Growing heifers

[Muddy]

Color/age has nothing to do with inconsistencies, just saying.

 

[cowgirl8]

Color/age has nothing to do with inconsistencies, just saying.

well, i cant think of any other reason why you keep insisting my calves are inconsistent.. And if you think age has nothing to do with size, well buddy you're in the wrong business. I dont believe that anyone who has a 3 month breeding season, is going to get the same size calves at weaning. Some years we'll get 75% calve in the first month, but no way no how is a calf 3 months younger is going to weigh the same by Oct as the calves 3 months older....
I sat at a sale the other day. Every kind of calf went through, color, size, etc....Ours were all mixed in, but every one of ours looked alike. Got consistent bids, even the one who lost an eye to pinkeye.. held my breath on that one, really figured she'd get docked bad. Even if i had calves of every shape and size, can you tell me where it would matter in the sale barn. I know i've had this argument with you before that each calf goes in and gets bid on. Doesnt matter what the one who came in before did and will not effect the bids on your other calves even if you have an oldball.... Why, why do you keep throwing 'inconsistency' around???

 

[Muddy]

So are you saying it is impossible to get good weaning weights from a mongrel or a 3 way and will always get good weaning weights from a bull with papers? Its that easy, so says the university...

Some sale barns do a group, not singles or twos, so the uniformity do matters to some cattlemen and buyers and an uniformed group will brings more $$$ than a single calf do.

 

[cowgirl8]

So are you saying it is impossible to get good weaning weights from a mongrel or a 3 way and will always get good weaning weights from a bull with papers? Its that easy, so says the university...

Some sale barns do a group, not singles or twos, so the uniformity do matters to some cattlemen and buyers and an uniformed group will brings more $$$ than a single calf do.

when the market shows groups are selling better, we sell in groups.... You did not answer my question though...

 

[Muddy]

So are you saying it is impossible to get good weaning weights from a mongrel or a 3 way and will always get good weaning weights from a bull with papers? Its that easy, so says the university...

Some sale barns do a group, not singles or twos, so the uniformity do matters to some cattlemen and buyers and an uniformed group will brings more $$$ than a single calf do.

when the market shows groups are selling better, we sell in groups.... You did not answer my question though...

Already answered your question, you just don't care or didn't get it at all.

 

[cowgirl8]

Already answered your question, you just don't care or didn't get it at all.

No you just like to follow me around and tell me my calves are inconsistent and that i dont listen. I guess i really dont know what you mean. But my question was why do you continue to tell me my calves are inconsistent when you've really never seen them. Second question is why, after seeing many of the posters calves of all shapes and sizes, it matters to you that mine must be consistent...
Really, i'd like to know.

 

[Muddy]

Already answered your question, you just don't care or didn't get it at all.

No you just like to follow me around and tell me my calves are inconsistent and that i dont listen. I guess i really dont know what you mean. But my question was why do you continue to tell my my calves are inconsistent when you've really never seen them. Second question is why, after seeing many of the posters calves of all shapes and sizes, it matters to you that mine must be consistent...

Perhaps you shouldn't post the pictures of your calves. We all know that you won't listen, won't take any advice, always got upset when someone didn't agree with you and making personal insults. Caustic Burno's main point is that more than 3way crossbreeding may not be highly desirable for most folks. It is all about maximizing profits without taking a risky gamble (mongrels on mongrels). You disagreed with Caustic Burno on that mongrels didn't have higher WW. I just said they are just inconsistent because of the variables in the calf crop and not well uniformed. Your bulls can produced some good calves, but they didn't looks identical to their siblings. And it has nothing to do with colors at all.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Muddy you would have better luck having this discussion with a stump.
She is arguing with the Noble Foundation along with many other universities.

 

[cowgirl8]

If you buy a cow from a sale barn without knowing what she is, then i agree you'd want to know 1/2 of whats in their calves. We know what our cows are.
I know what i have and is the main reason why i argue. Some stranger on the internet cannot take what few pictures i've posted and make a fair statement as to what we have overall. I tend to take pictures of the colorful calves, but did post one above of random calves while moving them and thats consistent to what we have. Black calves boring boring, ones with interesting marks, fun to photograph.... Can you just assume that the 200 other calves i have not photographed are consistent?
I'll admit i have one herd that is not consistent and its our heifer herd who was bred to the reg low birth weight angus bulls.. they are all over the place.

 

[Muddy]

Muddy you would have better luck having this discussion with a stump.
She is arguing with the Noble Foundation along with many other universities.

You're right about that, at least the stump is more civilized and probably knows what is consistent really means.

 

[cowgirl8]

You're right about that, at least the stump is more civilized and probably knows what is consistent really means.

i'm beginning to think you dont know what consistent means....so i'll leave it at that. From now on when you comment that my calves are not consistent i'll assume you didnt take your medication...lol.... :tiphat:

 

[glacierridge]

You're right about that, at least the stump is more civilized and probably knows what is consistent really means.

i'm beginning to think you dont know what consistent means....so i'll leave it at that. From now on when you comment that my calves are not consistent i'll assume you didnt take your medication...lol.... :tiphat:

No meds required.
It's pretty hard to get consistent when you're not even sure which bull is the daddy.

 

[TexasBred]

That is just the data from several major Ag Universities.
Guess I am not willing to gamble my dollars.
The 3 way cross cow will wean a calf 86% of the F-1.
The mongrel was even lower and I don't remember the number without looking it up.
With falling prices 14% or more is a lot to give away.

http://www.noble.org/ag/livestock/heterosis/

So are you saying it is impossible to get good weaning weights from a mongrel or a 3 way and will always get good weaning weights from a bull with papers? Its that easy, so says the university...

One word: consistent. Your bulls may have few nice calves, but I see too many variables in your calf crop and none of them looks like identical to each other, even in weights.

Cowgirl I guess you're gonna have to post copies of your sale check stubs.

 

[cowgirl8]

It's pretty hard to get consistent when you're not even sure which bull is the daddy.

What kind of bull does one use to get consistency like this?
http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/annie ... ort=3&o=18

 

[cowgirl8]

Cowgirl I guess you're gonna have to post copies of your sale check stubs.

We already did this once with bulls registration....not going there again..

 

[Muddy]

It's pretty hard to get consistent when you're not even sure which bull is the daddy.

What kind of bull does one use to get consistency like this?
http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/annie ... ort=3&o=18

Linda, what is glacierridge's market and where do she sells her animals to?

 

[Wewild]

I am a believer that the buyers at the barn are looking for certain calves. You can see on the sales ticket that some buyers have multiple numbers and are trying to fill trailers to minimize shipping cost to maximize consistency on the feedlot. Each lot has it's handling size and requires the right amount of animals. They have multiple pens for different sizes. They want them to finish off at the same time so they can ship them together or process them together depending on how vertically integrated they are. We calve year round which isn't ideal for maximizing profit. It seems from the checks that the animals grouped together bring more than the rest but again its not a apple to apple comparison because if they were the same weight and look they would have been in the group.

 

[glacierridge]

It's pretty hard to get consistent when you're not even sure which bull is the daddy.

What kind of bull does one use to get consistency like this?
http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/annie ... ort=3&o=18

Linda,
Do you really think you are going to hurt me with this??
#1 we use Belgian Blue. A breed that is amazing, but best used for crossing for safe calving.
We've been using this wonderful breed for two decades already and we typically cross with Simmental.
#2 we AI with purebred bulls. Bulls with high maternal calving ease AND excellent data for high weights and gains is vital to us. Most of the steers are butchered from 14-17 months. They are fed the best hay and corn silage and a grain ration.
#3 our markets are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. We private sell our beef and haven't even sold in a sale barn in years. The waiting list for the customers is at LEAST 3-6 months out because we have so many repeat customers.

Color means nothing to me. Performance does. And don't even start on the different sizes, we calve year round, it works best for us, the customers and the butcher shop where we take our cattle.

 

[cowgirl8]

Color means nothing to me. Performance does. And don't even start on the different sizes, we calve year round, it works best for us, the customers and the butcher shop where we take our cattle.

And this is what is important to us when we decide on what bulls to use... And if we are happy with our cattle, thats all that should matter. If you feel you make more money with the variety you have, then why should you jump in on this and tell me, without knowing anything about our business, that we are inconsistent.. You make money on the variety of what you have, we do as well with what we have.
I also want to add that we did not start out with mongrel cows or culls from a sale barn.....here is a post i made to clear that up.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=98971

 

[glacierridge]

Color means nothing to me. Performance does. And don't even start on the different sizes, we calve year round, it works best for us, the customers and the butcher shop where we take our cattle.

And this is what is important to us when we decide on what bulls to use... And if we are happy with our cattle, thats all that should matter. If you feel you make more money with the variety you have, then why should you jump in on this and tell me, without knowing anything about our business, that we are inconsistent.. You make money on the variety of what you have, we do as well with what we have.
I also want to add that we did not start out with mongrel cows or culls from a sale barn.....here is a post i made to clear that up.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=98971

You think I'm jumping in without knowing what you've posted?
I've been watching a long time now. I know all about the "helper bulls" and that you don't really have any EPDs on them. I think what we have will line up more consistent any day of the week due to selection, not just "helpers" and chance on who managed to service what cow.