Guess the weight

[artesianspringsfarm]

Figures a lousy "hobby trader" like Kenny would go and ruin the game :-D. Off by a whopping 25 lbs. total. Cow is 986 and the calf is 321. If I can step on my soapbox for a minute, this is the elusive 1100 cow that many of you dont think exists. 1000 lbs. now and will be another 100 pounds heavier next summer and top out there. I will bet good solid money she will be in my pasture a lot longer than some of the 16-1800 tanks I see on here and also that I have. And when I have enough just like her, if I need to mash the scales, I will use a Charolais or Simmental to make it happen but it will be an all terminal cross. I can afford to do that because she will last long enough that I dont need to replace her for another 10 years. Of course, this pair is actually for sale this weekend because I am getting to have quite a few just like them.

On another note, I do think maybe the first picture made the calf look taller than she is, but are some of you who guessed 500+ pounds seriously expecting that out of a straight angus calf thats 4 months old? That calf will be 550+ when weaned and 700+ when bred and 850+ when she has her first calf. Just how I like em.

 

[Lucky]

Well going by the old 2 pounds a day plus the birth weight rule the calf is on target. I like the smaller 1,000 - 1,150 pound cows too. It's really neat to be able say "look at that big cow, she can eat a whole bale of hay all by herself". But in the end the moderate frame cows just seem to last longer.

 

[RyanE7]

calf: 500
cow: 1200

Edit: lol i didnt go to the next page

 

[Supa Dexta]

Well going by the old 2 pounds a day plus the birth weight rule the calf is on target.

Thats a poor target.

Gotta be doing atleast 2.4/2.5 here or they dont stick around, even as heifers. Cows should be closer to 3. I weighed a few a couple weeks back that are similar age and around 350 (on heifers), so I added 25lbs to my guess. Cow looked tall for 1000 lb'er

 

[True Grit Farms]

Figures a lousy "hobby trader" like Kenny would go and ruin the game :-D. Off by a whopping 25 lbs. total. Cow is 986 and the calf is 321. If I can step on my soapbox for a minute, this is the elusive 1100 cow that many of you dont think exists. 1000 lbs. now and will be another 100 pounds heavier next summer and top out there. I will bet good solid money she will be in my pasture a lot longer than some of the 16-1800 tanks I see on here and also that I have. And when I have enough just like her, if I need to mash the scales, I will use a Charolais or Simmental to make it happen but it will be an all terminal cross. I can afford to do that because she will last long enough that I dont need to replace her for another 10 years. Of course, this pair is actually for sale this weekend because I am getting to have quite a few just like them.

On another note, I do think maybe the first picture made the calf look taller than she is, but are some of you who guessed 500+ pounds seriously expecting that out of a straight angus calf thats 4 months old? That calf will be 550+ when weaned and 700+ when bred and 850+ when she has her first calf. Just how I like em.

I figured since we adverage 2+lbs gain on our sorry grass you should be closer to 3 lbs on your grass and clover mix. Maybe the calf was a little late being born and it's system hasn't been able to take advantage of the available forage? The cow looks like she's putting all she can into the calf. I'd be interested to see what that cow could do if bred to a terminal GAR bull.
On a side note you have the cow equation figured out. You can't raise a moderate size cow using bulls that look like the pictures that are posted on CT. If you want larger weaning weights your going to need a larger bull. AI would be really beneficial to your operation.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

Figures a lousy "hobby trader" like Kenny would go and ruin the game :-D. Off by a whopping 25 lbs. total. Cow is 986 and the calf is 321. If I can step on my soapbox for a minute, this is the elusive 1100 cow that many of you dont think exists. 1000 lbs. now and will be another 100 pounds heavier next summer and top out there. I will bet good solid money she will be in my pasture a lot longer than some of the 16-1800 tanks I see on here and also that I have. And when I have enough just like her, if I need to mash the scales, I will use a Charolais or Simmental to make it happen but it will be an all terminal cross. I can afford to do that because she will last long enough that I dont need to replace her for another 10 years. Of course, this pair is actually for sale this weekend because I am getting to have quite a few just like them.

On another note, I do think maybe the first picture made the calf look taller than she is, but are some of you who guessed 500+ pounds seriously expecting that out of a straight angus calf thats 4 months old? That calf will be 550+ when weaned and 700+ when bred and 850+ when she has her first calf. Just how I like em.

I figured since we adverage 2+lbs gain on our sorry grass you should be closer to 3 lbs on your grass and clover mix. Maybe the calf was a little late being born and it's system hasn't been able to take advantage of the available forage? The cow looks like she's putting all she can into the calf. I'd be interested to see what that cow could do if bred to a terminal GAR bull.
On a side note you have the cow equation figured out. You can't raise a moderate size cow using bulls that look like the pictures that are posted on CT. If you want larger weaning weights your going to need a larger bull. AI would be really beneficial to your operation.

Vince,

I think I've been on this board for about 5 years and I've only been breeding beef cattle for 6-7 but I've said for the last 4-5 my goal is to consistently grow my her by retaining females that I know will be long-lasting, maternal cows after all the mess I started with by having a mix of all the "best" mainstream Angus genetics. I'm making progress on that front even quicker than I would have guessed by using "rat-tail inbred bullz" to borrow your phrase on another thread. I am to the point where if I cant secure more land, I will be at a little impasse for a few years. If thats what happens, you will get to see what some of these moderate cows can do with a charolais calf at their side and I think it will surprise some people. The catch is, you can bet that none of those calves, bulls or heifers are going to stay here. I just dont get how so many of you think you can get away with chasing Ribeye this and hanging weight that without realizing you are creating a nightmare of a cow herd but to each their own. I havent chimed in on the other thread because Ebenezer has pretty much said exactly how I feel and I dont have much to add other than I would enjoy seeing some of Ebenezer's cows too.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

BTW,

This is the moderately inbred, old genetics, crappy EPD bull that sired the runty calf out of the mongrel cow. :-D

https://youtu.be/E49MKuKymEU

He works for me.

 

[Silver]

I just dont get how so many of you think you can get away with chasing Ribeye this and hanging weight that without realizing you are creating a nightmare of a cow herd but to each their own.

My nightmare cow herd does just fine thank you very much.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

I just dont get how so many of you think you can get away with chasing Ribeye this and hanging weight that without realizing you are creating a nightmare of a cow herd but to each their own.

My nightmare cow herd does just fine thank you very much.

That "mutt" cow you posted is anything but a nightmare. I would also guess she cant be over 1300 lbs? Don't misunderstand me. I'm by no means saying that everyone needs a back angus, very maternal, cow herd. To each their own. But at the same time, the way I see you blending to get the best of what every breed has to offer makes a ton of sense to me, especially for a guy who needs both a good cow herd and feeders every year. Do you replace from your own stock or buy in heifers as well as bulls?

 

[True Grit Farms]

Why a Charolais bull? There's not much tenderness or marble there. You can breed terminal to Angus or SimAngus bulls with good beef meat numbers and still sell to your target market. And then breed your keeper cows to your bull and hope for heifers to retain as replacements. We sell our cows by the pound and normally a powerful bull will give you more pounds at weaning and there's no question about that. The buyers at the commercial and elite sales like the bigger heifers, I prefer a smaller well put together heifer so it works out good. Here's something you might find interesting, our adverage cow is 3 - 4 hundred pounds lighter then it was 6 years ago. But our weaning weights are less than 50 lbs lighter, and if we fed like we did 5 years ago I feel we could get within 25 lbs. I know genetics plays a part in weaning weights, but cross breeding seems to play a major role in the size of the calf at weaning also.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

Why a Charolais bull? There's not much tenderness or marble there. You can breed terminal to Angus or SimAngus bulls with good beef meat numbers and still sell to your target market. And then breed your keeper cows to your bull and hope for heifers to retain as replacements. We sell our cows by the pound and normally a powerful bull will give you more pounds at weaning and there's no question about that. The buyers at the commercial and elite sales like the bigger heifers, I prefer a smaller well put together heifer so it works out good. Here's something you might find interesting, our adverage cow is 3 - 4 hundred pounds lighter then it was 6 years ago. But our weaning weights are less than 50 lbs lighter, and if we fed like we did 5 years ago I feel we could get within 25 lbs. I know genetics plays a part in weaning weights, but cross breeding seems to play a major role in the size of the calf at weaning also.

If I plan to produce a terminal cross, they will be mostly sold as feeders to an all natural feedlot, not finished for my specific customers, hence, maximizing poundage.

 

[Lucky]

Well going by the old 2 pounds a day plus the birth weight rule the calf is on target.

Thats a poor target.

Gotta be doing atleast 2.4/2.5 here or they dont stick around, even as heifers. Cows should be closer to 3. I weighed a few a couple weeks back that are similar age and around 350 (on heifers), so I added 25lbs to my guess. Cow looked tall for 1000 lb'er

That's a 700# weaning weight, I'm not there yet. Is this just on the cow without any supplements? I have several that mash the scales every year but I'm still at 550 avg.

 

[Putangitangi]

396/1175 on the first pics
396/1280 on the second!

 

[Son of Butch]

IF we get another guess 999/333

they grew since weigh day

 

[Supa Dexta]

That's a 700# weaning weight, I'm not there yet. Is this just on the cow without any supplements? I have several that mash the scales every year but I'm still at 550 avg.

My birthweights are closer to 95lb avg starting out. And avg WW across the board was 636 last yr - with a few that would be in the 220 day range and a handful of small late ones @ in the 150-160 day range but 2.63 was my avg /with avg age 204 days. On cows and grass alone. And I wouldn't say the calves are where I want them yet, atleast not over all (not sure anyone ever achieves that)

But if I have anything below say 2.3 and esp around 2 they look sickly to me, noticeably bad and their mother better have a good reason cause she won't be here next yr. Mine will be down some this year as our grass wasn't the best this year. Oddly enough I did a small group of 20 heifers calves the other day since they were close to a chute - and they did 2.67 so far @ 149 days. I like seeing real numbers.

 

[Lucky]

That's a 700# weaning weight, I'm not there yet. Is this just on the cow without any supplements? I have several that mash the scales every year but I'm still at 550 avg.

My birthweights are closer to 95lb avg starting out. And avg WW across the board was 636 last yr - with a few that would be in the 220 day range and a handful of small late ones @ in the 150-160 day range but 2.63 was my avg /with avg age 204 days. On cows and grass alone. And I wouldn't say the calves are where I want them yet, atleast not over all (not sure anyone ever achieves that)

But if I have anything below say 2.3 and esp around 2 they look sickly to me, noticeably bad and their mother better have a good reason cause she won't be here next yr. Mine will be down some this year as our grass wasn't the best this year. Oddly enough I did a small group of 20 heifers calves the other day since they were close to a chute - and they did 2.67 so far @ 149 days. I like seeing real numbers.

That's some good weaning weights. I hope to get there before long. I read a pretty good article awhile back about how even with all the high weaning weight bulls out there now the avg. weaning weights are still at 550# without supplements. 95# birthweights probably help your calf growth. I really see a difference in calves that are born in the 75-90# range compared to the 55-70# calves. It's good that you have a set of scales they take the guess work out of things. I'm hoping to have a set soon.

 

[LocustDaleCattleCompany]

That's a 700# weaning weight, I'm not there yet. Is this just on the cow without any supplements? I have several that mash the scales every year but I'm still at 550 avg.

My birthweights are closer to 95lb avg starting out. And avg WW across the board was 636 last yr - with a few that would be in the 220 day range and a handful of small late ones @ in the 150-160 day range but 2.63 was my avg /with avg age 204 days. On cows and grass alone. And I wouldn't say the calves are where I want them yet, atleast not over all (not sure anyone ever achieves that)

But if I have anything below say 2.3 and esp around 2 they look sickly to me, noticeably bad and their mother better have a good reason cause she won't be here next yr. Mine will be down some this year as our grass wasn't the best this year. Oddly enough I did a small group of 20 heifers calves the other day since they were close to a chute - and they did 2.67 so far @ 149 days. I like seeing real numbers.

That's some good weaning weights. I hope to get there before long. I read a pretty good article awhile back about how even with all the high weaning weight bulls out there now the avg. weaning weights are still at 550# without supplements. 95# birthweights probably help your calf growth. I really see a difference in calves that are born in the 75-90# range compared to the 55-70# calves. It's good that you have a set of scales they take the guess work out of things. I'm hoping to have a set soon.

Scales make a WORLD of difference. Hard to judge what your cows and calves are doing without the hard numbers IMHO.

 

[Supa Dexta]

And accurate record keeping. To track trends year over year.

I have a Gallagher TSi system, works off RFID tags which Canadian cattle must have anyways. Throw em thru the chute and wave a wand at them and it tracks the rest.

 

[elkwc]

1,175/450