Thread: Wagyu calves

Originally Posted by Ben Waimata

I'm starting to suspect some people prefer wild Angus cattle. I've been to bull sales where the quiet bulls I bid on get almost no other bids (suits me!), but when a bull comes into the ring and the seller immediately steps out, and the bull starts snorting and crashing into the sides, the bids go through the roof. Maybe a mad wild bull has some breeding advantages but on small farms like mine quiet bulls are the way to go. I cannot understand why anyone does not actively breed for quiet cattle. I work Angus cattle in the yard, in tight spaces without ever being concerned about safety. Out in the paddock sometimes we have cattle sitting on the tracks that don't bother getting up when we try to get past. By contrast I've seen other Angus herds where every beast has it's head up, snorting, watching your every move even from a long way away.

If there is any advantage of wild cattle I'm confident the quiet ones make up for it with less stress, less fencing damage, and less hassles generally.


Has anyone had experience with Red Devon? The meat group I'm involved in are all heading that way, and I'm the only one resisting and sticking wiht Angus at this stage.

The Red Devons are a very old breed and have been bred from a time before modern parasite treatments so have very good natural resistance, which is probably why they will be popular with an organic group.
If it were me I would go for a first cross cow. An F1 will have on average about 16% improvement over the mean of economic traits in the two parent breeds. This is why Black Baldies ( Hereford Angus ) cows have been a mainstay for so long. The most efficient cow is a jersey angus or jersey hereford cross on kg's calf weaned per hectare. But just a plain hereford angus with a Speckled park bull over them might be the best option. The very best way is F1 cows ( jersey x hereford) mated to an F1 bull like a limosine x Charolas so four unrelated breeds are crossed and progeny are terminal