Interested in F1's

[cedargrove]

I was always under the understanding that F1's were offspring from a purebred sire of 1 breed and a purebred dam of another breed. hence the term f1 as in 1st cross.  If your cows are not purebred and you are looking at a non-pure bull... I wouldn't think there was much hybrid vigour left available in the resulting calves. You would be making f3's or f4's..... or in layman's terms...Heinz 57's. Sorry to rain on your parade. Just my opinion.

 

[fish94]

Ya... I would agree with that statement I realize your cows are angus based with a little touch of other things, and your concerned about CE for your heifers. The thing you need to remember is, there is as much variation within a breed as there is between breeds. I would pick a breed and find a purebred bull that's a curvebender type bull small birth weight and big back end growth. Lots of bulls out there to fit a guys needs, but the statement is correct if you want to maximize the heterosis you need a purebred bull. Lots of guys out here use a three way system, angus+Hereford to make f-1 replacements then bred terminal to char.  But Do what makes you money in your system! Good luck

 

[Mark H]

I this bull you are loking at a natural service sire you are looking at buying?
What functional traits do you consider lacking in your cows forcing you to cull them in favor of unproven heifers?
I would use a purebred Simmy instead of the simangus because I want the calves to be half simmey.  i also want you to have the advnage of the cross bred cow.
Here is a limk with simmy bulls for sale in georgia:http://georgiasimmental.com/cattleforsale.html
Where in Georgia are you located?

 

[RyanChandler]

I was always under the understanding that F1's were offspring from a purebred sire of 1 breed and a purebred dam of another breed. hence the term f1 as in 1st cross.  If your cows are not purebred and you are looking at a non-pure bull... I wouldn't think there was much hybrid vigour left available in the resulting calves. You would be making f3's or f4's..... or in layman's terms...Heinz 57's. Sorry to rain on your parade. Just my opinion.

Good call.  There is no substitute for the f1 cow.  They can't replicate themselves. And you sure can't create one using a crossbred bull. 

We just don't want to get in over our heads and get in a mess with large calves.

Now you're thinking.  From the sound of it, you've already got a nice maternal foundation of 11-1200lb cows.  Find you a bull of similar type to your cow herd in one of the other British breeds- Shorthorn or Hereford and start there.  While you can't create true F1s out of your non straightbred Angus cows, using a purebred bull over what you have will offer you the next best option. When and if you decide to have a crop of mkt bound terminal calves,, then maybe look to the influence of a continental sire, but for making momma cows, they just don't offer anything I value as far as establishing a commercial cow herd.

 

[GrowerShower32]

We've decided to just up the quality of our herd since we can't afford to go out and buy the same amount of registered cows to replace our commercial herd so we are gonna just breed for more efficient higher productive cows that we can get alittle more more out of and we purchased our first registered Angus heifer so we will slowly cull commercial cows as we get registered heifers to replace then go after our F1s thanks everyone for your input.

 

[CAB]

  If you are looking foe an Angus bull that has outstanding numbers and is becoming more widely used each year take a look at ABS's SAV Bruiser bull. It's hard to ignore his numbers IMO. I have seen quite a number of Bruiser's used in a commercial herd and really like em!! Link below.


http://abs-bs.absglobal.com/beef/angus.asp?CodTouro=29AN1782

 

[Duncraggan]

We've decided to just up the quality of our herd since we can't afford to go out and buy the same amount of registered cows to replace our commercial herd so we are gonna just breed for more efficient higher productive cows that we can get alittle more more out of and we purchased our first registered Angus heifer so we will slowly cull commercial cows as we get registered heifers to replace then go after our F1s thanks everyone for your input.

Remember this 'nugget' of information, the registered heifer a breeder is selling is probably in the lower half of your own herd, quality wise, if you are a good, established commercial breeder! That is, unless you have paid high dollars for a commercially orientated, registered heifer!
Xbar gave some good advice above related to previous posts.
Good luck!