ANIMAL PRODUCTION SIRE BREEDS

• Traits Important for Selecting Sire Breeds

  • High growth rate with moderate mature size
  • Acceptable calving ease
  • Adequate carcass quality grades (marbling)
  • High retail product yield
• Scotch Highland


  • Small
  • Exceedingly hardy
  • Long, coarse outer hair coat
  • Soft, thick undercoat which gives them natural body protection against severe weather conditions
• Acceptable colors in Scotch Highland

  • Black
  • Brindle
  • Light red
  • Red
  • Dun
  • Silver
  • Yellow
• Galloway


  • Good rustlers
  • Extremely hardy
  • Able to stand cold weather conditions
  • Smallest of the beef breeds
  • Polled
  • Short legs
  • Block and compact in type
  • Long hair coat
  • Coarse outer coat sheds wind and rain
  • Soft, fur-like undercoat provides insulation and waterproofing
• Limousin


  • Rich, red-gold color over the back
  • Shading to light buckskin or straw color under the belly and around the legs and muzzle
  • Long-bodied
  • Heavy-muscled
  • Trim-middled
  • Relatively light-boned
• Reputation of Limousin


  Firmly established as meat animals
• Limousin cattle are still referred to as the "butcher’s animal"
• Herefords


  • Red-colored bodies and white faces
  • Rich red color with white face
  • Muscular, moderate to long in length of side, adequate in length of leg, large in size, trim, and smooth
  • Well developed in the regions of valuable cuts- the back, loin, and hind quarters or round
  • Known for their vigor and foraging ability
• Herefords


  • Often referred to as "white-faced cattle"
• Devon (Ruby Reds)


  • Red in color, varying in shade from rich deep red to a light red or chestnut color
  • Bright ruby red color is preferred and accounts for their nickname, "Red Rubies"
  • Hair is of medium thickness, often long and curly during winter, short and sleek in summer
  • Adequate size and scale but not "horsey" big
  • Mature bulls in good working condition weigh from 1700 to about 2200 pounds, with a few in top flesh condition exceeding 2200 pounds
• Aberdeen-Angus


  • Black (white is not permitted except on the underline behind the navel and then only to a moderate extent)
  • Polled (without horns)
  • Calves from Angus cows are usually smaller at birth than from other breeds, but at weaning they are usually equal in weight
  • Body form is smooth, medium in size, trim, adequate leather of side, and well muscled
• Brahman


  • Have more highly developed sweat glands than European cattle (Bos taurus) and can perspire more freely
  • Produce an oily secretion from the sebaceous glands which has a distinctive odor and is reported to assist in repelling insects
  • Instead of a "moo" they produce a grunt
  • Color is usually gray, but sometimes red
  • Resistant to Texas fever and can stand heat well
  • Can graze on poor quality forage
  • Show resistance to cancer eye and pinkeye
• Charolais


  • Perform well under a variety of environmental conditions
  • Able to walk, graze aggressively in warm weather, withstand reasonable cold, and raise heavy calves
• Charolais color


  • White or creamy white, with appreciable pigmentation on the skin
  • Hair coat is usually short in summer but thickens and lengthens in cold weather
• Brahman


  • Characterized by a large hump over the top of the shoulder and neck
  • Spinal processes below the hump are extended, and there is considerable muscular tissue covering the processes
• Polled Charolais


  • Emerged as an important part of the breed
• Charolais size


  • Mature bulls weigh from 2,000 to well over 2,500 pounds
  • Cows weigh from 1,250 to over 2,000 pounds
• Devon (Ruby Reds)


  • Mature cows range in weight from about 950 to about 1300 pounds
  • Calving problems are seldom encountered although a growing stress on using larger bulls has increased the incidence of difficult births
  • Male calves average about 75 pounds at birth but may range from about 55 to 95 pounds
  • Heifer calves average about 70 pounds at birth but may range from about 55 to 90 pounds
• Maine-Anjou


  • Coat color is red, red with white spots, or roan
  • Mature bulls weigh from 2200 to 3100 pounds on the average
  • Mature cows will range from 1500 to 1900 pounds
  • They are heavy-muscled
• Galloway


  • Calf birth weights average from 75-80 pounds
  • Galloway cattle are generally very docile
  • Steers can produce the ideal 600-750 pound carcass
  • Cows are easy calvers, calves are hardy, vigorous and have a 'will to live' that gets them up and nursing quickly
  • Cows are long-lived, producing regularly into the teens and beyond
• Galloway coat color


  Ranges from Black, to Dun (silver through brown), Red, White (with dark pigment about the eyes, nose, ears and teats), and the Belted (black, dun or red, with a white band around the middle)
• Galloway size


  • Mature bull weights range from 1,700 to 2,300 pounds with an average being 1,800 pounds
  • Mature cows generally weigh from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds with the average being around 1, 250 pounds
• Shorthorn


  • Developed by a cross and from naturally polled Shorthorns found in the breed
  • In form, they are large, rectangular, and well muscled
• Shorthorn color


  Ranges from red to white and all combinations of these colors, such as spored or roan
• Simmental


  • In color they are light red or cream with faces much like the Herefords
  • They usually have some white spots on a white band over the shoulders
  • Because of their size, museling, docile dispositions, and milk production they are popular for beef crossbreeding
  • Highly sought because of their rapid growth development, outstanding production of milk, butter, and cheese, and for their use as draught animals