A few halfsibs

[KNERSIE]

The first two photos are of a 14 1/2 month old bull, one of three halfsib bulls that will see some use in my herd, two will cleanup in the registered herd and the other will do some work in the commercial herd.

This bull was in a growth test for 28 days adaption and 84 days on test and came out 8 May. Has been on pasture since with no other feed, the pasture isn't great as you can see, but I started feeding 1 small square of alfalfa between the three yearling bulls per day in preparation for a show on Oct 1.

The next two heifers are halfsibs of his, 6 months older, raised on forage only, never seen grain or even alfalfa in their lifes, they have seen one of the worst droughts I can remember. They are the last of my summer calving season calves and will be bred next month to calf next winter as I've gone back to a single calving season for management purposes. They have been on oats pasture following the cows for the last 4 weeks now.

Comments welcome

 

[BRG]

Pretty impressive cattle. You do a good job!

I do like the way that bull is built.

 

[farmwriter]

Lovely animals. What's the white spots in the pasture behind second heifer? Rocks?

 

[S&WSigma40VEShooter]

Pretty darn good looking herfs there.

 

[KNERSIE]

Lovely animals. What's the white spots in the pasture behind second heifer? Rocks?

Yes, there is a river just behind her.

 

[ANAZAZI]

They are lovely and deserve their white faces!

 

[iowahawkeyes]

to quote Wayne and Garth in Wayne's World "We're not worthy!"

 

[LFF]

Hello Knersie,

Many of the old timers in my area will not breed their heifers until they are at least 18 months old. Do you normally wait until they are 21 months old before breeding and what age works best for your enviorment? They look like easy keepers and in good condition.

 

[KNERSIE]

Hello Knersie,

Many of the old timers in my area will not breed their heifers until they are at least 18 months old. Do you normally wait until they are 21 months old before breeding and what age works best for your enviorment? They look like easy keepers and in good condition.

I'd say under my conditions breeding at 21 months would probably be the easiest on the heifer as I run them very extensively and don't feed them at all.

I breed my heifers to calf at 2 years with the rest of the herd, if for some reason I'm not able to breed them then they grow wheels very quickly. The only reason these heifers aren't bred yet is because I changed from 2 calving seasons to one and they are the genetics I'm building my breeding program on so I couldn't let them go. I just kept the three very best back and sold the rest, which was probably a fault now that I have the wisdom of hindsight. These 3 heifers were born in the summer of 2007, they get bred next month along with the heifers born last winter.