1 down and 10 to go/ 8 down 3 to go

[Texas G@l]

Saturday morning surprise. #8 ! Back to rabbit size babies .

I like those little jack rabbit calves that grow like a bad weed!

 

[coachg]

Just woke up from my afternoon nap when I posted that . Pretty bad for a guy that had to teach English a few years of my 30 years teaching school . I hate bad grammar !

 

[Ky hills]

Heifer not the biggest bag and otherwise not dilated much , so she had me fooled . Feel blessed with our luck so far . Friends son had 8 big pretty black angus heifers bred to a Hereford bull . First calf died , second calf ok , 3rd calf dead and heifer pinched. After a month of picking her up and working with her finally put her down. 4th calf ok . 5 th calf the heifer walked off and left it and fights and kicks it . Has to be discouraging to this young man !

I'm not a fan of using Hereford bulls for Angus heifers. I prefer Angus bulls for heifers of pretty much any breed and especially for Angus heifers.
I used Hereford bulls a couple of times for heifers and one bull was ok and the other one was a nightmare.
We pulled all of the calves from black heifers by the Hereford bull and the thing of note was that BWF 1/2 Herefords were a toss up either an easier pull or unassisted and the purebred Hereford heifers all calved unassisted.
Hybrid vigor starts at conception,
That said, for some reason though sometimes I've noticed an odd random pure Angus calf can be huge while the majority of calves are not that big. I think the heifer genetics play a role as well and must line up just right or wrong with something in the background of the bull. I once had a registered Angus heifer had a calf by a registered CE Angus bull, she was big and had it on her own but it was a 100# heifer calf. I remember thinking if she'd a had a bull calf it would have probably been bigger and she might not could have had it on her own.
Rarely have to pull a calf out of anything bred to a ce Angus, unless it's a situation where a foots turned or calf is coming wrong.

 

[coachg]

I'm not a fan of using Hereford bulls for Angus heifers. I prefer Angus bulls for heifers of pretty much any breed and especially for Angus heifers.
I used Hereford bulls a couple of times for heifers and one bull was ok and the other one was a nightmare.
We pulled all of the calves from black heifers by the Hereford bull and the thing of note was that BWF 1/2 Herefords were a toss up either an easier pull or unassisted and the purebred Hereford heifers all calved unassisted.
Hybrid vigor starts at conception,
That said, for some reason though sometimes I've noticed an odd random pure Angus calf can be huge while the majority of calves are not that big. I think the heifer genetics play a role as well and must line up just right or wrong with something in the background of the bull. I once had a registered Angus heifer had a calf by a registered CE Angus bull, she was big and had it on her own but it was a 100# heifer calf. I remember thinking if she'd a had a bull calf it would have probably been bigger and she might not could have had it on her own.
Rarely have to pull a calf out of anything bred to a ce Angus, unless it's a situation where a foots turned or calf is coming wrong.

They said this Hereford bull was calving ease but I've seen several of his calves . Maybe ok for cows but not heifers ! I'll stick with my brangus x angus cross bull . 1 out of 20 he has sired has been big . Think momma had a lot to do with the calf's size . He's fixing to go in with our next group of heifers we kept . Currently there are 11. Of those I have decided to definitely cull one and my son says 1-2 more .

 

[Ky hills]

They said this Hereford bull was calving ease but I've seen several of his calves . Maybe ok for cows but not heifers ! I'll stick with my brangus x angus cross bull . 1 out of 20 he has sired has been big . Think momma had a lot to do with the calf's size . He's fixing to go in with our next group of heifers we kept . Currently there are 11. Of those I have decided to definitely cull one and my son says 1-2 more .

Yeah, I don't really trust the words calving ease Hereford bull. Was a registered Hereford sale several years ago, and they brought this bull in and went in and on about sleep all night calving ease, take him home and put with a group of black heifers and rest easy they said. I done that and lost several hours of sleep due to pulling calves.
The commercial 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford bull we used was from a different line of Hereford and he was a calving ease bull too much so as a lot of his calves were too small even by heifer standards.

 

[coachg]

Yeah, I don't really trust the words calving ease Hereford bull. Was a registered Hereford sale several years ago, and they brought this bull in and went in and on about sleep all night calving ease, take him home and put with a group of black heifers and rest easy they said. I done that and lost several hours of sleep due to pulling calves.
The commercial 3/4 Angus 1/4 Hereford bull we used was from a different line of Hereford and he was a calving ease bull too much so as a lot of his calves were too small even by heifer standards.

I can live with a smaller L I V E calf !

 

[coachg]

Lost # 9 , saw a buzzard in the pasture, which is never a good sign . Checked heifers early Saturday morning . Had a grand daughter playing softball about 45 minutes away from the house . Played 2 games in off and on rain . Got home to get ready for a wedding of a former student and family we go to church with . . Left wedding to go to funeral home to pay my respects to my dads youngest sisters family and a lady that I mowed her yard . Came up this morning to find this . That's 3 we've lost this week . Twins and now this . I told my son it may be time to fire the herdsman, me ! One positive is the heifer had it and is up and going. Dang I hate losing calves no matter what they are bringing!

 

[farmerjan]

SADLY, sh!t happens... and sometimes it runs in a spell like that... Lost the first 2 calves this year... then did fine.... 2 sets of twins delivered on their own and momma's took both... out to pasture... then had a heifer that calved fine... 4 days later, flat out dead calf... no reason we can figure out...did not get one grafted on her... and another that has come up in heat... aborted I guess... they will go back with the bull again and get a 2nd chance since she was a smaller one... and got plenty of grass as we are stocked at lower than normal carrying capacity due to the continued dryness...
You take the lumps as they come...

 

[coachg]

SADLY, sh!t happens... and sometimes it runs in a spell like that... Lost the first 2 calves this year... then did fine.... 2 sets of twins delivered on their own and momma's took both... out to pasture... then had a heifer that calved fine... 4 days later, flat out dead calf... no reason we can figure out...did not get one grafted on her... and another that has come up in heat... aborted I guess... they will go back with the bull again and get a 2nd chance since she was a smaller one... and got plenty of grass as we are stocked at lower than normal carrying capacity due to the continued dryness...
You take the lumps as they come...

Grandpa Griffith use to say when you get tired of losing them , sell everything and get out of the cow business. It's going to happen.

 

[BFE]

Grandpa Griffith use to say when you get tired of losing them , sell everything and get out of the cow business. It's going to happen.

Sometimes I wonder how I've ever made it farming or raising cattle, one bad year can erase five good ones quick and in a hurry.