Freeloader

[randiliana]

I was going through the record books the other nights, and came across this cow. We have never sold one of her calves in the fall.

She is purebred Shorthorn, but no papers on her.

This is her first calf, out of the AI bull Hall of Fame. Not the greatest pic. She has had 2 calves, the first one had a 205 day wt of 568 lbs, and the second had a 205 day wt of 597 lbs. We kept her second calf.

This is her second calf, out of a Registered Gelbveih bull. She has had 1 calf that had a 205 day wt of 523 lbs. We kept her, she is quite a nice calf.

Her third calf was our sons 4-H steer last year. Sired by a Hereford bull.

Her fourth calf is out of a Shorthorn sire. The plan is for it to be our daughters 4-H calf this year. She had a 205 day wt of 570 lbs.

And we are waiting on her to have her fifth calf. Probably another keeper. She is bred Shorthorn again. Might try to keep it as a bull if that is what she has.

 

[bigbull338]

now thats not a freeloader.thats a cow that produces for the herd an show steers.she is more than paying her way.

 

[dyates]

I have one of those too. Her dam was a black baldie and her sire was a charolais. She is a '93 model and has never missed a calf. As far as memory serves, she has only had one bull calf in her life. Someone in the family has kept every heifer from her. I currently have 6 of her daughters. All of the others are her grandaughters or greatgrandaughters.

 

[Avalon]

calf #2 brings up a genetics ? Assuming that she is sired by an angus bull. I was under the assumtion that you always get blue roane when you cross a short with angus. Whats the % of black to blue roane? Is her Dam high % Maine?

 

[randiliana]

calf #2 brings up a genetics ? Assuming that she is sired by an angus bull. I was under the assumtion that you always get blue roane when you cross a short with angus. Whats the % of black to blue roane? Is her Dam high % Maine?

No you don't always get a roan. It depends on the color of the animal you are crossing. If it is a white Shorthorn you would always get a blue roan. If the cow were roan you would have a 50/50 chance of getting roan, and if the cow is spotted (as this girl is) or solid colored you would get a solid colored calf when crossing to Angus.

Roan is incompletely dominant. Which means that it expresses itself when it is there, but it expresses differently when the animal is Homo than it does when the animal is Hetero. The hereford markings work the same way.

So if you crossed a RR (homo roan) to a rr (homo solid) you would get 100% Rr which would be the traditional roan, that most people are used to seeing.

If you crossed Rr with rr you would get 50% Rr and 50% rr. So 1/2 would be roan and 1/2 would be solid colored.

As far as I know that cow has no Maine, or very little Maine influence in her, but I bought her as a replacement heifer, and never saw the registration papers on her dam or sire.

 

[randiliana]

now thats not a freeloader.thats a cow that produces for the herd an show steers.she is more than paying her way.

Ahhh, but some would argue that point ;-) :lol: :lol: . Not that I do, when you have a cow that produces heifers that go into the herd and become good producers, I think that makes her worth a lot. Heifers seem to run in this family, though, she has had 3 heifers to 1 steer, and both her heifers have only had heifers.

 

[donnaIL]

She produces good calves.
I think when we produce what we like we want to retain it. every one has a different ideal on what is good or perfect (if ther is such a thing).. i like the looks of the steer. they all look healthy with sine/sheen in their coats. donna

 

[R.N.Reed]

The key factor on weaning weight is not what the calf weighs but whether or not the weight achieved was done so at a net profit.Pounds are just part of the picture.

 

[randiliana]

Cant understand why anyone would keep calves for replacements that were in the sub 600 pound range? If you are selling pounds at weaning you need a cow that has at least a 600 pound weaning weight preferably higher that milks good in order to sell a heavy calf at weaning time. I want growth and performance. If they cant wean at at least 600 pounds then they aint around long at my place.

Well, good for you. That cow probably doesn't weigh 1200 lbs. She isn't a huge cow. She has never seen a bucket of grain, since we have had her. She does what she does on grass alone.

Cow in the first pic, dam was a 2 year old at that time.
BW 86, 205 day wt 570

Second pic, her second calf
BW 96, 205 day wt 584

Third pic, her third calf
BW 111, 205 day wt 656

Fourth pic, her fourth calf, and a Purebred
BW 86, 205 day wt 570.

I am not going to complain too much. Her calves have an Average 205 day wt of 595 lbs. Would say she isn't doing too bad.

 

[texast]

IMO. She brings a healthy calf each year, and they aren't poor calves so I would say she's working. Yes of course we want the calves to be 600lbs and above but she isn't far off from that. I would keep her nothing wrong with her at all.

 

[turning grass into beef]

The key factor on weaning weight is not what the calf weighs but whether or not the weight achieved was done so at a net profit.Pounds are just part of the picture.

EXACTLY :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[*Cowgirl*]

She sure is earning her keep. Good cow.

 

[DiamondSCattleCo]

The key factor on weaning weight is not what the calf weighs but whether or not the weight achieved was done so at a net profit.Pounds are just part of the picture.

Yep. Feed efficiency is what makes you money, not raw pounds of growth. Besides, I don't think Randi's cow weighs anymore than 11 or 1200 lbs, which means she's weaning danged near or right at 50% of her weight with no creep. I'd say thats decent growth for a British animal.

Rod