Beef production with the Jersey dam as basis: 2.The production potential of various crossbred Jersey progeny:

Two hundred and twenty nine crossbred Jersey calves from Africander, Charolais and Hereford bulls were produced and evaluated as slaughter animals over a four year period. Two treatments were applied namely an early slaughter treatment in which the animals were fattened directly after weaning for 148 days and a late slaughter treatment where the animals were fed for 118 days commencing at 16 months of age.  The crossbred animals were compared in respect of birth mass and occurrence of dystocia, weaning mass and post weaning growth on veld, growth in feedlot, level of feed turnover and final carcass yield. The Charolais bulls sired larger sized calves than Africander or Hereford bulls. Under extensive production conditions, the Africander- and Charolais-Jerseys performed equally well and were decidedly superior to the Hereford-Jerseys. During fattening, however, the Africander-Jerseys performed poorly while the Charolais- and Hereford-Jerseys did equally well. When the suitability of the carcasses for present day marked standards was considered, the Hereford progeny outperformed the Charolais progeny.