Crossbreeding with Charolais Cattle Puts Money in Your Pocket

Mon 16 Jan, 2012

Crossbreed - why should you do it?

Crossbreeding has become a standard practice in the cattle industry. When the right breeds are crossbred, the results produce a superior animal which inherits many of the best traits from each breed.

What are the advantages to crossbreeding?
Crossbreeding beef cattle offers two primary advantages relative to the use of only one breed...

1) Crossbred animals exhibit heterosis (hybrid vigor)
Heterosis, or hybrid vigor, refers to the superiority in performance of the crossbred animal compared to the average of the straight-bred parents.

For example, if the average weaning weight of the straightbred calves was 470 pounds for Breed A and 530 pounds for Breed B, the average of the straightbred parents would be 500 pounds.

If Breed A and Breed B were crossbred and the resulting calves had an average weaning weight of 520 pounds, heterosis would be calculated as:

[(520 - 500) ÷ 500] x 100 = 4 % - this can be average to crossbreeding with Charolais

This 4% increase, or 20 pounds in this example, is defined as heterosis or hybrid vigor.

Although the 4% figure demonstrates quality additional gains, customers of DeBruycker Charolais, have reported higher returns with near 100 pound increases in weaning weights. And in using this example, this is a 20% heterosis return.

In essence, the crossbred animal inherits many of the superior traits from the genetic transaction which occurs. In the case of cattle, these traits might consist of the following:

Steers which are...
-     Uniform in size and structure
-     Strong-topped for carcass quality
-     Well-muscled for quality meat production
-     Sound - correctness of feet and legs

And heifers which are...
 -Uniform in size and phenotype
- Feminine yet well-muscled for quality meat production
- Ideal udder quality and teat size for milk production
- Sound structure - Correctness of feet and legs
- Easy calvers
- Maternal & Fertile

2) Crossbred animals combine the strengths of the various breeds used to form the cross. The goal of a well-designed, systematic crossbreeding program is to simultaneously optimize these advantages of heterosis and breed complementarity.

We'd love the opportunity to show you how DeBruycker Charolais bulls can perform in your herd and how our genetics successfully perform time and time again! Contact us or visit our Bull Sale April 7, 2012!

Feel free to browse our brochure as well as our website to learn more.