Backbone Ranch
Well-known member
Calving season started a little over a month ago for us. Our first calves were officially due out of AI sires on February 27th and 28th, with the rest of our herd starting on March 9th. So far, we have had 8 bull calves and 3 heifer calves. Four of the bull calves are definitely AI sired, but we have one that we are unsure about, so we will get DNA testing done on him sometime before weaning. Most everything has gone well, but we did have to pull a large bull calf that was born backwards. We still have 17 cows left, and they are all bred to our herd bull, BB Uncle Tony. These are some pictures of our first calves this year.
801 Bull- This calf was born on February 17th at 70 lbs. He is sired by Murray Grey bull from New Zealand named Ballee Thumbs Up. This calf has looked like a bull from day one. He is pictured here at 25 days.
805 Bull- This is another AI sired bull calf. He is sired by MCC Trigger's Champion, a USA bred bull that was born in the late 1970s. This calf was 78 lbs at birth and is out of our oldest Tony daughter. He looked kind of plain for the first few days, but he already is starting to fill out and deepen. He is 13 days old here.
809 Bull- This was the calf that was born backwards that had to be pulled. He is sired by JOPA Elation Power, a bull from the late 1980s. We will be culling the mother of this bull calf after she raises this calf, even though this is only her second calf. She is one of our smaller cows, and when bred to two different bulls, has given birth to calves that are extraordinarily blocky with huge bone structure. We have had to pull both of her calves so far. This bull calf was our largest to date, weighing in at 104 lbs. He is pictured here at 12 days. He will be one heck of a steer!
These next two calves were born in the fall of 2017 and are out of some first calf heifers. As a group, these are by far the best fall calves that we have ever had. Both of these calves are 5 months old and are sired by BB Uncle Tony. The bull was 68 lbs at birth and the heifer was 46 lbs, our smallest to date.
This last photo shows one of my favorite cows. She is 50% Murray Grey x 50% Angus and is approaching 9 years old now. She can be a bit of a pain after calving, but she raises great calves. She has produced a replacement quality calf every year since she was a first-calf heifer. We have kept a handful of her daughters for our own herd and every one of her bull calves has sold to commercial herds since 2012. She is bred to Tony again, and I am hoping that she has another heifer this year. She has had three Tony sired calves so far, all of which have been really nice.
Thanks for letting me share! I will try to get more pictures when I head back home in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will have some more heifers by then!
801 Bull- This calf was born on February 17th at 70 lbs. He is sired by Murray Grey bull from New Zealand named Ballee Thumbs Up. This calf has looked like a bull from day one. He is pictured here at 25 days.
805 Bull- This is another AI sired bull calf. He is sired by MCC Trigger's Champion, a USA bred bull that was born in the late 1970s. This calf was 78 lbs at birth and is out of our oldest Tony daughter. He looked kind of plain for the first few days, but he already is starting to fill out and deepen. He is 13 days old here.
809 Bull- This was the calf that was born backwards that had to be pulled. He is sired by JOPA Elation Power, a bull from the late 1980s. We will be culling the mother of this bull calf after she raises this calf, even though this is only her second calf. She is one of our smaller cows, and when bred to two different bulls, has given birth to calves that are extraordinarily blocky with huge bone structure. We have had to pull both of her calves so far. This bull calf was our largest to date, weighing in at 104 lbs. He is pictured here at 12 days. He will be one heck of a steer!
These next two calves were born in the fall of 2017 and are out of some first calf heifers. As a group, these are by far the best fall calves that we have ever had. Both of these calves are 5 months old and are sired by BB Uncle Tony. The bull was 68 lbs at birth and the heifer was 46 lbs, our smallest to date.
This last photo shows one of my favorite cows. She is 50% Murray Grey x 50% Angus and is approaching 9 years old now. She can be a bit of a pain after calving, but she raises great calves. She has produced a replacement quality calf every year since she was a first-calf heifer. We have kept a handful of her daughters for our own herd and every one of her bull calves has sold to commercial herds since 2012. She is bred to Tony again, and I am hoping that she has another heifer this year. She has had three Tony sired calves so far, all of which have been really nice.
Thanks for letting me share! I will try to get more pictures when I head back home in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we will have some more heifers by then!
