Big butted cows

[dun]

While loading hay today, to keep from going brain dead I got to thinking about well muscled cows and if anyone has ever had experienced calving difficulties with them.

dun

 

[A. delaGarza]

I think it's depending on the breed, my Limousin are well muscled cows and never had a calving problem, but as I said before depends on the breed

 

[Ellie May]

Big boned maybe but I wouldn't think heavy muscled.
Ellie May

 

[Anonymous]

Usually biger pelvis area cows are also wide butted at least. I can't think when heavier muscled cows were harder calving. Actually it seems the opposite. Your lighter muscled cows usually have closer pin bones which dosen't relate to actual pelvis opening but does affect calving difficulty.

 

[dun]

One of the two cows that had originally got this thought process going calved yesterday 7 days late. 30 minutes from laying down until cleaning, it obviously didn't hurt her any. Of course the calf only weighs about 70 lbs and this is a 1600 lb cow. The calf being shaped like a weanie (just as all of that bulls calves have been) probably didn't hurt any either.

dun

Usually biger pelvis area cows are also wide butted at least. I can't think when heavier muscled cows were harder calving. Actually it seems the opposite. Your lighter muscled cows usually have closer pin bones which dosen't relate to actual pelvis opening but does affect calving difficulty.

 

[Beefy]

Ive had to pull the most calves from Limousin or Charolais cattle. And most of the calves pulled tended to be limousin. and most of those calves were stuck at the hips. granted, most of these were heifers or second calvers and not mature cows.

I have a friend who raises purebred limousin and swears by them. as an experiment one year he decided to crossbreed his heifers to a piedmontese bull and they had to pull every single calf. the exact word he used was "disaster." i think any idiot should know not to breed two double muscled breeds together though, thats just asking for trouble and beating a dead horse.

in my opinion, continental bulls have their place as terminal sires with the exception of maybe simmental. I'll stick to my moderate framed american and british breeds for my brood cows and if i need some extra length and muscling i'll get a terminal sire. and when i do it will be charolais or simmental, not limousin.

 

[dun]

We have several cows each year that we breed to specific bulls hoping to get replacment heifers. Because usually we about 50% of those have bulls they end up in the marketing program. We don't dither with terminal sires. To keep uniformity over the entire calf crop we use similar bulls for growth, weight, muscle, etc. on all they cows/heifers. The ones we hope to retain heifers from we use bulls that meet the same criteria but also excell in maternal even if they give up a little in carcass value. Of course if we didn't use EPDs it would be a pure guessing game. I just had to poke a stick.

dun

Ive had to pull the most calves from Limousin or Charolais cattle. And most of the calves pulled tended to be limousin. and most of those calves were stuck at the hips. granted, most of these were heifers or second calvers and not mature cows.

I have a friend who raises purebred limousin and swears by them. as an experiment one year he decided to crossbreed his heifers to a piedmontese bull and they had to pull every single calf. the exact word he used was "disaster." i think any idiot should know not to breed two double muscled breeds together though, thats just asking for trouble and beating a dead horse.

in my opinion, continental bulls have their place as terminal sires with the exception of maybe simmental. I'll stick to my moderate framed american and british breeds for my brood cows and if i need some extra length and muscling i'll get a terminal sire. and when i do it will be charolais or simmental, not limousin.