Simulating the productivity and profitability of a herd of beef-dairy crossbred breeding cows on New Zealand hill country with fixed feed supply

•Beef-dairy crossbred cows sourced from the dairy industry can be farmed as a breeding herd for beef production.•Beef-dairy cows have been observed as lighter than Angus cows while weaning heavier calves.•Feed demand, productivity, and profitability of these breed options were compared using bio-economic modelling.•Beef-dairy herds were 8% to 79% more profitable, depending on offspring sale policies and sire breed choice.•Numbers of breeding cows may reduce to levels which are impractical in this system with fixed feed supply on hill country.