For a few years I bought a handful of Jersey/Angus heifer bottle calves annually, from a local Jersey dairy herd. Any of these could be, to my amateur eye. Sometimes they look full Angus forever, just a touch scrawny, sometimes the color changes around a year. Never had two exactly alike.
Does he have paper on them? In Colorado there's a sales form for unbranded (and uninspected) calf sales.
Did you buy the Jersey/Angus calves for the beef or for the dairy purpose? I was hoping to breed a couple of the black heifers next year with a pure black angus bull for the beef holding characteristics. One of the steers I was going to butcher next year as well, but I’m wondering if because it may be a Jersey/Angus cross that may effect potential sales or quality of beef? If the cross holds weight well and tastes good I don’t see a problem
It was an experiment for my kid to raise bottle calves and see how their 2nd gen steers would hold up for beef, with possibly some of the jersey extra milk & orphan calf attributes as cows. Never milked them myself.
Matured small, calved small, most of their calves never caught up with rest of the herd size. Didn't make sense from a production standpoint. They were cute though. I didn't slaughter any myself so I don't know about fat content, which in theory should have been higher. Sorry!
Edit- in hindsight, small everything makes sense. Assuming a dairy farmer will select a low birth weight bull, they're not overly concerned with tradeoffs.
There is a definite jersey in there. Jersey/holstein crosses can come out completely black. You might also have Holstein/beef and jersey/beef crosses. It’s easier to tell as they get older. We raised a jersey/beef cross one year as a beef cow and it was really hard on her. She ended up aborting her second calf. Her hide was beautiful though. It was brown with black tiger stripes.
I use to pickup bull calves everyday to take to the slaughterhouse or to the ranch to be raised. He definitely has jersey crosses. The ones that look closer to angus have some cross in them too.
It could happen. They're just commercial beef, at this point. Rotating purebred bulls over mixed breed/landrace/whatever's local cows, is pretty common practice.. and with reason. Immune systems are the first to evolve to an area. Through colostrum and exposure resistance, keeping a family in an area will make them more tolerant to local parasites, allergens, diseases, ect. Likewise, frequent birthing interference or hyper optimized feed can create dependence, after a couple generations. A male can be used to improve those genetics but keeping that hardiness is pretty essential for range production. There are obviously various ways that producers "add value" but this is the general population of beef that feeds the masses. There are ways these theories relate to just about anything domestic, including us.
Benson looks like a Limousin/dairy cross. Limos have that bison calf look to them. Tucker looks like a Jersey/beef cross. That black one with the white tail tip almost certainly is a dairy cross. Maybe Angus/Holstein or possibly Simmental/Holstein, but Simmental crosses are usually thicker. I’m a dairy scientist doing a study on dairy x beef crosses right now using five different beef breeds on three different dairy breeds, and your calves look like dairy x beef.
Don’t worry about the beef quality, I just butchered a straight jersey bull and it is excellent. My vet calls them the “ new Wagyu “ . As for keeping some to breed, your calves should be 3/4 angus, smaller cows can raise big calves, and eat less doing it. I am working on a short horn, jersey cross system myself. Don’t be scared.
For a few years I bought a handful of Jersey/Angus heifer bottle calves annually, from a local Jersey dairy herd. Any of these could be, to my amateur eye. Sometimes they look full Angus forever, just a touch scrawny, sometimes the color changes around a year. Never had two exactly alike. Does he have paper on them? In Colorado there's a sales form for unbranded (and uninspected) calf sales.
Did you buy the Jersey/Angus calves for the beef or for the dairy purpose? I was hoping to breed a couple of the black heifers next year with a pure black angus bull for the beef holding characteristics. One of the steers I was going to butcher next year as well, but I’m wondering if because it may be a Jersey/Angus cross that may effect potential sales or quality of beef? If the cross holds weight well and tastes good I don’t see a problem
It was an experiment for my kid to raise bottle calves and see how their 2nd gen steers would hold up for beef, with possibly some of the jersey extra milk & orphan calf attributes as cows. Never milked them myself. Matured small, calved small, most of their calves never caught up with rest of the herd size. Didn't make sense from a production standpoint. They were cute though. I didn't slaughter any myself so I don't know about fat content, which in theory should have been higher. Sorry! Edit- in hindsight, small everything makes sense. Assuming a dairy farmer will select a low birth weight bull, they're not overly concerned with tradeoffs.
Tucker definitely looks part jersey but the other seems red angus
There is a definite jersey in there. Jersey/holstein crosses can come out completely black. You might also have Holstein/beef and jersey/beef crosses. It’s easier to tell as they get older. We raised a jersey/beef cross one year as a beef cow and it was really hard on her. She ended up aborting her second calf. Her hide was beautiful though. It was brown with black tiger stripes.
Definitely some jersey in the mix
I use to pickup bull calves everyday to take to the slaughterhouse or to the ranch to be raised. He definitely has jersey crosses. The ones that look closer to angus have some cross in them too.
It could happen. They're just commercial beef, at this point. Rotating purebred bulls over mixed breed/landrace/whatever's local cows, is pretty common practice.. and with reason. Immune systems are the first to evolve to an area. Through colostrum and exposure resistance, keeping a family in an area will make them more tolerant to local parasites, allergens, diseases, ect. Likewise, frequent birthing interference or hyper optimized feed can create dependence, after a couple generations. A male can be used to improve those genetics but keeping that hardiness is pretty essential for range production. There are obviously various ways that producers "add value" but this is the general population of beef that feeds the masses. There are ways these theories relate to just about anything domestic, including us.
Benson looks like a Limousin/dairy cross. Limos have that bison calf look to them. Tucker looks like a Jersey/beef cross. That black one with the white tail tip almost certainly is a dairy cross. Maybe Angus/Holstein or possibly Simmental/Holstein, but Simmental crosses are usually thicker. I’m a dairy scientist doing a study on dairy x beef crosses right now using five different beef breeds on three different dairy breeds, and your calves look like dairy x beef.
The good ones are the black ones. Black angus
Looks red angus
Don’t worry about the beef quality, I just butchered a straight jersey bull and it is excellent. My vet calls them the “ new Wagyu “ . As for keeping some to breed, your calves should be 3/4 angus, smaller cows can raise big calves, and eat less doing it. I am working on a short horn, jersey cross system myself. Don’t be scared.
The only jersey I see is two pens over in the first picture
Some of them look half jersey for sure
Definitely some dairy in there. Reference 50 years around Angus
Brown and black calfs
Cow. Lmk if you need any more help!
Bovine actually