Will Brahma mature cows acclimate to Iowa cold???

A good friend of my middle son, actually his college roommate, lives in LA. Their family's farm/ranch was completely flooded. They have a real nice pure blood herd of Brahma cattle. The family has been working on these blood lines for decades. They were able to get the majority of their cattle to higher ground so they lost very few of the actual cattle.

They did lose all of this year's feed. Their hay and corn silage all was under water. So they are going to be hard pressed for feed. Also their buildings where damaged too. Hopefully their pastures will recover to have some fall/winter grazing.

My son has made a deal with them to take care of the cattle until they have facilities and feed to care for them. The first loads will be here late next week.

I have had Brahma and Brahma crossed calves before that did not do well in Iowa winters. I found that if I got them in late spring up until mid-summer they would acclimate to the weather and do OK. These cattle will be getting here later plus I have never tried to winter mature Brahma cows. We are wondering if we need to have more protection for them from the winds/snow/cold than the regular breeds like Hereford and Angus???

There will be about 150 cows and 75 heifers. We have pasture that would work easily. These pastures have wind protection available. We could also free up finishing space to have them inside shelter if need be. We would just need to know ASAP so we can adjust what we plan to feed this winter.

I live in North Arkansas and they don't do well in our winters. I've got several Brangus cows and they do OK but not as well as the English breeds. I was raised in south AR just north of the LA line and we seldom needed hay in the winter. If they can get ryegrass or wheat planted soon they might get enough growth so they could bring them back south before the worst cold hits Iowa.
Another thing, it's been 45 years since I was around purebred brahma cattle but at that time the temperament of the breed required a lot better fences than English breed cattle.
I admire the effort to help those folks, I hope it works out.

I would say no. You might ask how many are bred and when are the calves coming. I think they calve year round with the Brahmas.
Wouldn't it be easier to truck feed to him?

How many tons of beef is that?

I agree! Seems that trucking feed to them would be cheaper and I never met a nice brahma.

The story down here is NO! You can dilute it like Beefmaster (Brahman + Milking Shorthorn) Brangus, (⅝ Aberdeen angus, ⅜ Brahman) Brayford (Whiteface Hereford and Brahman). All the crosses bring in the breeds from England where the prevailing weather comes down from the N. Pole, cold and damp.

No fences or buildings that do not need major repairs. Hopefully they can get things fixed so it is a short term thing. Truthfully it is easier to move the cattle at this time. We are hoping they can get their fences and buildings repaired fast enough to take the cattle back before the end of the year.

They are all ready looking at hay about three hours away that is out of the flooded area. The distance is not that great once the cattle are loaded. We are not charging them for the pasture or lots. Feed only at cost. This is my son's deal not mine in any way.

My herd in eastern Iowa had at least 25% Brahma and some about 1/2 bloods. Never had a problem with cows or calves thru our winters. They were easy keepers and would do well on hay that most breeds would starve on. Give them shelter out of the wind and access to water and they will do fine. Lot of bad press about Brahma cattle. My herd was very gentle, easiest cattle I have ever worked.

Here in central IL, a neighbor had a rodeo next to our dairy. A bull jumped the fence and bred a guernsey cow. We could never get close to it, as it would climb or jump gates. Finally had it shot in the pasture and butchered. You cut the meat with a fork, very tender.

The weather I experenced when I was in NC Ia in the early 60's, I wouldn't blame them for not tolerating cold weather. They would probably jump the fence and go back to La.

my 30 plus years experience they will probably be ok but there are 2 different strains of brahma one is gentle the other fights but they will need shelter

Thanks Petetx. These cattle are not wild. I have visited the farm before and have walked to pastures an they were not wild. I think we will keep some shed space back just incase they are still here come Jan.

Plans now are looking like mature cows back hopefully before year end. Heifers back for spring.

This will give them time to not only repair things but to maybe update/replace some things to work better.

I agree with Pete they should be fine as long as they can get out of the wind. I have a friend that raises registered Brahmans that claims he has seen them in western states with as much hair as any European breed. It would have been easier on them to have moved in the spring but that doesn't matter now. As far as temperament just make sure you work them slowly and as quietly as possible. They usually work best with only one or two people. Preferably the ones that feed them. They don't like strangers. I hope they have been worked afoot if they have always been worked horseback it will be harder to handle them. Tony

PS if they are handled right from the start they can be the biggest pets of any breed. I hope they're not on a fall calving cycle. Tony

99.9% of all southern calves wind up in high plains, Midwestern and northern feedlots, thin hides breeds may take a bit more feed for maintenance and to generate body heat but that is normal. Grown cows and big heifers of any breed will require more feed to maintain body condition in cold weather, also normal, with plenty of hay you won't have any trouble wintering Brahman cows in Iowa. I can't imagine who in Southeast La. would be trucking cattle to Iowa, water goes down and there is no shortage of cheap hay in Louisiana this year, ryegrass and oats will be planted in 3 more weeks and ready to graze by Thanksgiving, flooded pastures will spring back after 3-4 days of sunshine, the biggest problem this fall will be mosquitos and they are not a problem except on baby calves. I have been involved in the cattle business in Louisiana all of my life and have bought cattle all over the state for nearly 40 years, I can't think of anyone who still has a herd of straight bred Brahman as large as you describe.

Texas has hay coming out it's ears.....up here anyway. Sure different than during our past drought....hope it's "past".

That is a fine thing you and your son are doing. With your attitude I am sure it will work out. Hopefully they can be home before the real Iowa winter hits.

JD, you got a lot of great experienced advice here about Brahmas. I expect these will be calmer than some. I would like to suggest that you follow my fundamental Brahma rule. "Never try to work or handle less than 3 Brahmas to do anything". The ones I handled years ago got paranoid enough to either run the length of you or jump clear over the top of you if you dared to separate them from their buddies. If you need to put one in a squeeze chute, he will load fine with just one buddy, but then you face the problem of safely moving the buddy back where you want him/her unless they have a buddy too.

JD
I agree with LAA. We are talking a matter of just a couple of weeks before the grass will be back right.
We are also ready to start planting rye and hay is abundant so feed should not be a problem.
Only reason I can think of even considering moving a whole herd would be all fences are down.
For that I would suggest he call Mike Strain. I would be surprised if Mike can not find him local temporary pasture till he can get his fences fixed.

jd ,,. I had a crazy oddball brahma momma cow here for about 5 yrs , I don't think nuthin will kill her , sold her 10 yrs ago and I wonder if she finally died. ,.; lol //she and her babies come rite on thru the Louisville area winters here , our winters can be like yours for a week or more and then we can get a Georgia winter for a week or so , the worst winters are the ones with a vicous nebraska, wind that wont lay down for a week , you get the picture ,that brahma momma gave me 4 calves,, everyone was heifers ,,and meaner than a snake , had they been sensible I would kept them back , because I liked their hardy ness , seemed like they were content eating anything ,and eating was a favorite pastime ,,so they outgrew the angus calves , , often wonder how nutty a bull calf would a been ,..

I bet I had the brahma strain that likes to fight ,,.petetx see my post on this subject,. could a called her fertile myrtyl ,.. obviously she was quite a lover too ,.lol she could get a calf just lookin at the bull ,. lol , since she was wild I named her "The HEMOUNIE " ,, according to "little BIG MAN" there just aint a word to describe such a phenomenon ,lol
krazy durn thing had horns and made sure all her babies got them too ,, and she taught them all how to use them as a killing weapon ,, one of her heifers took us 3 tries in 2 monthes to get her on the trailer ,, everytime she would bust herself out a new hole in the holding corral or barn , I got out of the pen with her after she gouged that horn into my coveralls and made a heavy red scrape on my skin thru 4 layers of clothing , when she took a hit and run attitude with me , if I had not spun around she woulda stabbed me in the back ,..

LAA: There is behind the scene stuff going on too. They have only been in LA for 2-3 years tops. It is the in-laws farm. The cattle originally came from Texas where the man is from. There is an issue with who is going to pay for the repairs on the farm as they where buying it on a land contract. They are way under insured. Their business model was to provide pure blood breed stock. They have good Brahma cattle but I am not sure if it is profitable. So the long and short of it is they will struggle to rebuild anything. My son's friend and he have been looking at cross breeding some of our Black cattle with his Brahmas. They have been talking about this for several years. I think capital is as big an issue as the flood damage. It just brought it to the forefront.

I am not really involved. My son has his own cattle that are not part of the corporation. This is totally between him and his former roommate.

I was mainly just asking about the winter hardiness of the Brahma breed. For my own information. I will really have zero input on what they do.

I am not going to name anyone. They where at the northern edge of the flood damage. It really got the buildings and fences on the low ground. This winter was going to be an issue for them anyway.