Longhorn Cross

[HDRider]

First, don't jump on me.
Second, if you have done this please speak up.

Suppose you have a Longhorn cow, crossed with the bull of your choice. Would the heifers be worth retaining?

 

[Bigfoot]

Half longhorn is better in my opinion than a longhorn cow. Spots will still show up on the calves out of that cross. Especially if you use a black bull.

 

[HDRider]

Half longhorn is better in my opinion than a longhorn cow. Spots will still show up on the calves out of that cross. Especially if you use a black bull.

Hearing you like the 1/2s, how long do you think you could get away with using the 1/4s, 1/8s and so on?

 

[Taurus]

Half longhorn is better in my opinion than a longhorn cow. Spots will still show up on the calves out of that cross. Especially if you use a black bull.

Hearing you like the 1/2s, how long do you think you could get away with using the 1/4s, 1/8s and so on?

it's impossible to get rid of the spots, no matter if the cow is 1/2 or 1/4 or 1/16 assuming that the original dam is a roan or small-spotted longhorn.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

No its not impossible to get rid of the spots.

 

[Taurus]

No its not impossible to get rid of the spots.

Good luck with that! They are good at cheating on homo black bulls.

 

[ANAZAZI]

A longhorn cow (or the likes of it, as there are other breeds with similar hardiness traits) will pass a lot of that hardiness to her daughters.
The only downside in my opinion is that I would tend to put terminal bulls on such a cow, therefore the heifer would be uneconomical to keep, and "cost" more not to sell off than a maternal bred heifer.

 

[Bigfoot]

Half longhorn is better in my opinion than a longhorn cow. Spots will still show up on the calves out of that cross. Especially if you use a black bull.

Hearing you like the 1/2s, how long do you think you could get away with using the 1/4s, 1/8s and so on?

I don't activly pursue having LH or LH crosses in my cow herd. With that said, I have had several over the years. Probably more experience with 1/2 longhorn, than anything else. I will generally breed hiefers to one, and if I am roping LH heifers, I wont let them stand around open. With 1/2 LH cows, you get some serious longevity out of the cow. They breed back quick, and will continue to stick well into their old age. Spots are not really a problem out of a charlois bull, and thats about all I ever use. I have posted pictures of charlois/Lh cross hiefer in the last few weeks. Not sure what the thread was though.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I have saw some pretty good half longhorn cows from Limousin and Char. bulls. They seem to do as good as any thing else around here and better than a lot. The more solid red colored longhorn cows seem to have more solid colored calves out of red bulls.

 

[WalnutCrest]

An answer can't be given without first understanding your objective.

So... what are trying to accomplish in terms of your marketing?

Is she going to be a recip for you? Or are you selling her sons as finished beef direct to consumers? Are the aesthetics of a totally uniform herd important to you? Etc?

 

[HDRider]

An answer can't be given without first understanding your objective.

So... what are trying to accomplish in terms of your marketing?

Is she going to be a recip for you? Or are you selling her sons as finished beef direct to consumers? Are the aesthetics of a totally uniform herd important to you? Etc?

The objective of retaining the LH X heifers is to use them as commercial cows.

I am thinking Red Angus bull on LH cows. Sell steers as freezer beef or at the sale barn and keep heifers to build a herd. Rotating a new RA as needed.

The attraction I have to LH cows. Low purchase cost, easy calving, disease resistance, hardiness, long life, high reproductive rate.

I want to start with 20 LH cows, building to a 100 head. Ultimately I want to develop a grass finished freezer beef market.

Maybe I am all wet.

 

[wacocowboy]

a good Hereford bull works great with Longhorn cows some gave us a Longhorn heifer we dehorned her and let go with the rest about as good a cow as you could want when she died pretty sure she was bred and must of been 13-15 years old had a calf every year only 3 were spotted and they were heavy thick calves the rest were all red with white face she only had 2 heifers we kept both one was a red with white face the other spotted both made really good cows until they got old neither one ever had a spotted calf I have thought about getting a few longhorns but right now using an Angus bull and just not sure how that would go but may try it can buy a cow pretty cheap just got to find one who was dehorned I don't need a mile of horns

 

[jedstivers]

Now longhorns are still cheaper than other cows but they are expensive. I wish when I started buying I would have bought longhorns instead of angus. Put char and limo bulls on and send the calves to town.

 

[Bigfoot]

Just throwing a thought out there. Around here, you are normally buying a LH cow at a slaughter price. That is wether she is bred or not. When you buy a big ol bred beef cow, you are buying her at what ever the local market demands for a nice bred cow. When you retire that cow, you are usually looking at selling her at a slaughter price. If somebody just wants to take a chance with buying some bred cows, a LH cow aint a bad way to go. Plus if there knowledge of calving/feeding etc. isn't that great, the LH will be a little more maintenance free.

 

[ohiosteve]

I am the first to admit that I am a rookie in beef production but I was born and raised around dairy cows. Now that I am able to have cattle as a hobby, I can tell you without a doubt that there is money to be made using longhorn influenced mother cows, at least around here. I can and have bought bred LH cows and heifers for less than 1/2 price of typical beef breeds and with very little marketing have sold the calves for more than I paid for the cow. I have made more money than I ever expected from my longhorn cows and for me it really is just a hobby.

 

[ohiosteve]

Just throwing a thought out there. Around here, you are normally buying a LH cow at a slaughter price. That is wether she is bred or not. When you buy a big ol bred beef cow, you are buying her at what ever the local market demands for a nice bred cow. When you retire that cow, you are usually looking at selling her at a slaughter price. If somebody just wants to take a chance with buying some bred cows, a LH cow aint a bad way to go. Plus if there knowledge of calving/feeding etc. isn't that great, the LH will be a little more maintenance free.

I agree with you 110% bigfoot. Actually 120%.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I am the first to admit that I am a rookie in beef production but I was born and raised around dairy cows. Now that I am able to have cattle as a hobby, I can tell you without a doubt that there is money to be made using longhorn influenced mother cows, at least around here. I can and have bought bred LH cows and heifers for less than 1/2 price of typical beef breeds and with very little marketing have sold the calves for more than I paid for the cow. I have made more money than I ever expected from my longhorn cows and for me it really is just a hobby.

Hey OhioSteve, how ya been?

 

[ohiosteve]

I am the first to admit that I am a rookie in beef production but I was born and raised around dairy cows. Now that I am able to have cattle as a hobby, I can tell you without a doubt that there is money to be made using longhorn influenced mother cows, at least around here. I can and have bought bred LH cows and heifers for less than 1/2 price of typical beef breeds and with very little marketing have sold the calves for more than I paid for the cow. I have made more money than I ever expected from my longhorn cows and for me it really is just a hobby.

Hey OhioSteve, how ya been?

I've been good TT, just real busy. I've really been struggling with what to do with all the money I've made from my longhorns. Me and my girl just got back from the Bahamas but we've still got way too much money left, we're thinking of heading to Nashville.

 

[WalnutCrest]

An answer can't be given without first understanding your objective.

So... what are trying to accomplish in terms of your marketing?

Is she going to be a recip for you? Or are you selling her sons as finished beef direct to consumers? Are the aesthetics of a totally uniform herd important to you? Etc?

The objective of retaining the LH X heifers is to use them as commercial cows.

I am thinking Red Angus bull on LH cows. Sell steers as freezer beef or at the sale barn and keep heifers to build a herd. Rotating a new RA as needed.

The attraction I have to LH cows. Low purchase cost, easy calving, disease resistance, hardiness, long life, high reproductive rate.

I want to start with 20 LH cows, building to a 100 head. Ultimately I want to develop a grass finished freezer beef market.

Maybe I am all wet.

I don't think you're all wet at all.

I do think you'd be well-served to actually decide how you want your finished product to taste and then find the animals that will deliver that sort of dining experience for your beef buyers and build the management system and genetic base that will allow you to implement your business plan.

If your market is going to be "direct to consumer" you need to think differently about your business.

There are four things that impact your dining experience … genetics, management, butchering and preparation.

You should decide what you can control on the above list and learn all you can.

Part of my education is sourcing, preparing and eating the unseasoned, unsauced beef from dozens of different small-time regional producers each year so I can see what different genetics, management and butchering decisions impacts what happens in my mouth.

Know your market and build something to service it that nobody can replicate by going to the sale barn.

Good luck to you!

 

[back2dfuture]

last year when I decided to embark on this venture of raising cattle I took a lot of things in consideration when I choose my breed.. And to be honest the deciding factors was start up cost & upkeep. I live an 1hr.20 min from my land & I had no idea how I could make it work. I see my cows no less than twice a month. Since "Everything looks good on paper" I decided that I would rather make a 800.00 mistake vs a 1500.00 mistake, as I work my way thru things, so I purchased 2 bred LH heifers ( 1 was bred to LH, 1 was bred to a Char) for a total of 1400.00... I lost the LH calf my first calf, but the LhxChar heifer has made it thru & looks to be growing out well. I think the LHxChar cross is the best option for me. This cross will give me a great calf for the sales barn or the heifer will do good as a replacement. As for marketing those calves that come out with a few spots, those are the ones I plan on feeding out for freezer beef. I will be purchasing a few more heads in the next couple months & AIing to nice Char - Homo polled bull...