Calving season 2012 for me

[Nesikep]

Well, one more calf to go, the big beast of a cow "Bucky" (1900 lbs and frame 9) had a 115 lb heifer calf, really lively, really thirsty, and once the thirst was quenched, she was all happy and playful. So the current calf count is 10 heifers and 9 steers.

A weigh tape says Mega's calf has put on 57 lbs in 14 days... all in height. I got the weigh tape on a bunch of the calves, the heaviest, 4U (Kenya) is apparently at 188 lbs (3 weeks old).

Maddy seems to really be getting the idea that her adopted calf is "hers", I saw her licking it for the first time today... Means I can get rid of the useless hayburner of a biological mother that calf has.

Also got my 3/4 shorthorn bull up for sale, seems someone's interested in him for $1400. Sounds pretty good to me.

[Nesikep]

Well, all done calving except for the august calf... was a really tight year, all done in 35 days... looking at the cows and calves, I think I might only have 2 or 3 calves under 600 lbs at the end of the year.. they're all looking pretty good... I'll post up some pics friday

[Kathie in Thorp]

Take a deep breath, buddy! Congrats.

[Nesikep]

Yep, I don't have to sleep with one ear and one eye open anymore.. It'll be nice to be able to know I can get a full nights sleep. I think it's one of the quickest calving seasons we have on record. The old girl Rosie was in the 3rd cycle last year, and this year in the first... I'm giving her a pound of two of grain a day, it seemed to make a big difference for her last year, and if I can still get a couple nice calves from her, it would be nice... she's earned her grain by now

[Nesikep]

OK, got a couple more pics...

Mega and her calf enjoying the first T-shirt day of spring... He's growing in height a lot.. I'm waiting for some width on him...


3/4 sister to Mega's calf (Both linebred GV).. She's growing in width only, I'm waiting for some height... She's also the master milk thief of the herd, and an absolute suck for attention


This is Saga, a candidate to keep, Very bright eyed and keen, playful and growing well


And this is another one to watch out for in the fall time, I think she's 2 1/2 weeks old here, really like her as well

[Kathie in Thorp]

Nice, Nesi! They all look content.

[angusdave63]

hey nesi how did your linebred gv calves turn out, sounds like you have got long pretty good this year, have you ever bred a mother back to her son and if so how did it turn out for you thanks David

[Nesikep]

We've linebred many times before, and sometimes even kept the heifers (though I don't recommend it), and we've never had any trouble whatsoever... If you take a look at the 2 linebred calves there, you'll see they're polar opposites, the heifer is a typical GV, really wide through the back, and fairly short, while the steer calf is a long legged skinny looking guy. I wouldn't recommend keeping linebred heifers because of hybrid vigour... or lack thereof. We've done it with a couple shorthorns, and they really didn't turn out.. they both had great mothers (both full blooded sisters actually), and at 5 years old they're hard keepers and don't raise very good calves. I would actually be more inclined to keep a linebred bull calf as his hybrid vigour isn't as important as his genetics, and he should produce fairly uniform calves... I will say that every person on the board here will have a different opinion on linebreeding, or inbreeding as some will call it too, and each has merits. I have never bred a mother back to her son, as I've only kept 1 bull calf to date, and he didn't get any riding time with the big bull around.
I will say that I don't see any problem at all in keeping a bull for 8 years if he's good, and breeding his daughters back to him for terminal offspring.

If anyone didn't notice, the above pictures are clickable thumbnails to go to the full size version of them

[ANAZAZI]

The second calf has a back that suits my taste!

[Nesikep]

Anazazi, I totally agree, she has a great back, however she's not growing all that well, and being linebred she'll be going this fall... someone at the sale barn can oogle her and give me a good price for her. I haven't posted a good picture of him recently, the first calf of the year (#55) who looks great. I think the calf with the best all around features is the #9U heifer... The fact she was born in about 4 minutes speaks well for her as well.. I'll post some pictures later this evening.. time to play darts

[Nesikep]

doublepost...

[Nesikep]

Here's a couple better pics of #9 (Prada) and #6 (Roma)... I probably don't keep #6






Full blood sister to #9U


full blood sister to #6U

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I really like your 9U calf - but I think the 6U's yearling sister looks like the better yearling.

[Nesikep]

I agree, 11T (sister to 6U), the fat-butt is really what I like, though 8T (sister to 9U) will have the better udder of the two (4 teats vs 7) I think that 9U will be a great combination of the two of them, taking the strengths of both. My only gripe about 11T is she could be longer (though she knows how to pose to make up for it), which is where 8T does better. The 9U heifer is currently about 25 days old, and has been growing at an astonishing rate... she's over 200 lb (>110 lb gain)... I hope that continues for the rest of the year.

I have 3 other heifers that are good replacement candidates, #1U, 4Uand 7U (sisters to 1T, 4T and 6T respectively), and I'm not sure about them, 1U is a spitting image of her sister, so that's OK, it's the attitude thats the problem... 4U, we didn't keep her sister last year because of her historic problems with hooves and udders, as well as despite being a wonderful pet and docile with humans, is a witch with other cows. That leaves 7U, sister to 6T, who is a good looking heifer, nice and wide, fatty, but she's got a brockleface, and since we're trying to get our herd more uniform, I'm a bit wary of her... Awesome replacement for someone who has whitefaces though (as well as 6U)

Meanwhile, Mega, which is very related to 11T (Shorthorn grandfather rather than Saler) is TRULY a cow-and-a half... she has 6 working teats. Now what's really funny is her calf is linebred 3/4 GV, and he's one of the longest legged skinny things we've ever had, even though is father (and thus grandfather) is a pretty stubby legged guy. At 30 days old he's 37" at the hip, he grows like a weed, just only in the vertical axis... he's about 210 lbs at 30 days, which I think is respectable for being from a heifer.. The other heifer cow this year had the wide-backed heifer (3U) who steals milk all day, is 2 weeks older, and isn't gaining nearly as well as I had hoped, though I don't consider her mother a writeoff by any means, I think given a year or two she'll be having some real scale-tipping steers as well, her mother certainly can make them. The freemartin heifer of ours this year is being raised by her mother, and she looks pretty well..., she should be well in the 650lb range by fall