Belgian blue cattle

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Last year born blue heifer from mainly angus cow.
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This one will replace her dam next year. This year the dam is raising lim bull calf and she might be the only cow, which got incalf by the last lim bull for the next year calf. Overall she is not a bad cow, but has a slight attitude at the calving time and we would like abit more meaty calves, so at least will have her daughter staying, which should have better quality calves.
 
lithuanian farmer said:
Last year born blue heifer from mainly angus cow.
View attachment 33869
This one will replace her dam next year. This year the dam is raising lim bull calf and she might be the only cow, which got incalf by the last lim bull for the next year calf. Overall she is not a bad cow, but has a slight attitude at the calving time and we would like abit more meaty calves, so at least will have her daughter staying, which should have better quality calves.
Click to expand...
She is beautiful!
 
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Main attraction when visiting one herd. Dam is due in January with culard charolais calf.
Currently have one incalf to the same blue bull and one more was AI'ed just a couple days ago.
The roan cow in the background of the first photo is 25% blue and her blonde calf is standing next to her, this one:
20230906_103024.jpg
The cow herself in due in January with blue calf by the new bull.
 
lithuanian farmer said:
View attachment 34697
View attachment 34698
View attachment 34699
Main attraction when visiting one herd. Dam is due in January with culard charolais calf.
Currently have one incalf to the same blue bull and one more was AI'ed just a couple days ago.
The roan cow in the background of the first photo is 25% blue and her blonde calf is standing next to her, this one:
View attachment 34700
The cow herself in due in January with blue calf by the new bull.
Click to expand...
Makes me wish I hadn't sold the ranch...
 
What a pretty heifer. I once had some shorthorn sired calves out of Holstein X Hereford cows that looked like that. They were great growthy calves but took a severe dock at the yards,
 
I'm glad the OP is proud of her cattle and Travr too. I wish them well and please do not attack me for my opinion. Out of curiousity I was googling double muscled the other day. Almost every site, including Texas A&M, says not a good idea and the main reason is dystocia. Its not just the muscularity to the calves, its also the muscularity of the cow thats trying to give birth. Those holstien heifers bred to BB that they sell for slaughter after a couple of calves-- was this because there is a limit to how many calves a cow can deliver by C section? Some other reasons not popular in the US. Lack of marbling, size of steaks don't fit retail packaging or shelves, mulitcolored cattle, horned cattle. We have plenty of well established heavily muscled beef breeds that work well in the US that are not so high risk and don't require the costs of maintaining huge cows.
 
TexasJerseyMilker said:
Some other reasons not popular in the US.
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It has to be said that people in the US are very resistant to European influences. While Europe moves on to do their own thing, if we in the US see something in Europe that works for them we tend to protect our own ideas rather than learn.

We concentrate on low birth weight bulls and our cows have come to be incapable, while in Europe they concentrate on productive cows. And then places like Texas A&M makes excuses for why European cattle are inferior compared to ours.
 
Travlr said:
It has to be said that people in the US are very resistant to European influences. While Europe moves on to do their own thing, if we in the US see something in Europe that works for them we tend to protect our own ideas rather than learn.

We concentrate on low birth weight bulls and our cows have come to be incapable, while in Europe they concentrate on productive cows. And then places like Texas A&M makes excuses for why European cattle are inferior compared to ours.
Click to expand...
Just takes one to get it started , Buy or rent more land and get you a herd started and show all us low birth weight folks how it's done . Be a trend setter !
 
coachg said:
Just takes one to get it started , Buy or rent more land and get you a herd started and show all us low birth weight folks how it's done . Be a trend setter !
Click to expand...
I did... I had a lot of interesting BB crosses that mashed the scales and dressed out in high percentages. Only pulled one calf from a first calf heifer.

But you're wrong about, "takes one to get it started" when the industry is geared to staying the same, feeding the same, selling the same product, and it's the processors that control the market.

I can and have topped the market consistently, but my experimental calves usually went to private sales. And they were better animals than the market toppers. And my older cows, the ones I raised traditional type replacement heifers from, I never worried about birth weights and had no problems.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Wagyu. Flash in the pan? Or will it have staying power? Stay tuned...
 
Also, I "believe" the European market wants the males left in tact - for growth and leaness.
US producers are going too far with "easy calving" bulls. You keep breeding and raising cattle out of CE bulls, you are going to have hard calving cows because they won't have a pelvic area big enough to pass a decent size calf.
European market is for very lean beef - but - they LOVE our marbled beef.
@lithuanian farmer knows what she is doing. She is pushing the envelope, but creating cows that can handle her breeding program.
I push my heifers. I "expect" them to have an 80-95# calf without assistance. If we have a calf weighing in the 70's, we look for a twin.
 
USDA doesn't like double muscling, so why would the 4 big packers pay for it?
 
MurraysMutts said:
@Travlr
@lithuanian farmer
And others. .....
How is the meat from those double muscled animals?
How does it rate on a select, choice, prime scale?
Certainly not wagyu type
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I can only relate my own experience.

I had a calf out of a brahman/Limousine cross heifer that weighed 1050 when I had it pasture dressed, and the carcass weighed 752. As far as meat quality, it tasted like beef to me. It was tender and had enough fat to be indistinguishable from most beef I've eaten. Nothing remarkable except the dressing percentage.

I've always processed my animals smaller than what is done in feed lots. I like baby beef. And I don't feed my animals tons of grain for extended periods. A three pound can, twice a day for a month to six weeks is all they get.

As far as the "grades" the USDA uses... I expect the carcass would have been Choice. Certainly not Prime. But then I don't subscribe to the grades as the be all, end all in meat quality. I've had Prime beef that was not any better eating than Select. In fact there was a taste and cuttability study done in the early seventies that didn't get a lot of attention due to the results not being as expected and unpopular. They used all the popular beef and dairy breeds at the time, feeding them all the same for the same amount of time, and did a blind taste test in which the Jersey was judged the best for taste... and it also tested as most tender. The Holstein had the biggest rib eye. The Jersey would have graded select.

The grading system is a good tool, but it isn't geared toward rating different types of animals that have been developed. It has it's limits, and is most useful to processors that will never do anything differently.
 

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