baxter78":81w2hyzw said:
Running Arrow Bill":81w2hyzw said:
We start exposing ours at 14 months. Given the "average" weight of a LH cow would be around 1,000#, they should be at around 650# or so at 14 months. At that weight, age, should probably have a small to medium sized bull service them. Say around 1250 to 1500# max. After they've had their first calf, can expose them to a larger bull.
If you have one, a yearling bull 14 to 16 mos old weighing 800 to 1200# would be good choice also for servicing a smaller young heifer.
Wow I had no idea of the weights. I sale for pounds. They definitely would not fit my breeding program. I have calves that wean over 650 pounds and as yearlings the bulls are well over 1200 usually and the heifers are close to 1000 pounds some more than that. Not to knock long horns but you all can have them.
If used right - LH has a valuable place in a commercial herd - far too many people know very little about their capabilies in the breeding and mothering department - as well as their ability to raise a calf on next to nothing. Those people, well they tend to tell everyone those LH are only good for horns.
Crossed with SH, HH and RA - we put out some fine calves. I never used Char but they would work I think.
All our HH heifers were bred to LH - small calf - no probs - our cows nearly always had their first calf within a month of their second birthday. When born at 20 - 30 - 40 below zero - on snow the calves bounced up real fast. Heifers with small calves are a true blessing - especially on the 0230 patrol in the winter calving time.
Lots to be said for a live calf And I bet our feed bill was way below folks with big grain bills. Lots of trade offs that need to be examined before that big beefy calf is more profitable - and profit is the bottom line - NOT the size of the calf.
Anyone can make a big calf - but can they make it profitable?
I hear the pounds statement all the time - there was a time when I would put up our crosses against the others out there.
Do not knock them until you tried them - and when you are calving out 150 first timers in January in the Canadian prairies with lousy infrastructure - you will appreciate those calves even more. Never had to pull them or doctor them.
One final thing - the best calf in north west Alberta 4H - in all classes - was a black calf with a white belly and white socks - called Lotsa' Moohla' - 1/4 LH + 1/4 Angus + 1/2 Horned Herf. Six different classes and six different judges - won them all. Made a lot of money for a little girl that year - and it was entirely representative of the average herd product - it came from the calves my 14 year old daughter produced from her cows in that herd of ours.
She was the person to first bring in LH as an experiment - now I believe more people need to look at them.
The national profit per animal is now well below the 100 dollar number - so profit is FAR more important today. it looks good to see a big cheque and know your animla is worth $XX.XX dollars - but profit is way down.
Pounds? Yup a great thing. But if you only clear 65 bucks (all in) on a calf that weighs 700 pounds and you clear 83 bucks (all in) on a calf that weighs 550 pounds - who is the better rancher if each person sells the same number of calves?
If you - or anyone you know in the business are regularly making more than 100 bucks per animal after all is said and done I would say Bravo!
Regards
Bez+
