Picking a breed

WildRoseBeef said:

It all depends on how much you are willing to spend on the animal, how much you're willing to spend on feed (usually the larger the animal the more feed you have to buy), how much land you have available to hold and raise a cow or two in addition to other livestock you have (from your avatar I assume you already have a herd of goats to care for), whether you want a mature cow to produce calves so that you can have beef in the freezer every year or whether you want to just purchase a steer to raise and slaughter for the freezer instead (the former takes less time, less money and less feed to get fattened up for slaughter; a mature cow will always need feed year round, and it takes often at least a year for a calf from her to get to the desired size and weight to be turned into freezer beef), how much beef you need or want to feed yourself and your family (depending on your family size), and your level of experience working with bovines.

I can give you the run-down on some pros and cons for each breed. Jerseys are fine, just need lots of grain to get up to slaughter weight. Angus usually finishes better on more grass than grain, but be careful of bloodlines because some can be a little more high-strung than others and grow larger than others. Herefords don't finish with the high level of marbling that Angus are well-known for due to the Certified Angus Beef labelling in North America, but they are very hardy on just pasture (little to no grain) and the usual necessary mineral block, but still finish up like any good beefer will, just not as well as Angus or Charolais. Charolais should be a no-go for you if you don't have the experience handling high-strung, "excitable" cattle. Though some breeding herds have very nice and calm char cows, that's only because of strict culling for temperament. They also are large animals, late maturing, and usually--but not always--need some level of grain to finish them up. They're high-yielding, which means you may get more meat than you expected due to the breed's high dressing percentage (amount of meat on the carcass after slaughtering and butchering). Low-line/Miniature cattle are EXPENSIVE right off the get-go. They may save on feed because of their size (though some argue that feed efficiency varies despite the size, which means they may or may not reduce feed costs despite their smaller sizes), but if you're going to invest in a small bovine that is expensive to buy, you might as well start a breeding herd instead of purchase one just to slaughter it for meat.

If I were you, I would also consider cross-bred animals instead of these certain breeds or purebred/straightbred animals. Cross-bred beefers are often deemed better or more efficient at feed efficiency (converting feed/forage into beef), and are less expensive, due to them being sold as commercial (not registered) cattle, up-front. You can go many ways with a cross-bred, and often are just as good, if not better, as a purebred/straightbred animal for being raised for the freezer. I could bore you to death with the combinations that come about with crossbreeding and different crossbreds. For example, the cow in my avatar, the one with the white brockle face, is a Hereford-Angus cross cow, and herf-angus crosses are quite well-known for their meat quality at slaughter. This is all due to hybrid vigor, or heterosis, which is a genetic term for an offspring's ability to express both purebred parents' qualities in one making it a superior animal: The hardiness of the Hereford and the easy fleshing of the Angus, for instance.

Other crossbreds include Simmental-Angus cross (jhm is the guy to talk to about these handsome crossbreds), Charolais-Angus cross, Charolais-Angus-Hereford cross (those beautiful yellow-white-faces that I personally happen to be a fan of, despite the Charolais influence ), Red Angus-Hereford cross (like the black brockle-face cow above, except they come in red instead of black), Hereford-Charolais cross, Hereford-Shorthorn cross, Angus-Shorthorn cross (you won't get the level of heterosis with this cross like you will with them black baldies of the Hereford-Angus cross), Gelbvieh-Angus cross, the list goes on.

Then there's the consideration of a cow versus a steer. Personally I'd go with the steer because you're buying it when it's already weaned (usually at around 6 months of age), and all you need to worry about is feeding it right so that it gains well and reaches the desired slaughter weight you want for your freezer. No need to have to finish the steer to 18 or 24 months, though if you're going grass-fed you will need to consider moving the slaughter age to at least 24 months due to the greater time it takes to fatten up an animal on grass versus grain, you can still finish a steer at 10 to 14 months of age no problem, you'll just need to up the grain ration the last few weeks before slaughter. With a cow, you need to find a means to get her bred, worry about her having her calf, the morbidity and mortality of the calf, vaccinations plus dehorning (if applicable), castration (if applicable--50% chance of getting a bull versus a heifer), and tagging (also if applicable), then there's the weaning process, then finding the space and feed to feed up the calf to slaughter plus keep mom fit, full and happy to her next calf in a year or two. All in all with a cow, it will take you at least a year or two, depending on whether you're opting for grass-fed or grain-fed, to get some beef in your freezer from the moment the calf hits the ground.

So, lots of things to think about.

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