? also look around your area and find the biggest demand or find a nitch market. In some areas smaller sides are the way to go so look at lowlines,  or maybe you have a group of restaurants who look for certain breeds. We  breed a certain amount of show cattle then run our murray grays for grass fed beef and have a high demand for them aka we found a nitch that gives us high success for selling our beef and feeders. You also have to look at your pasture, parasites, temp. ect. its not so much saying 'ok I want that breed because..." its more like "ok, what breed is going to work for me"  you shouldn’t narrow your list to such few breeds REALLY do your research. It took us almost 10 years to find the breed that worked the best and we tried everything from herfs to watusi, longhorns to angus. As much as anyone will swear by their breed they all have a strong and week point (angus maternally strong/ known for bad temper. Simmis great growth/not the best taste) who knows, you might decide a Wagu is the best bet for you. Dont be afraid to ask around, do some resurch and find the demand.
 

TJ

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Joined
May 15, 2007
Messages
2,036
Just so we don't have another 7 page thread, I'm staying out of this.  ;)

I do want to say, best wishes regarding what you decide!  Lots of good choices.
 

AAOK

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Joined
Jan 30, 2007
Messages
5,264
Location
Rogers, Ar
FutureBreeder2013 said:
thanks for the input so far guys. Ive been thinking and looking and thinking some more so from what i know if i am wanting to sell show steers and heifers i should chose composite / clubbies ,but if im wanting to market to commercial cattlemen i should chose a british breed?

We had the same idea back in 1990 as what you have today.  We were loooking and thinking about breeding calves for our daughters to show and sell for their 4-H & FFA projects.  As we went to shows and sales, we developed a fondness for the Maine-Anjou breed, and particularly for the people involved in the breed.  I was convinced  by a prominant breeder within the Association that the Junior program could not be beaten.  After 10 years of Junior shows, and another 7 without the kids invlolved, I think we made a great decision.  The cattle are great, and the people even better.  If you stay with high percentage cows, you can easily cross them with Augus to sell the commercial cattleman, or for show steers, breed them to any of the top Club Calf sires.  Maine-Anjou cattle do well in all climates and grasses, and you just won't find a better disposition cow or bull with any other. 
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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Jun 9, 2007
Messages
1,865
Location
Iowa
Ok lets look at the obvious - over the years there has been a trend for nearly every breed to go "black", in the majority of cases the original gene pool available to the various breeds was lacking the black hair color gene. One would have to wonder where all of the black hided genes have come from in cattle that were not genetically predisposed to have it. I often wonder if some of these "purebred" breeds are nearly as angus based as the angus are. And yes I raise angus but they're not black. RW
 

jbzdad

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Joined
Jan 21, 2009
Messages
783
Location
southwestern Kansas
I'm hoping TJ is correct, try to breed great MA heifers keep the best... would a good maine cow bred to a good maine bull throw a decent steer, I hope so but doubt I could compete with that same cow times a clubby bull,,,,but  can a pure maine cow's calf compete in the texas steer shows??? can a pure shorthorn cow'ss calf compete in the texas steer shows?
 

red

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Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,850
Location
LaRue, Ohio
jbzdad said:
I'm hoping TJ is correct, try to breed great MA heifers keep the best... would a good maine cow bred to a good maine bull throw a decent steer, I hope so but doubt I could compete with that same cow times a clubby bull,,,,but  can a pure maine cow's calf compete in the texas steer shows??? can a pure shorthorn cow'ss calf compete in the texas steer shows?

no idea on TX shows but we've done well w/ high % Maine steers in Ohio. I've tried to stay away from clubbie bulls, Cherry Bomb was actually the only real clubby I've used. Sticking w/ more maternal genetics now.

Red
 
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