Almost Weaning Time

[Backbone Ranch]

Weaning is fast approaching for our spring calves. The majority of them were born in mid-March, so they are right at 7 months of age. Our AI sired calves were born earlier in the year and are 8 months old. The cows are still in very good shape, but I am sure that they will be happy to be rid of their calves. We are extraordinarily pleased with how this group has developed. Two of the calves, 101 and 109, we intend to use as herdsires for a few years, and we are planning to retain about 50% of the heifers as well.

101 Bull- An 8 month old son of Cadella Park Golden Boy


109 Bull- This calf is a 7 month old son of BB Backbone's General and out of a 4 year old Tony daughter.


125 Bull- Another son of BB Backbone's General, but out of a Cadella Park Golden Boy daughter. In my opinion, he is phenotypically one of the best bulls that we have raised to date.


BB Goldie- This cow is the dam of the 125 bull and is one of our top producers. She is a 2015 model, and is our main reason for trying to incorporate more Golden Boy genetics in the herd.


135 Steer- We have one cow that is 50% Murray Grey x 50% Guernsey that is now pushing 10 years old. Every single one of her bull calves have been the heaviest calf at weaning, and I do not believe that this one will be any different. He is the first silver bull calf that she has produced. All of the other male calves have been dark grey with white spots.


108 Heifer- This is a 7 month old General daughter out of one of our larger cows.


116 Heifer- She is 7/8th Murray Grey and 1/8 Angus. She is sired by BB Uncle Tony, and is pictured here at 6 1/2 months. She is another that we plan on retaining. Her dam (behind her) is a rising 8 year old and this is the first heifer calf that she has produced.


The 126 heifer is another General daughter out of a Tony cow. She is one that we will be selling at weaning, but I am really happy with how she is coming along.

 

[WB Angus]

Great looking calf crop!

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Always enjoy pictures of your stock BBR.

 

[gcreekrch]

Good calves!

 

[TwoByrdsMG]

Really like the 101 bull. Hoping we can get some CPGB embryos in this coming spring- otherwise I'll have to talk you into collecting this guy too!

Got our next Backbone General calf coming in January, and pretty sure he'll have some calves coming in February in Montana. Hoping for a heifer this time but sure like how out bull calf turned out too

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Thank you. I am really interested to see how they compare at weaning to year's past. I think that the phenotype and consistency has improved this year, but I have been deceived before when it comes to estimating weights.

TwoByrdsMG- I am happy to hear that you like your General bull calf. So far, we are really liking how his heifers are developing, but it will be another year before we have any in production. I believe that that ranch up in Montana has both Tony and General calves on the way, in addition to a handful from other AI sires. I will be interested to see that comparison side-by-side. We have some Bottlesford Kudos and Wallawong Under the Radar in the tank, and we are going to start breeding to them in the next year or two.
We have had four Golden Boy sons to date, and the 101 bull is hands down the best. His dam is the mother of our Cadella Park Minute Man bull, and she has been a quality producer for us, year after year. We AIed her again to Golden Boy last summer, but I believe that she took to General. I cannot complain too much, as that breeding was another that I was really wanting to see.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Weaning is still about a week out, but I was able to get photos of a few more of the calves. This is the longest that we have left the calves on the cows in quite some time, but the cows are still in great shape. Most of the cows in the herd are 8 or older, so we are retaining more heifers than we have in year's past in hopes of replacing them.

121 Bull- a 7 1/2 month old son of General. His dam is standing behind him and will be 11 years old in the spring.


122 Heifer- a 7 1/2 month old daughter of Tony. This is only the second heifer that we have gotten from this mating. Her full sister was one of our prettiest heifers back in 2017, but she rolled uphill and bloated during the night, right before she calved. I am excited for this one.


Another picture of the 125 bull. He was 78 lbs at birth, but has grown to be one of our biggest calves.


114 Heifer- A 7 1/2 month old General daughter


117 Bull- Another 7 1/2 month old General son out of a Tony cow. This is only her second calf, but I think we will be moving her into our AI group next year.

 

[Bigfoot]

Lookin good!!! I've been getting the traps set to pull mine in as well.

 

[moses388]

Great looking cattle. The 116 heifer is from a dark grey cow and a silver bull. What color would the calf be using a dark grey cow and a dark grey bull? I have not tried it, but I have read the offspring would be black pure-bred Murray Greys.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Great looking cattle. The 116 heifer is from a dark grey cow and a silver bull. What color would the calf be using a dark grey cow and a dark grey bull? I have not tried it, but I have read the offspring would be black pure-bred Murray Greys.

That is correct, the sire of that calf is silver. This is actually the first calf that she has produced that was not silver. We have not done the dark grey cow to a dark grey bull cross yet, but it is my understanding that 25% of the progeny would be black, 25% would be silver, and 50% would be dark grey. I do not have it with me, but there was a chart published in a book written on the breed that had all of the percentage breakouts for color combinations of the progeny if the sire and dam were silver, grey, dark grey, dun, or black. I will see if I can find that for you when I go home for Thanksgiving.

 

[moses388]

I think you're right. I found this on the internet.

 

[TwoByrdsMG]

This is what we have gotten so far from breeding Dark Grey x Dark Grey:

Silver
Dun
Dark Grey
Black

It is possible to get all colors but we have not gotten any "light silvers" with this cross before.

Murray Greys are funny. Sometimes you think you have the coloring thing figured out, but I have seen a couple weird ones too:

Black cow x Silver bull => silver calf (I have seen quite a few of these!)
Dun cow x Black Bull => silver calf (only seen this once)
Silver cow x Silver bull => dun calf (only seen this once)

 

[TCRanch]

122 is definitely my favorite - she's beautiful. Hate that about her sister! Had the same thing happen this year. It's like a 2-fer gut punch.