After weaning, we will keep the heifers to work toward building a true beef herd, and we will sell the steer calf crop. We’ll use Angus semen (or possibly another beef breed such as Simmental) and the half-beef cow will raise her calf to weaning. When we breed our crossbreds, though, they’ll become beef cows. And, just like with our Holsteins, we will raise and breed the heifer calves. We will sell the bull calves when they’re a few days old just like we do with our Holstein bulls, but we will get a higher price. The reduction in Holstein replacement heifers will be offset by our sexed semen use on the top portion of our herd. This system will hopefully increase their efficiency by providing a less stressful calving and increasing conception to more quickly breed back. These cows are typically lower producers who carry excess body condition and are therefore beefier to begin with. Our plan is to use Angus semen on the bottom 5%-10% of our herd. Our Angus x Holstein bull calf born in August 2013. Crossbreeding generally increases conception rate and Angus calves are typically smaller (and therefore easier to deliver) than Holstein calves. There are some additional benefits that also serve as “bonuses”. She delivered a little black bull calf, and he brought $50 more than his Holstein counterparts at the local auction.

One of those heifers had gotten into the neighbor’s pasture with an Angus bull and been bred. In addition, we think we would enjoy having a little bit more diverse income.Ī few months ago, we bought 10 bred Holstein heifers. Starting out we didn’t want any part of the beef operation, but as we’ve gotten our feet wet as dairy operators, we realize that we’re not taking full advantage of our available pasture. When the operation split into a dairy herd and a beef herd two years ago, the beef cows were mostly black cows with mostly Angus genetics. The beef herd started when the neighbors Hereford bull got in with the Heim’s Holstein cows many years ago. Before we purchased the dairy, Heim and Sons Partnership operated both a dairy and a beef herd. The other part of this story is that our farm hasn’t always raised dairy cattle exclusively.

Before I let my crossbreeding friends get too excited, I’ll explain – we used Angus semen and we don’t plan on milking the heifers, but we do plan to keep them. We did something recently that we’ve never done before.

Raising holstein bull calves for beef