Characteristics to Breed for in British White Cattle

Here at Black Label Farms, we take great pride in our British White herd. With that, comes great responsibility when it comes to breeding and keeping a great track record for our herd and the breed’s genetics. Today, we are excited to share with you some of the characteristics that we not only breed for in our British White cattle but that we look for and pass on to our customers when they buy a bull, cow, or heifer from us as well. Occasionally, we do have cattle for sale, so make sure you are on our email list and are following us on Facebook to catch the updates! 

Characteristics of British White Cattle

When breeding British Whites, there are certain qualities that you want to keep in your herd and others you want to cull out. Today, we are talking about breeding strategies and what you should be looking for. Additionally, the good characteristics are things that we are always looking for when deciding whether to keep a bull or cow for breeding stock. 

Temperament

One of the biggest qualities that we look for in our cattle is a great temperament. We are pretty lucky because generally, British Whites have a wonderful temperament on their own. Every now and then, you will get a cow or bull with a wild hair and those are the ones you want to be careful of, depending on if it’s strictly a personality defect or if the issue runs deeper than that, it might be time to let that one go. I have no qualms with sending a poor-tempered heifer to the steer pen. 

Confirmation

The second most important quality we look for when deciding which animals to keep in the breeding stock is confirmation. There are a lot of aspects that go into this, such as leg and foot soundness and the quality of a cow’s udder. British Whites are known as “dual purpose” cattle so they are great to raise for both beef and milk, but depending on which you're breeding for, you’ll want to pay attention to udder and body development. In general, it’s good practice to keep cattle that have sound legs and feet. Cattle with good feed legs are less likely to experience lameness and have longer longevity in the herd. Their calves also do better in feed yards.

Reproductive Efficiency

While we consider this a very important trait, reproductive efficiency comes pretty naturally to British White cows. In fact, they are known for their nursery skills when a single cow is left to “babysit” the other babies while the other moms graze. In addition, they are known to be easy calvers, needing little to no assistance while having their babies. We breed for animals who mature early and get bred in a timely manner. Breeding inefficiencies are a huge hit to your bottom line and not something that we want to keep in our herd. 

These are the top three qualities that we look for when we start talking about breeding strategy. All of our cows or bulls should have good traits in all of these before we pass them on to our customers. In fact, if you are looking to add to your herd or start implementing some British White genetics, then make sure to check out our upcoming bull and heifer sale on October 13. You can sign up for our newsletter for updates or check us out on Facebook!