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Use of sire breeds and crosses in commercial herds in Texas

published: March 30th 2007
by: Joe C. Paschal Livestock Specialist

The other day at the ranch a purebred breeder and I were talking about breeds of bulls being used and the types of cows they were using them on. He was lamenting the decline of his bull sales locally and across the state as commercial cattlemen are using other breeds to produce what passes for a “market acceptable” calf nowadays. I know that there are a lot of beef breeds in this state and some are more “acceptable” (sort of a user defined term) than others. But being a realist, probably only a dozen or so breeds have a significant impact on commercial beef production in this state, based on purebred registrations and transfers. Some might argue that maybe there should be only one, but NOT me. If your breed isn’t one of this dozen, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t important or doesn’t contribute, especially to you.

I travel across the state a lot, particularly across the southern half but occasionally north as well and since most of the time I am behind the wheel I like to look at the country and the cows and the types of bulls being used. I remember driving from Waco to the Rio Grande Valley one day a few years ago, I don’t recommend it, it was a long drive! I decided to count the types and breeds of bulls then being used. I am not sure how accurate my windshield survey was, but what I saw was a preponderance of black bulls (Angus and some Brangus) being used on most of the commercial cows (mostly Hereford base with a lot of Brahman and American breed influence as well). The next most popular breed of sire (according to my informal windshield survey) on these type of cows was Charolais.

On non-Hereford base cows, there were a lot of Hereford bulls being used. I am certain that there were Simmental bulls (as well as some Simmental influence cows) in those cow herds but these were the predominant bull breeds until about the half way mark in my journey. There I began see a subtle change in both the cow breedtype as well as the sires being used. More of the cows had some ear, there were still a lot of red cows, and more American breed bulls were being used. This continued on to my destination in the Valley.

Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to recreate this drive. What I saw was that those Angus and Brangus sired heifer calves being produced in my first drive were now cows and that ranchers were using more Charolais, Hereford, and other breeds as sires, especially on the black hided cows. A lot of these cows must have been 3/4 or 7/8 Angus or Brangus since most of their calves were black (only about half of the calves would have been red if the cows were only half-bloods . On red cows, black bulls, were mostly still being used. Once again, about midway through my trip south I noted a change, this one not so subtle. The bull color was basically black as commercial cattle raisers had switched bull breeds. There were still some Charolais (in fact it was the second most numerous bull breed) and Hereford (third) but the use of American sire breeds had decreased in the commercial herds.

It was interesting to note that the commercial cattle producers that went black early, and probably for a few calf crops, had changed bull breeds and I expect that the ones in the southern part of my survey in time will too. In fact as the percent Bos indicus in the their cow herd declines past some point there will probably be a resurgence of the use of Brahman and American breed bulls (Beefmaster, Braford, Brahman, Brangus, Red Brangus, Santa Gertrudis, Simbrah to name a few) to increase the level of heterosis and adaptability in the cow herd. This will be especially true of commercial cattle producers who produce their own replacements.  And on cow herds with no Bos indicus influence at all, Brahman sires may be used to realize highest heterosis and adaptability in females kept for replacements.

What I observed in my surveys is really not surprising. Commercial cattle producers respond to market signals quickly and the market has been signaling for black hided calves (preferably Angus) to the tune of $3 to $5 more per hundred weight. Since many of these producers raise their own replacements, many half-blood Angus were kept as replacements. These half-bloods were more uniform in appearance, grew faster, bred up better, produced more milk and weaned heavier calves. This should be of no surprise since most of the original cow herd had little if any Angus breeding originally and what the half-blood crosses were exhibiting was a classic case of 100% hybrid vigor for growth and later for maternal ability. Since the first cross looked and performed exceptionally well, the daughters (3/4 blood) and granddaughters (7/8 blood) of these half-blood dams were often kept as well. As you might expect, these cattle were even more uniform in appearance, especially with the continued use of black bulls, but the performance due to hybrid vigor began to decline, by half in the 3/4 cow and by half again (to 25% ) in the 7/8 cow.

According to commercial ranchers I have spoken with that followed this program, reduction in milk production and calf growth began to impact the bottom line.  It naturally followed that these cattle producers would begin to use a different sire breed and so turned to Charolais and to Hereford bulls predominantly (according to my windshield survey anyway). There are a lot of half-blood calves being produced by these two (and many other breeds but not as numerous in my survey). These calves are also growthy and the females fertile and maternal as were the first crosses from the black bulls. Unlike the black crosses, which tended to be primarily medium framed, these calves may either be medium or large framed as replacement females, depending on their sire. The large framed females will increase the demand on feed and forage supplies to maintain productivity. Perhaps some of the larger framed females will be kept as replacements but it is more likely that the medium framed females will be the better (and most likely) choice. One thing that will be certain is that, particularly for the southern half, the percent Bos indicus influence has decreased significantly and may be in fact nonexistent in many commercial cowherds that unknowingly depended upon it for adaptability, cow longevity, fertility and maternal ability.

In the past we didn’t see this change in bull breeds and cow breed crosses except when a NEW breed was imported. Certainly the Spanish cattle in Texas and the Southwest were changed by the importation primarily of Shorthorn, Hereford and Angus and those crosses and graded up with the importation of the Zebu cattle from India and Brazil to form the American breeds previously noted. In the 60s the Charolais and later in the 70s Simmental and Limousin had a tremendous influence on commercial beef production (our heavier carcass weights, better yield grades and reduced marbling scores still reflect that influence). What happened was equivalent to a new breed arriving, the reintroduction of the American Angus! It is interesting to note that several breeds have been brought to the US in the last 25 years and yet many of them are not widely known, much less used, such has been the dominance of this reintroduction.

Probably in the next few years as I drive from Waco to the Valley my windshield survey will reveal a third change in bull types being used. Breeds of bulls may be used to bring back in more Bos indicus influence and increases in hybrid vigor and adaptability which once again will improve those economically important traits that keep the cows in the pasture.

Note: Dr. Paschal is a professor and livestock specialist with Texas Cooperative Extension and is based in Corpus Christi, Texas. He can be reached at 361-265-9203 or j-paschal@tamu.edu