Bought a bred heifer yesterday (pic)

[SRBeef]

I wanted to add two registered bred heifers this fall. Bought one from a big name sale in a dry area that will probably be OK after she gets some groceries in her but jury is out on that one.

Bought the second one out of the grass pasture of my bull supplier, Jerry Huth. I really like the looks of this W055 heifer.

She is out of his Oak bull and an EFBeef cow. Bred to his Stacked Deck bull. I was in my pasture with her today and had to post this picture. Good disposition and has some numbers to go with the rest. Will be interesting to see her first calf. It will also be interesting to see if the other new heifer catches up.

I have never seen a bull like the Oak bull up close. Really impressive.

Jim

 

[KNERSIE]

I'll be surprised if she matures even close to your 1200lb target, she is very much a later maturing type.

 

[SRBeef]

I'll be surprised if she matures even close to your 1200lb target, she is very much a later maturing type.

Hello Harley. I thought for sure your comment would be on her eyeset.

Her sire progeny average a frame 5.6 according to the AHA. And she has a preliminary WW of 58 & YW of 80 (P43022834). Jerry works towards calving ease then good growth. What makes you think she is late-maturing? Cannon bone?

I was taken by her being long and low the way I like them.

Jim

 

[KNERSIE]

I'll be surprised if she matures even close to your 1200lb target, she is very much a later maturing type.

Hello Harley. I thought for sure your comment would be on her eyeset.

Her sire progeny average a frame 5.6 according to the AHA. And she has a preliminary WW of 58 & YW of 80 (P43022834). Jerry works towards calving ease then good growth. What makes you think she is late-maturing? Cannon bone?

I was taken by her being long and low the way I like them.

Jim

Cannon bone is always the best indicator, but you also see it in her longish head and the fact that she hasn't even started to fill out as a bred heifer (which makes me assume she is atleast 18 months old).

She has her very good points as well and your management system might make her work for you, but she wouldn't have been on the top of my list as a grazing animal. Here eyeset is OK, nothing special and certainly not as horrible as polls go especially in the USA, atleast she has good lashes and it looks like there is a bit of pigment.

 

[Brightview]

SR Beef,
I can see where you bought out of a dry region. To do her justice, show us a photo in 6-8 weeks time on reasonable grass.
At the moment her rear end appears non-extistent, no muscle or expression from tail to second thigh. She also appears well over in the front end, i.e., from forward of brisket to top of forearm. How old is she? If she is over 18 months, commercial and hope for a saleable calf at weaning. If less, say just covered by bull at 14 months - which I doubt - she could still fill out into something!!!!!! MAYBE
FWIW

 

[JHH]

SR Beef,
I can see where you bought out of a dry region. To do her justice, show us a photo in 6-8 weeks time on reasonable grass.
At the moment her rear end appears non-extistent, no muscle or expression from tail to second thigh. She also appears well over in the front end, i.e., from forward of brisket to top of forearm. How old is she? If she is over 18 months, commercial and hope for a saleable calf at weaning. If less, say just covered by bull at 14 months - which I doubt - she could still fill out into something!!!!!! MAYBE
FWIW

I dont think the pic is of the heifer from the dry region.

As far as this heifer goes jurry is still out on her also. She is definatly deep bodied, she has some eye pigment, she is bred. So she is almost complete. I wish she had more rearend and a little cleaner frontend. But I have always heard the herfs with that extra dewlap milked heavier. In your management system Jim she will most likely excell but wont be 1200 lbs I am afraid. I am guessing she will be bigger also.She is a nice one but may not have been on my list either.

 

[SRBeef]

SR Beef,
I can see where you bought out of a dry region. To do her justice, show us a photo in 6-8 weeks time on reasonable grass.
At the moment her rear end appears non-extistent, no muscle or expression from tail to second thigh. She also appears well over in the front end, i.e., from forward of brisket to top of forearm. How old is she? If she is over 18 months, commercial and hope for a saleable calf at weaning. If less, say just covered by bull at 14 months - which I doubt - she could still fill out into something!!!!!! MAYBE
FWIW

This heifer is just under 18 months old and was bred AI at 14 months. Her butt is much better than shown in this one picture and one of the main reasons she caught my eye. I saw her sire up close and he has plenty of butt!

As far as size goes, I am pretty much resigned to the fact that there is no way for sure of telling if a calf is going to be my preferred 1200-1300 lb as a mature cow until she becomes a mature cow. As mentioned above, her sire has a history of 5.6 average frame score progeny. Her dam comes from a line bred for carcass. Her EPD's even though preliminary are in the range I am looking for (good CE + WW & YW). And she has a gentle disposition.

I appreciate the comments. I am certainly no expert at cattle judging so we will see. I hope she comes around the way my Tundra heifer changed for the better.

What is striking to me is the difference between this heifer pictured and the dryland/name herd heifer I bought at about the same time.

This is certainly an interesting business. Always something new to learn. Thanks for the replies.

Jim

 

[bigbull338]

she is a goodlooking heifer,but something keeps jumping out at me about her.an i cant figure it out,but it looks to me like she needs some feed in her.now id like to see the heifer from the dry area as well.

 

[SRBeef]

she is a goodlooking heifer,but something keeps jumping out at me about her.an i cant figure it out,but it looks to me like she needs some feed in her.now id like to see the heifer from the dry area as well.

One of the things I like about Jerry Huth's method of raising cattle is that they are just out in a fall grass pasture. They did not even have hay out yet that I could see. What you see is what you get.

My own cattle are "fatter" than his pasture full. I did just put out some hay this past week but they were "fat" before that. I guess it is just the year. I don't like seeing cattle pin bones obviously protruding when they are standing still.

The fact the heifer pictured above looks as good as she does coming from the fall grass environment she was in I think is an indication of her genetics. We'll see. Keep in mind the picture above was taken by an amateur photographer (me) with a camera I carry in my pocket most of the time. Picture light, angle, etc can sometimes make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, or vice versa.

On the heifer purchased from a high profile dry land southern plains herd, compared to my heifers of similar age (she was born in Feb 09) she is just skin and bones. Watching her yesterday she must have spent 1/2 hour licking at my white salt block and another 1/2 hour with her head in my Mineralyx tub. It may just be the stress of transport plus change in climate, etc. So to be fair I should probably wait awhile before passing judgment and posting a picture. She has certainly had her head down and grazing since she's been here. Thanks for the input.

Jim

 

[SRBeef]

For comparison, here are a couple of my low-dollar commercial heifers born April 09 sired by T21 out of average, local, mid-size cows, not my target 1200 lbers. I just took these pictures this morning. They are grazing around some apple trees as I try to use every blade of grass before feeding purchased hay.

Maybe I am wrong, but this is what I want my bred heifers to look like. They are due to calve in March 2011. They also have more of a Wisconsin winter coat than the dryland heifer from the southern plains which may add to the difference. FWIW:

Maybe I am wrong as a beginner, but my thinking is that if I am going to pay a price for registered bred heifers of about the same age, I want them to look better than the lowly commercial ones that I have. Maybe they will when they are here for a yearly cycle of rotational grazing.

These have been raised on grass and winter hay only. They have had no significant grain other than a gentling treat of a couple pounds a week or two to keep them coming when called.

I have no doubt the Huth 55 heifer above, although a bit younger than #4 & #5 pictured here, will look a lot like these in time. The dryland heifer I am not sure.

Jim

 

[purecountry]

If you offered me those 3 heifers without telling me their lineage or history, I would pick the 2 commercials and leave the PB pictured at the top of the page. I would like to see her again next spring, maybe she will change. Look forward to seeing the "dryland" heifer when you get pics of her.

 

[cow pollinater]

The fun part of owning registered cattle is looking forward. Instead of seeing flaws, I see a good start to your registered herd. Pick out your top three complaints about her and try to do some corrective mating instead of listening to all of us tell you that what you have isn't perfect yet. Anyone with enough money can buy a hotrod but it takes a car guy to make it unique. You bought her but it's her progeny that are really YOURS:nod:
I bought twelve head of registered angus as my start with registered cows and I have some Charolais on the breeding up program. A few of the Angus are good enough that it's hard to pick bulls that offer enough improvement that I can really see a differance... it's frustrating. I get alot more enjoyment from mating the ones that are further from perfect to a bull that can offer improvement than I do from trying to match the cows performance without going backwards.

 

[SRBeef]

The fun part of owning registered cattle is looking forward. Instead of seeing flaws, I see a good start to your registered herd. Pick out your top three complaints about her and try to do some corrective mating instead of listening to all of us tell you that what you have isn't perfect yet. Anyone with enough money can buy a hotrod but it takes a car guy to make it unique. You bought her but it's her progeny that are really YOURS:nod:
I bought twelve head of registered angus as my start with registered cows and I have some Charolais on the breeding up program. A few of the Angus are good enough that it's hard to pick bulls that offer enough improvement that I can really see a differance... it's frustrating. I get alot more enjoyment from mating the ones that are further from perfect to a bull that can offer improvement than I do from trying to match the cows performance without going backwards.

Thanks for the thought. I want to clarify though that I am very happy with the Huth heifer #55 in my original post. I agree that working with her I can probably get her progeny even better. The picture just doesn't do her justice. In real life she reflects her breeding. I think she will look like my home-growns and probably better after awhile. Maybe a similar situation to the Tundra heifer I bought last winter. That one was obviously on a show diet of some sort. Lost it on grass then eventually came back nicely with rotational grazing. I think she just had to learn lunch doesn't come in a bucket anymore.

Here's a picture of the Tundra heifer from earlier this fall after she started getting with the system. She is the one in front.

The one I am concerned about is the second one I bought recently, the "dryland " heifer which I have not shown a picture of. I want to give her the benefit of the doubt and maybe she will come around but she has a long way to go, much different than the Tundra heifer. But maybe she will reflect her breeding in time.

I appreciate the comments and feedback on the original heifer pictured above. She looks better in person. I picked her out and am fairly certain she will come around to be better than my commercial heifers. jmho. Jim

 

[Brightview]

SRBeef,
Please don't take offence, none is intended regarding my comment of initial heifer. Given time, and I am not familiar with Hereford bloodlines, she should furnish into a good cow. I agree with Purecounty regarding choice of the three heifers,AT THE MOMENT.
Your Tundra heifer, although short on photographic accuracy, definitely shows that rearend, 2nd thigh meatiness I look for in any cattle I pass judgement on. Starting off a registered herd can be daunting, we have all done it initially at some time. MY advise would be see as many herds as you can and buy quality rather than quantity. Having 3-4 top quality bulls from quality females is better that 15-20 average bulls from average famales. All the best with your program.

 

[SRBeef]

SRBeef,
Please don't take offence, none is intended regarding my comment of initial heifer. Given time, and I am not familiar with Hereford bloodlines, she should furnish into a good cow. I agree with Purecounty regarding choice of the three heifers,AT THE MOMENT.
Your Tundra heifer, although short on photographic accuracy, definitely shows that rearend, 2nd thigh meatiness I look for in any cattle I pass judgement on. Starting off a registered herd can be daunting, we have all done it initially at some time. MY advise would be see as many herds as you can and buy quality rather than quantity. Having 3-4 top quality bulls from quality females is better that 15-20 average bulls from average famales. All the best with your program.

Thank you. No offense was taken. I appreciate your obviously experienced comments. The key point is "at the moment".

One of the problems with being a very small operation as I am, is that I have been able to manage one bull at a time. As a beginner I am also very aware of the differences in COWS. Most folks ponder bulls. I am more into pondering heifers and cows. I see a huge difference in cows. I think someone on here, maybe Alison, has posted about the importance of COW genetics (the X's and Y's). And I think I see and agree with her comments.

I was very fortunate to have Jerry Huth fix me up with an excellent bull to start with (T21) and have sold him and have a new Huth bull (U70) this summer with very beefy conformation, great disposition, good EPD numbers and interesting smaller frame size. My experienced neighbor really likes U70. He calls him "Shorty".

U70 is really developing well and should give me some smaller frame size but beefy calves and heifers. My goal right now is to give him a few registered females from a variety of background genetics, to work with in addition to my commercial.

Right now I have just three registered Hereford females, all from very different genetics and different areas of the country, to start a registered group with.

In my freezer beef business it doesn't really matter if they are registered or not. I have shown myself what selection of commercial calves can do and have some very nice bred commercial heifers like #4 & #5 pictured above. I want to try a couple registered females to see what they can do.

I am also keeping one of my commercial bull calves out of T21 (the 830 lb ww one) who shows the long low, early growth and excellent ww ratio to try to impart some of my target 1200 lb cow genetics into some of the other commercial cow families.... I put a lot of effort into additional watering points, adjusting grazing corn finishing paddock size and fencing this past summer so I can keep 3 or 4 groups separate over the winter rather than just two groups as in the past. Goal of all this is to produce a lot of pounds of top quality freezer beef per acre.

That is a bit of an overview of what I am doing and why I am focused on a few heifers and cows rather than bulls. I am set in the bull department for a few years. I do not and will not do AI, but that is another topic.

Jim

 

[AllForage]

If you want to breed heifers low, I am done with one of my Lents Anxiety 4th bulls up here in NE Wisconsin. I am doing a breeding up program and starting to produce 75% heifers.

 

[SRBeef]

If you want to breed heifers low, I am done with one of my Lents Anxiety 4th bulls up here in NE Wisconsin. I am doing a breeding up program and starting to produce 75% heifers.

I am a beginner and am not at all familiar with Lents bulls although wasn't Anxiety the 4th a very old Hereford line? Wouldn't there be more modern genetics available? What is it about this line that you like? It seems like old-time cattle would be like old time apple varieties. Sure they may have some good points but generally there are reasons folks like newer varieties.

What is a "breeding up" program and how can you average 75% heifers? Sexed semen?

Jim

 

[agmantoo]

Regarding the heifer purchased from a high profile dry land southern plains herd.....with compensatory gain you will not think it is the same animal in as little as 30 days. Even if you do not post her pic now you do need to take a "before" pic so we too can share the change in 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[AllForage]

Jim,
Yes the Lents cattle are linebred to Anxiety 4th. I believe the closest in the world. I market grass-finished beef. I need moderate cattle that can thrive and fatten on a forage only program. "Modern" cattle tend to grow too large and are higher maintenance. I am breeding cattle very similar to JHambleys who I have seen post on this site. Genetics are relative to your goal in marketing. I finish cattle on grass so I need old style short wide cows that will put fat on earlier rather than grow bone. As far as breeding up, I take a set of heifers and put them on bull 1. Then their heifers are put on bull 2 of same bloodline. These calves are now 75% anxiety 4th blood. And then again. This is a very simple breeding plan similar to the early range cattle that were improved by anxiety bulls in the early 1900's.

Ryan

 

[JHH]

Jim,
Yes the Lents cattle are linebred to Anxiety 4th. I believe the closest in the world. I market grass-finished beef. I need moderate cattle that can thrive and fatten on a forage only program. "Modern" cattle tend to grow too large and are higher maintenance. I am breeding cattle very similar to JHambleys who I have seen post on this site. Genetics are relative to your goal in marketing. I finish cattle on grass so I need old style short wide cows that will put fat on earlier rather than grow bone. As far as breeding up, I take a set of heifers and put them on bull 1. Then their heifers are put on bull 2 of same bloodline. These calves are now 75% anxiety 4th blood. And then again. This is a very simple breeding plan similar to the early range cattle that were improved by anxiety bulls in the early 1900's.

Ryan

Interesting that you have a Lents bull in a grass program. I have been under the impression that they needed a little feed to perform. Although I was just under this impression, no one told me this. Guess I was wrong. I would love to see a pic of him.