Randi
Well-known member
So, as some of you might have gathered from previous posts by me on the topic of Birth Weights, I really, really don't care for the little 60 lb calves...Even out of my heifers...
Last spring we purchased another bull for our heifers, http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i ... 1&9=535C52
His calving ease so far has been exceptional, but the calves are between a week and 16 days early, so I would hope that they would come out without any trouble! But the problem I am seeing is that these calves, especially the really early ones have a very hard time handling the cold weather. And, we have been having some exceptionally warm weather, so that says a lot. We even had one freeze it's ears, and it was born on a very nice, warm afternoon, but the next 2 days were a bit cooler (still right around freezing) so, not terribly cold. Birthweights here are an average of 64 lbs with a range of 60-68 lbs. All unassisted.
Our other Heifer bull http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i ... 0&9=535C5E
Has mostly given us calves between 2 and 8 days early and they are much nicer, more vigorous calves. BW here average 81 lbs, with a range of 75-93 lbs. All unassisted.
Last year we calved out a herd of heifers bred to 'Easy Calving' Angus and Red Angus bulls. There were more than one calf that I would say were even premature. The calves out of a lot of these heifers almost looked like fawns. Certainly they were calving ease, the Red Angus calves we never hardly had to touch, thankfully it was a fairly nice calving season weather wise.
So, I guess, what I am seeing is that this Calving Ease thing has gotten to the point where the calves are being born a bit too much on the premature side. Where calf vigour is being sacrificed for Calving Ease. Personally, I would rather have to help a heifer calve, rather than have to keep an eye on them for a few days because they can't handle cool weather.
Last spring we purchased another bull for our heifers, http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i ... 1&9=535C52
His calving ease so far has been exceptional, but the calves are between a week and 16 days early, so I would hope that they would come out without any trouble! But the problem I am seeing is that these calves, especially the really early ones have a very hard time handling the cold weather. And, we have been having some exceptionally warm weather, so that says a lot. We even had one freeze it's ears, and it was born on a very nice, warm afternoon, but the next 2 days were a bit cooler (still right around freezing) so, not terribly cold. Birthweights here are an average of 64 lbs with a range of 60-68 lbs. All unassisted.
Our other Heifer bull http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i ... 0&9=535C5E
Has mostly given us calves between 2 and 8 days early and they are much nicer, more vigorous calves. BW here average 81 lbs, with a range of 75-93 lbs. All unassisted.
Last year we calved out a herd of heifers bred to 'Easy Calving' Angus and Red Angus bulls. There were more than one calf that I would say were even premature. The calves out of a lot of these heifers almost looked like fawns. Certainly they were calving ease, the Red Angus calves we never hardly had to touch, thankfully it was a fairly nice calving season weather wise.
So, I guess, what I am seeing is that this Calving Ease thing has gotten to the point where the calves are being born a bit too much on the premature side. Where calf vigour is being sacrificed for Calving Ease. Personally, I would rather have to help a heifer calve, rather than have to keep an eye on them for a few days because they can't handle cool weather.