Do You Have A Cow To Brag About?

[Victoria]

On a different thread I began to talk to sidney411 about a cow we have that I think is incredible and I thought that it might be a good idea to tell the story on a separate post and hopefully you all will share a pic/story of a cow in your herd that is outstanding, not necessarily your best looking but the type that isn't an ordinary cow.

Here we have 51. She is our leader. She'll follow me even if I am on foot without a bucket and gets the whole herd up and coming too. She takes care of her herd and will pull a Lassie if there is a sick calf in the field or a problem with another cow. When she was on her second calf we had an orphan that was born that day so while she was giving birth I slipped him in with the other one. It was a bad year and we ended up with two other orphans. We had 51 in the corral with her "twins" so they could bond with her before going out so we decided to put the other two calves in with her so they would be safe and have a cow around to teach them to eat hay etc. We were surprised when she adopted them too. She bathed them, took care of them and even fed them. We helped a bit with milk - a young cow with 3 charolais cross heifers and one red angus cross steer is a lot to ask. All 4 of them grew well. Two of the heifers are now producing cows in the herd, one died of congestive heart failure. The steer was shipped in the fall. She has had one steer since that weighed over 800 pounds in the fall and we have kept two of her other daughters who are also outstanding cows. She seems to know when Mom is looking for replacement heifers. She stands her calf up and they will stand picture perfect everytime.
She isn't much to look at but she is worth her weight in gold.

51

Her daughter 5 last August, she'll have her first calf in Feb.

 

[Gate Opener]

What do you think she has in her? I want one like that!

 

[JHH]

I have one that had two calves in one year. One the 8th of Jan and the other the 23rd of Nov. She was with the bull when she had her calf and bred right back. Probably kind of hard on the cow but she seems ok. JHH

 

[OK Jeanne]

Great post Victoria ---- everyone needs a cow like #51!

 

[bubchub]

I have one that had two calves in one year. One the 8th of Jan and the other the 23rd of Nov. She was with the bull when she had her calf and bred right back. Probably kind of hard on the cow but she seems ok. JHH

I had one do the same thing. But she had one in the first of January and then one in the last of September. I couldn't believe it. She was my favorite cow. You could pet her in the field and she was always right behind you. She was at least half Brahman and always raised the biggest calves. Last year because of the drought and her age, I promised my dad that if her calf was a bull we could ship her. And she calved a bull calf out of our Brahman bull. I have kept one of her daughters who milked as good as her but you cannot pet her at all.

 

[Victoria]

What do you think she has in her? I want one like that!

What's really funny is that we sent a buyer out to get some heifers for us. We'd always picked our own and it was the first time using someone else. He bought 12 for us and 12 for himself from the same group so 51 was just in the gate run. When my mother looked at the group she wasn't overly happy with the conformation with most of them. One that she pointed out was 51, she commented about her looking more like a feedlot steer than a replacement heifer. :lol: It was then that we decided to never trust anyone to pick for us again.
51 is the only one that we have left out of the group. She'll be 9 in 2007.
She was sold as a Red Angus cross. She has dehorning scars so we think she is probably Red Angus/Simm./Hereford.

 

[Victoria]

JHH and bubchub
There's some good fertility showing in those cows! Are their daughters the same way?

 

[Victoria]

Great post Victoria ---- everyone needs a cow like #51!

I agree, unfortunately there aren't many out there.

 

[Gate Opener]

What do you think she has in her? I want one like that!

What's really funny is that we sent a buyer out to get some heifers for us. We'd always picked our own and it was the first time using someone else. He bought 12 for us and 12 for himself from the same group so 51 was just in the gate run. When my mother looked at the group she wasn't overly happy with the conformation with most of them. One that she pointed out was 51, she commented about her looking more like a feedlot steer than a replacement heifer. :lol: It was then that we decided to never trust anyone to pick for us again.
51 is the only one that we have left out of the group. She'll be 9 in 2007.
She was sold as a Red Angus cross. She has dehorning scars so we think she is probably Red Angus/Simm./Hereford.

Do you think that the Simm added anything? I only have one and she is a real hard keeper.

 

[Victoria]

What do you think she has in her? I want one like that!

What's really funny is that we sent a buyer out to get some heifers for us. We'd always picked our own and it was the first time using someone else. He bought 12 for us and 12 for himself from the same group so 51 was just in the gate run. When my mother looked at the group she wasn't overly happy with the conformation with most of them. One that she pointed out was 51, she commented about her looking more like a feedlot steer than a replacement heifer. :lol: It was then that we decided to never trust anyone to pick for us again.
51 is the only one that we have left out of the group. She'll be 9 in 2007.
She was sold as a Red Angus cross. She has dehorning scars so we think she is probably Red Angus/Simm./Hereford.

Do you think that the Simm added anything? I only have one and she is a real hard keeper.

We have a couple SimmX cows. Most of them with just 1/4 Simm. that we bought. The best thing about them is that they've been great milkers and good growth on the calves. They are harder keeping than the Red Angus but no worse than the Charolais. We have had to ship them at a younger age than the Red Angus though for bad bags generally. There are good points and bad points (as is true with any breed) about them. I prefer the Red Angus or Red Angus/Hereford cross because they give longevity and less cost on hay for a calf that can weigh off at just as much or nearly as much. Not knocking anyone's breed, just what we've found here.

 

[JHH]

JHH and bubchub
There's some good fertility showing in those cows! Are their daughters the same way?

I havent kept but one daughter in the herd out of this cow because of udder problems. The daughter will calve in Jan at two years old. Everyone says cull because of this but I kept one and depending on how this heifer looks after calving I may keep the heifer that the cow has on her now. She sure weans off a heavy calf and breeds right back. I havent had to help the cow with the calves to get to suck but I think I will have to IF I Keep her very many more Years. JHH