DIFFERENT LOOKING CATTLE

Help Support CattleToday:

NIce looking Hereford. I wouldn't worry about the birthweight. It's one of the most overated traights out there. If the calf is longer it weighs more. I have a cow that has had 8 calves to date. Ranged from 121 as a first calf heifer to 142. She has them on her own so what do I care. Her calves always weigh off in the top 5% for WDA in the fall and 2 of the 8 years her calf has been #1. Wished I had more like her. 2 of her daughters are in production and calve with normal birth weights around here 90-110. I will also have two granddaughers join the ranks this winter. She weighs in around 1350 which is on the small side of average. Breeds back every year.
 
cattleman99":1te1w116 said:
NIce looking Hereford. I wouldn't worry about the birthweight. It's one of the most overated traights out there. If the calf is longer it weighs more. I have a cow that has had 8 calves to date. Ranged from 121 as a first calf heifer to 142. She has them on her own so what do I care. Her calves always weigh off in the top 5% for WDA in the fall and 2 of the 8 years her calf has been #1. Wished I had more like her. 2 of her daughters are in production and calve with normal birth weights around here 90-110. I will also have two granddaughers join the ranks this winter. She weighs in around 1350 which is on the small side of average. Breeds back every year.

If it works for you commercially then good for you, but try selling a bull with such a birthweight. And even if you do manage that tell that to the customer after he's lost a few because of big calves. I'll gurantee you he'll never buy from you again and will damage your reputation as far as he goes.
 
KNERSIE":3fpgbksn said:
It seems that his dam isn't doing the best job on him...?

Oh, I think she's doing a pretty good job on him. It's a horrid picture to try and see how big he's getting. I'd be shocked if he isn't one of the top 5 calves, and most likely the biggest calf. She's pretty much the #1 cow in the herd, as far as raising a calf goes. On 5 calves, her avg 205 day wt is 660 lbs. Of course, her avg BW is 111 lbs. We calved her first (only) daughter this year, and so far it looks like she is going to be pretty good too.
 
KNERSIE":bfaty9f4 said:
cattleman99":bfaty9f4 said:
NIce looking Hereford. I wouldn't worry about the birthweight. It's one of the most overated traights out there. If the calf is longer it weighs more. I have a cow that has had 8 calves to date. Ranged from 121 as a first calf heifer to 142. She has them on her own so what do I care. Her calves always weigh off in the top 5% for WDA in the fall and 2 of the 8 years her calf has been #1. Wished I had more like her. 2 of her daughters are in production and calve with normal birth weights around here 90-110. I will also have two granddaughers join the ranks this winter. She weighs in around 1350 which is on the small side of average. Breeds back every year.

If it works for you commercially then good for you, but try selling a bull with such a birthweight. And even if you do manage that tell that to the customer after he's lost a few because of big calves. I'll gurantee you he'll never buy from you again and will damage your reputation as far as he goes.

Well, the plan when we bred the cow was that we might keep any bull calf for a bull. But, while BW doesn't concern me a whole lot, 130 lbs is a little bigger than I am comfortable with breeding a bunch of cows to. Add that to the fact that this cow probably has the highest BW average in our herd, and he got fixed in a hurry. Our avg BW on the herd is usually 90-95 lbs and I'm not afraid of 100 - 115 lb BW's, but we kinda thought that this might be pushing things a little.

However, we kept his full sister, and calved her for the first time this year, 70 lb calf that is growing quite nicely. We'll see what she does in the future. It is one thing to have a couple cows that have big BW's and manage to do it by themselves, it is quite another to breed a huge BW bull to a bunch of cows that may or may not be able to handle that sort of thing. I don't want to be helping out 30 or 40 cows because we just pushed things a little too far.
 
What I didn't mention is that I've sold 3 bulls off of her as well. 2 of the 3 customers have come back for more bulls. The 3rd just bought one this spring. I know one of them runs in the one guys heifer pen with 30-40 each year. No calving problems at all. Like I said birthweight is not very relevant. Shape of the calf is much more important. That being said I cut the 142 lb calf that year. I realize there comes a point that people will just say no regardless.
 
cattleman99":toy2nr9x said:
What I didn't mention is that I've sold 3 bulls off of her as well. 2 of the 3 customers have come back for more bulls. The 3rd just bought one this spring. I know one of them runs in the one guys heifer pen with 30-40 each year. No calving problems at all. Like I said birthweight is not very relevant. Shape of the calf is much more important. That being said I cut the 142 lb calf that year. I realize there comes a point that people will just say no regardless.

Its a bit bold to say BW is irrelevant, there is more than enough research that says otherwise. That said, I agree there are more factors playing a role in dystocia, heavy bone and big long heads in my opinion being the two main culprits. If you continue to stack those high BW bulls in your herd sooner rather than later you are going to keep the vet in business, no stockman is good enough to handle every situation that might arise.

Every breed has the things that needs to be improved on and while BW in Herefords isn't a real concern yet, making them heavier at birth simply isn't making progress.
 
How are you feeling Randi? Those big shiny calves to sell this fall will help put a shine on things a bit. Does the salebarn you work in presort calves-there's times we'll have a triload of roan calves come through some big commercial Shorthorn oufits up here.
 
I'm feeling great. Last Dr visit said things look good, so keeping my fingers crossed.

Prices are looking pretty nice right now. Could be higher, but I won't cry at the prices either. Pretty happy with those calves too. We're pretty much all presorted sales. I'd like to have the roans, but down here, the roans and spots get docked too much. We've had a few groups of Shorthorn's the last few years, and some sold really good, some not so good. Of course, I am always outside and am lucky to hear a weight and the sale price on more than a couple pens through the whole sale.
 
.[/quote] you probably gotta pasture full of em,, truth be told :cowboy:[/quote]
No ala i have 1brangus and 1 tiger brangus cow.Before you jump to conclusions go read my recent post history.Im not tied down to black cattle like u ala.
 
bishopcattleco":ud9emdet said:
you probably gotta pasture full of em,, truth be told :cowboy:[/quote]
No ala i have 1brangus and 1 tiger brangus cow.Before you jump to conclusions go read my recent post history.Im not tied down to black cattle like u ala.[/quote] ...... well actually i was talking to frankly... you seem to have a hard time deciphering one poster from another :cowboy:
 
alacattleman":324d1zez said:
bishopcattleco":324d1zez said:
you probably gotta pasture full of em,, truth be told :cowboy:
No ala i have 1brangus and 1 tiger brangus cow.Before you jump to conclusions go read my recent post history.Im not tied down to black cattle like u ala.[/quote] ...... well actually i was talking to frankly... you seem to have a hard time deciphering one poster from another :cowboy:[/quote]

I knew you meant me. But you dont read my recent posts either. Brangus are at there best really ugly.
 
frankly":1xiixcfl said:
alacattleman":1xiixcfl said:
bishopcattleco":1xiixcfl said:
you probably gotta pasture full of em,, truth be told :cowboy:
No ala i have 1brangus and 1 tiger brangus cow.Before you jump to conclusions go read my recent post history.Im not tied down to black cattle like u ala.
...... well actually i was talking to frankly... you seem to have a hard time deciphering one poster from another :cowboy:[/quote]

I knew you meant me. But you dont read my recent posts either. Brangus are at there best really ugly.[/quote] sorry my heart rate didnt increase any,,,but you touch my wallet we got problems
:cowboy:
 
alacattleman":23yfsxna said:
alacattleman":23yfsxna said:
bishopcattleco":23yfsxna said:
you probably gotta pasture full of em,, truth be told :cowboy:
No ala i have 1brangus and 1 tiger brangus cow.Before you jump to conclusions go read my recent post history.Im not tied down to black cattle like u ala.
...... well actually i was talking to frankly... you seem to have a hard time deciphering one poster from another :cowboy:[/quote] im sorry ala :cry2: im gonna go lick a walnut .Frankly what kind of cattle do you like.
 

Latest posts

Top