Crossing Romagnola X Angus Results in The Ideal Carcass ... Calves That Will Both Yield and Grade!

Article published by CattleToday - Written by Bruce Collins, Edgemoor, SC

My dad and I run about 120 Beefmaster, Angus, and crossbred cows in South Carolina. We had been reading about Romagnola bulls in Cattle Today and thought this is too good to be true, so we decided to go and see some for ourselves. We travelled to Cherokee Ranch near Paris Landing, Tenn. and they showed us around their ranch. The first thing that we noticed was the consistency of the cattle and the heavy muscling, even in the females. We thought one group of cattle along the side of the road were bulls because of the thickness of the hindquarters until we looked closer and noticed udders on the cows! We bought a bull named “Hardcore,” and when our vet first saw him when we got home, he said he might as well get out his pullers and oil the chains up because we were sure going to need him at calving time. We were all surprised when the first calves hit the ground because they were small, but got up and nursed quickly. I’ve never seen such lively calves, and after a few weeks, they seemed to explode.

I noticed them grazing and eating at an earlier age than any other calves I’ve observed. Their hindquarters get thicker and thicker as time goes by and they are broad and thick across the top and deep bodied. The Rom cross calves came during the freezing temperatures we had in January and February, and we didn’t lose one of them. They have a good coat of hair even at birth. We bought some embryos and put several in a few of our cows. We got seven out of eleven pregnancies on our first try at embryo transfer, and we have all seven of the calves on the ground. Even these are long and tubular calves and we had no problems at calving. Our goal is to get into production of Fullbloods as soon as possible to supply the demand for bulls in our area. We believe we have hit on a breed that has tremendous potential to help the commercial cattleman make money with his calf crop using Romagnola bulls. I know we are satisfied with our calves and are looking forward to our breeding program and continued success with our Romagnola bull.