Did I get a Hereford Visit

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Helping Dolly with her huge bag and this baby. Her 1st trouble with a calf but will be her last here, she's 12. Look like a Hereford Bull came visiting?

 

[Brute 23]

I like your chute there.

 

[Ky hills]

Looks like it may have.

 

[farmerjan]

Do you have a hereford bull neighbor close? Sure looks like one. Those hereford calves look so clean and bright when they are little though.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Actually not a bit of Hereford in that calf, but yes sure does look like it. Out of my Black Baldy Hooks Eagle son from Bright Raven or Ron.

Dam is sired by a purebred Homo Black WLE Power Stroke son. Her dam was solid black out of a purebred red gelbvieh bull and a solid black black angus x red poll x Holstein cow. She was mostly black angus and red poll.
The cow carrying the spotting gene and both bull and cow being heterozygous black are in play in this calf.

 

[Nesikep]

The calf on the right is a whole 1/8th hereford

 

[Ky hills]

Fooled me, I thought sure that was at Hereford calf both by the color pattern and the shape of the head.
Well anyways, good to see other folks with calves like that. I'll have several look like that being that we kept back a SimHereford bull, and have several Hereford and BWF cows.

 

[Lee VanRoss]

I like your chute there.

I don't either...

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Would love to have an ArrowQuip Chute. But we're poor.

 

[Ky hills]

I'll say one thing for chute, it looks like when it comes to getting a calf to nurse a cow it beats the crap out of my brand name new one. When I take the bottom panel off of mine, the side of the frame is still too low to get a good angle for the calf to nurse. Have better luck getting the calf on from behind in the palpation chute.

 

[farmerjan]

How is Bright Raven doing? Still have cattle?

 

[Travlr]

Helping Dolly with her huge bag and this baby. Her 1st trouble with a calf but will be her last here, she's 12. Look like a Hereford Bul

"Her last"?

Why? Just because she's twelve? I've bought a LOT of cull cows because they were older and sold replacement heifers from them after they went for canner prices... and then sold them for what I paid for them.
From what I can see she looks like she is in decent condition. If she looks good after weaning why sell her?

 

[coachg]

I thought that black gene was always dominant and red was recessive ? Where's simme valley ?

 

[BFE]

I have two of those old Priefert head gates like that. Bought them both for next to nothing. I'm poor too.

 

[TCRanch]

How is Bright Raven doing? Still have cattle?

Yes. And he's doing well. Active in a few cattle groups on Facebook.

 

[simme]

I thought that black gene was always dominant and red was recessive ? Where's simme valley ?

Black is dominant over red - an animal that carries both a black gene and a red gene will be black. Black is dominant in terms of the actual color of the animal, but does not mean that the animal can not pass the red gene to the calf. Hetero black animals carry one black gene and one red gene. Each gene has an equal 50% chance of being the one passed to the calf. In this case, the cow carries a red gene that was passed to the calf. The bull carries a red gene that was passed to the calf. Calf has two red genes that makes it red. If the calf had received a black gene from either the cow or bull, it would have been black. A calf from two hetero black animals has a 25% chance of being red, 25% chance of being homo black and 50% chance of being hetero black.

Spotting gene probably came from the holstein back in the pedigree. Lucky Dice in the bull's pedigree also carried the spotting gene. When the spotting gene shows up, those white feet, tail, bellies and more can appear. The simmental white blaze on the face is often a desirable trait, but can quickly "blossom" into a holstein or longhorn pattern when the genetic stars align.

That is the main rule for red and black. There are some other genetics that don't follow a strict absolute rule. "Red Charlie" (named after a simmental bull) is a color defect that does not follow the conventional rules. Then there is the brindle issue with black and red of various shades coexisting.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

"Her last"?

Why? Just because she's twelve? I've bought a LOT of cull cows because they were older and sold replacement heifers from them after they went for canner prices... and then sold them for what I paid for them.
From what I can see she looks like she is in decent condition. If she looks good after weaning why sell her?

Truthfully because she is stubborn and that udder is too big and I don't want to help next years calf nurse. She's good shape and probably would get 2 or 3 more good calves if someone wanted to deal with the large bag. Will not swear that she'll leave but we've been trying to cull a lot harder and get a bit younger herd.

 

[Katpau]

Personally, I agree with culling her now. She is in excellent shape and the market for cull cows has been good. Udder and attitude not great would make it an easy decision here. Years ago when I was expanding my herd I kept every old cow that produced a calf. Now, if I want to keep any replacements, someone has to go. I am trying to keep the herd size stable. The opens are an easy choice, but after shortening the time I leave the bulls in and culling opens for years, I don't have many opens to cull. Bad dispositions and poor producers go next, but if you cull hard over time there are fewer of those too. Something has to go if you want to keep back any heifers. I think 12-13 is a pretty good place to cull. Mediocre producers maybe 10. A really exceptional cow I am tempted to keep longer, but older cows tend to start losing condition and raising smaller calves. Better to cull when they are still raising a decent calf and in good condition for the best prices.

A few examples: I use to keep most cows until they were open, which meant my herd was gradually getting older with fewer young cows in the herd. I did not have the pastures to keep expanding, so good prospective replacements were sold with the rest of the market cattle. I kept a cow that had been an excellent producer until she was 18. Her last calf weaned at under 400 pounds and she herself was probably 300 pounds lighter than had I culled a few years earlier. She was bred when I sold her after weaning her 17th calf, but if had I sold her and other old cows earlier, I would have had the room to retain some more of her daughters. Another cow was scheduled to be culled for age a few years ago. There wasn't room in the trailer for all, so at the last minute I pulled her out. She was 15, had been a good producer, and was still in really good flesh. I decided one more year. Found her dead of unknown causes the next summer leaving a 4 month old calf to fend for itself.

 

[RockinRB]

Regardless of age, having to get one caught because the calf can't nurse due to a large udder is a good enough reason for me to cull.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Keeping this Babe