Breeding talking points

[tnwalkingred]

All,

I thought I'd start a new thread and discuss a few things I had on the brain. First thing was I woke up this morning to a beautiful black baldy heifer that had just been born. Mama and baby are doing great! Considering she was a first calf heifer I was really relieved.The baby weighed 82 pounds which I was really surprised about. I had AI'd another heifer to the same bull last summer and she had a heifer calf that weighed only 69 pounds in April. This heifer is a little bigger but not much. Could it have had more to do with it being a fall calf considering the bull, diet, and everything else were the same? Or do you think it's due to the fact that this heifer was older when she calved? I actually bred them at the same time last summer but only one stuck. Either way I'm tickled to death to have both my first calf heifers through this process and all doing well. I actually plan on weighing the spring calf tomorrow to see what her weaning weight is.

I bought a registered Angus cow calf pair yesterday and I'm really happy with them. The Decades of Excellance sale was a big success and it was done top notch.The calf is a heifer and was born in early September. She is by Special Focus. Her mama is a monster! I bet she goes 1800 pounds! The only issue I have now is I need to find the right semen to buy. I have two registered angus cows to AI this fall. With my small numbers I had hoped to only buy semen from one bull. The trouble is the cows are complete opposites. One is a monster and the other is the smallest cow I own. I'm leaning toward Final Answer but would like your thoughts. Thanks in advance for your help

 

[boondocks]

Newbie here, Red, so apply salt quite liberally to the below.
We just completed our first round of AI on our small startup herd. We had an experienced pro consultant help us select the bulls. We had 2 mamas and 2 heifers. We picked one bull for the grown cows and one for the smaller heifers. Does it really save you much to go with just one bull? Seems to me you'd be giving up a lot--trying to compromise and not serving either cow best. Isn't a main benefit of AI that you can select a specific bull to match strength to weakness, heighten specific traits etc? That's my one cent. (haven't earned 2 yet ;)

 

[cow pollinater]

One is a monster and the other is the smallest cow I own.

Figure out what you consider the ideal size to be and breed them both to a bull that is that size. Do that repeatedly for a few generations. Stature is around 40% heritable so if you try to do corrective matings you can really bounce back and forth between extremes. The fastest way to get to consistant, especially on a trait like stature, is to pick what ideal is for you and breed to that every time.

 

[tnwalkingred]

I understand completely why a person would want to match every cow in his herd to the bull that matched them perfectly. Last time I checked however there is a minimum requirement on how many straws you have to buy. I would hate to buy 5-10 straws on every bull even if I only wanted to breed one cow to him. I would like to breed all my cows to one bull and see how the calves turn out. If I choose to breed another bull to something else the next year I could. The only time I can see buying straws off of multiple bulls is if I had a group of heifers I wanted to breed.

As far as stature goes I agree completely. Everyone wants to have uniform calves. I just wonder how much this really is determined by the cow? I had two heifer calves born 2 days apart in February (by the same bull) and when I weighed them yesterday they were only 4 pounds apart. (586 and 590). The funny thing is the two cows varied in size drastically. One cow was much bigger than the other. I also had a heifer calf born on Sunday and she is almost as big as a calf born in October. The cow who had the calf born in October is almost twice as big the as the one who calved on Sunday. The one difference was the bull.

I think I'll breed to Final Answer as I already have one bred to him and his calves sure did sell well last Saturday.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

I understand completely why a person would want to match every cow in his herd to the bull that matched them perfectly. Last time I checked however there is a minimum requirement on how many straws you have to buy. I would hate to buy 5-10 straws on every bull even if I only wanted to breed one cow to him. I would like to breed all my cows to one bull and see how the calves turn out. If I choose to breed another bull to something else the next year I could. The only time I can see buying straws off of multiple bulls is if I had a group of heifers I wanted to breed.

As far as stature goes I agree completely. Everyone wants to have uniform calves. I just wonder how much this really is determined by the cow? I had two heifer calves born 2 days apart in February (by the same bull) and when I weighed them yesterday they were only 4 pounds apart. (586 and 590). The funny thing is the two cows varied in size drastically. One cow was much bigger than the other. I also had a heifer calf born on Sunday and she is almost as big as a calf born in October. The cow who had the calf born in October is almost twice as big the as the one who calved on Sunday. The one difference was the bull.

I think I'll breed to Final Answer as I already have one bred to him and his calves sure did sell well last Saturday.

Not with cattle vision, you can buy just one straw at a time. Also, if you hire someone to breed for you, they will sell you one straw with the service, so no need to buy several. We started with just two heifers, and had to buy one straw at a time. I am glad I am at a point where now I usually buy ten straws, or if it is a new sire I want to try, I will buy 5 straws.

 

[slick4591]

Not with cattle vision, you can buy just one straw at a time. Also, if you hire someone to breed for you, they will sell you one straw with the service, so no need to buy several. We started with just two heifers, and had to buy one straw at a time. I am glad I am at a point where now I usually buy ten straws, or if it is a new sire I want to try, I will buy 5 straws.

What if she cycles again and you don't have anything to use? Looks like extra straws would be cheap insurance.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Not with cattle vision, you can buy just one straw at a time. Also, if you hire someone to breed for you, they will sell you one straw with the service, so no need to buy several. We started with just two heifers, and had to buy one straw at a time. I am glad I am at a point where now I usually buy ten straws, or if it is a new sire I want to try, I will buy 5 straws.

What if she cycles again and you don't have anything to use? Looks like extra straws would be cheap insurance.

:nod:

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Not any law that says you have to AI each cow to a different bull. Breed them all to the same bull and the same type bull each time to end up with the type cow you want. To many folks talk to much BS about matching each cow to a certain bull.