Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
Nothing like a change
When you believe environment can influence size, it makes sense to switch, in this case from Hereford to Brangus.
Making a big switch, such as changing the beef breed you’ve been farming for 10 years, is not something you do without a lot of forethought.
John Baxter, who farms near eMkhondo in Mpumalanga, owns the nation’s best performance-tested Hereford cow.
“I still have considerable respect for the Hereford,” he says. “And in a crossbreeding operation there are not many breeds to equal it.
“But I have found that over the 20 years I have bred them, Hereford don’t altogether suit the eMkhondo area.”
Baxter found he had in his herd a large number of three-quarter Herefords and some seven-eighths. The weaning mass began to drop. To remedy this he introduced other breeds using artificial insemination. The Brahman crossed best with the Hereford-type cows, showing a 15% improvement in calf mass at 205 days.
When Brahman/Hereford-type cross cows were mated to Hereford bulls, weaner mass was 32% better than with Hereford bulls on Hereford-type cows.
By 1983, he had a breeding herd at that time of 364 commercial cows – the 205-Ȳday mass average of calves from Brahman/ Hereford-type cross cows was 214kg, while from Hereford-type cows it was 162kg.
Baxter then introduced Brahman bulls for use on Hereford-type cows, but abandoned the project when he encountered management problems.
SWITCHING TO BRANGUS
After farming with this mix of breeds, Baxter decided to reassess the situation and find a suitable beef breed he could use in a stud, as well as in a commercial beef herd.
It was obviously an advantage, he thought, to have Bos indicus blood in the cattle he chose. Listing his requirements, they were: ȊȲThe breed should have B. indicus and
B. taurus blood, but more B. taurus than
B. indicus (for better temperament and to conform with feedlot requirements,
where more than 50% B. indicus in animals to be fattened is not welcomed); ȊȲThe beefing qualities of B. taurus;
ȊȲA solid, uniform colour (a disadvantage in Hereford/Brahman crosses);
ȊȲThe breed should have pigmented eyes and hooves and be polled; and
ȊȲBe early maturing and grow easily on sourveld. “I desired a beef animal that would fatten quickly because of the short grazing season,” he says.
Baxter finally decided on the Brangus (three-eighths Brahman and five-eighths Aberdeen-Angus). He visited a number of Brangus studs and, impressed with what he saw, bought 28 F1 and F2 heifers from two well-known KwaZulu-Natal breeders. He also bought 18 registered AberdeenAngus cows for breeding up to Brangus. Semen was imported from the US.
Only one ‘crop’ of calves has been weaned, but the results indicate the potential of the Brangus.
For instance, the weaners of registered Aberdeen-Angus cows gave, at 205 days, an average mass of 194kg, while with registered Herefords it was 215kg. Brangus first calvers in comparison produced calves which at 205 days had a mass average of 228kg.
Speaking of his switch of emphasis from Hereford to Brangus, Baxter says he knows that an established breed for a developing breed means taking a chance, but he will have the satisfaction of being part of a growing breed, and of getting in on the ground floor with cattle that he considers have a good future.
“The Brangus has done well in the
US, and among the general-purpose breeds is regarded as one of the best in that country,” says Baxter.
All cow herds at his farm are fed on a strictly commercial basis.
He believes environment can have an influence on size, and that a cattle farmer would do well to buy cattle from a stud or farm where the environment is similar to that of the buyer.
“I have noticed this with the Hereford,” he says. “My animals in the eMkhondo area did not achieve the size, say, of Herefords of the Eastern Cape and this, I feel, is not due to breeding but to environment.” This article first appeared in the
2 January 1987 issue of Farmer’s Weekly and has been edited to adhere to the current style of the magazine.