Thanks for the awesome video, i learned a lot and loved the spider web visual aid. I have been trying to decide what route to take my herd, right now its 100% Black Angus. Everything I read and watch tells me to breed my cows to a Hereford bull, at this point, that will probably be an AI bull. Part of the plan would be keeping enough of my best Angus cows to replenish my herd, and getting a terminal bull for my BWF cows. This would be a herd bull on the farm and to try and keep uniformity in color, would a Gelbvieh be a good choice for this over a Charolais? Things to consider, I work a 40hr week which makes it hard to watch the cows during the calving season, I plan to stay around 30-35 head, and docility is very important to me. I have not found any good information on this mix, what color and markings would this produce and if I keep my bulls homozygous polled, would horns be an issue? Any information or links would be appreciated, and thanks again for the great video.
There are a number of ways to tackle this...none of them easy to maintain over time. The easiest thing to grab from your example is to make sure you use homozygous polled bulls, regardless of which breed you utilize. If uniformity in color is important, Herefords are certainly easier to manage long-term since their color inheritance is simpler. Black is always dominant to red. Charolais contain a gene that produces a "smoke" or chocolate colored calf, but sometimes the demand for these calves is quite good for calves bound for the feedlot. The bigger question is your long term plan for retaining heifers. If you truly desire an F-1 female, consider utilizing estrus synchronization and artificial insemination with sexed heifer semen in the "top half" of your cows. These heifer calves will be born early in the calf crop and should serve as the sole purpose for retaining females. The drawback to this will not only be calf uniformity...but you will eventually run out of purebred Angus females to A.I. At that point, new genetics must be brought in to maintain the Angus base. A much simpler way to address this long-term is to begin purchasing F-1 females from a consistent source and then annually market 100% of your entire calf crop. Those calves will capture 100% of the available heterosis every year. I hope this helps arm you with enough info to make a solid decision moving forward. Best of luck!
