Club calf bulls

[Bigfoot]

I just have commercial cows, I do however AI a sprinkling of them each year. I took the class, and have the stuff. I might as well do a few of them any way. Anybody ever use any of the club calf bulls on bull barn on just commercial cows. I don't want a show calf, I just want to try about three of my cows on one of them. Or, are they a little to impractical for what I do?

 

[ffamom]

You are getting a cross with always helps. I would say go for it. You might just get a great replacement heifer.

 

[Bigfoot]

That's kinda what I thought.

 

[Galloways1]

You are getting a cross with always helps. I would say go for it. You might just get a great replacement heifer.

Only a handful of Clubby bulls are bred with any maternal abilities. The majority are bred to produce steers with a certain "look " to them. I am not saying don't do it, but producing replacement females would be last on the list. You will get some cool looking calves.

 

[Lucky_P]

Wouldn't be happening here, either.
Unless you're really interested in breeding for HAIR, lots of bone, a 'freaky' front, and stuff like that, I wouldn't do it.
If you're gonna be doing AI on commercial cows (we do), you might as well select sires - regardless of breed - that bring something commercially useful to the table - growth, marbling, ribeye, tenderness, maternal traits, etc.

 

[cow pollinater]

I have a buddy that's been doing it for awhile but he keeps the heifers and runs them like commercials. Every once in a while he scores and has one he can turn into a show animal and that's all he sees. He misses all the extra feed costs and the dock he takes on the rest of his calves because they stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[Taurus]

I wouldn't use a club bull on commerical cows to get a replacement heifers. And you might not be impressed with the calves.

 

[calfbuyer]

I was engulfed in the show steer industry when i was younger. I still have friends up north that raise them and friends down here that trade them. If you just have a few commercial cows and want to piddle with it you probably have a 1 in 100 chance of raising something that would be a high dollar calf. The calves will be terminal as hell, they will sell ok at the barn but forget about keeping them for heifers.

 

[houstoncutter]

As I have said in the past, one of the worst things about the modern cattle industry is the show ring. It produces cattle that cant function without a feedbucket!

 

[HOSS]

Bigfoot, if it were me I would pick an AI sire with balanced and a high accuracy on the EPD's. I know some folks that AI'd to a club calf bull thinking they would get calves that looked like he did. They didn't. They got calves all over the place on color, size and type. I remember they had to pull a few that were huge. Good luck on whatever direction you decide to take.

 

[Taurus]

I once haul a customer's club calf cow to the sale barn. The owner said she keeps produced dink calves despite of best bulls the owner can afford. She was so fat as heck and I mistook her calf for a pygmy goat.

 

[sackshowcattle]

If its something you want to try go for it. But remember a lot of the birthweights are incorect and throw epds out the window on the crossed up mess most of them are. But on the other side sires like meyer 734, witch doctor, habanero, who made who, and some others make exceptional momas. You just have to find older or less crossed up bulls to use. There are a lot of simi, maine, and shorthorn bulls that are considered club calf, but actually are high percentage or an f1 cross. The ones causing the trouble are the ones with 3 or 4 breeds on both sides these are the ones that you either hit a home run or are embarrassed to take them to the sale barn.