breeding choices

[shortybreeder]

Alright, I am looking to breed my commercial cows to get calves that will all "ring the bell" at the salesbarn, I have been retaining 100% heifers to grow my herd the past few years but this fall I am heading off to college and am looking for all terminal calves. I have 3 red females, 3 black baldy females, and one solid black female. The red females, two are sired by red angus and the other looks like a hereford x jersey x holstein (she is the dam of the other two). The black females, two are hereford x holsteins (50/50 %) the other two are out of those cows and are sired by black angus (25% Hol 25% hereford 50% angus). I was thinking the Charolais bull Wrangler on the black cows and the Black Angus bull Fortitude on the red cows. That way I'll get smokey calves out of the black cows and black calves out of the red cows. Both are on GENEX

 

[randiliana]

Why not go with Char on them all? Nothing wrong with a tan calf.

 

[Limomike]

Why not go with Char on them all? Nothing wrong with a tan calf.

:nod:

 

[bse]

If your only looking at genex Tombstone may be a better choice for terminal he has more growth and better accuracy than Fortitude.

 

[shortybreeder]

Why not go with Char on them all? Nothing wrong with a tan calf.

Around here the red animals get docked really heavy (10-20 cents is usually the difference in price between red and black calves from the nearest jockey), so wouldn't a tan char get the same heavy docking? Maybe even a bit more with the continental influence? My grandma has a friend who's son sold his first batch of calves (150 head of mixed steers and heifers) in January, the simmy-angus got a 10 cent dock, but they were a lot bigger so they ended up making more money--hence the reason why I am looking at char in my black cows--but if you add that 10 cent dock to the ~15 cent dock on the reds, you're looking at a 25 cent dock... Or do the tan calves not get docked that bad? They might also look kinda showy if they come out gold with spots (all three red cows have some spots). I feel like it's a safer bet to go with the solid black bull that will put (hopefully) solid black calves on the ground out of the red cows?? I am new to this, to date I have only sold 1 calf through the sales barn and that was a 1/2 SH 1/4 Herf 1/4 Hol steer... He didn't get beat up too bad because he came out looking like a black baldy with some reddish tinge. It also doesn't help that all feeder calf sales are at 1:00 on Mondays and 10:00 on Thursdays, and I have school 8-3 mon-fri so that makes it difficult to go to the sales and observe what sells well and what doesn't. My dad is a dairy guy so all the beef calves look the same to him and he is too busy to go to the sale for me. Thanks for the help so far though! Any more advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[shortybreeder]

If your only looking at genex Tombstone may be a better choice for terminal he has more growth and better accuracy than Fortitude.

Okay, I forgot to check out the accuracy! :bang: :bang:
The way I figured out which bull I was interested in was by using the following equation, (and I did this for literally every bull on the black angus list) $W+$F+$G-$/unit=Score Then I picked the bull with the highest score. I need a bull with a high weaning weight, but also I want calves that will do well in the feedlot because there is a slight chance that, come this fall, I will have a 10 acre parcel fenced in that I can use for finishing out my own steers and direct-marketing the beef. I know these "scores" don't really mean anything, but it is how I figured it to be the easiest way to compare them terminally, because each $index is supposedly the $ difference between them and the average calf, so I added up the numbers that show their potential extra profit and subtracted the cost of using them. One bull blew the others out of the water with his high numbers, but he was extremely expensive (like $40/unit) so that brought his score down far enough that he wasn't considered.
Thanks for the input so far, and any more advice is greatly appreciated!

p.s. Fortitude's "score" is currently 153.9, but that's just because he is on sale at $18/unit instead of his normal $25/unit which would =146.9
and Tombstone's "score" is currently 138.53 and he is not on sale, so that is his normal $20/unit.

 

[OakCreekRanch]

That's odd that the red calves got docked at your area. In our area, the red calves sell same as the blacks.

 

[WalnutCrest]

I'm definitely not advocating a formula here ... however ... if you were to use one, maybe the following one would incorporate what you're trying to achieve:

[(% accuracy x $W) +(% accuracy x $F) +(%accuracy x $G) - $/unit] = Score

 

[randiliana]

I have no idea what Tan calves would sell for in your area. In ours they top the market.

As far as a $.10 dock, well heavier calves generally bring less $/lb than lighter ones. But because they are heavier they usually bring more total $$.

 

[shortybreeder]

I have no idea what Tan calves would sell for in your area. In ours they top the market.

Well, it might be worth a shot. It would be easier to just buy all the semen from one bull, and have more consistency.