haulinbass02
Member
Guys and gals, I'm new here and am new to cattle. I have a lengthy post and hope to clear up some issues I'm having.
We just bought two cows this past year with several other people to split for meat. One is a Jersey steer that is about 9 mos old and filling out well. Probably send him to the processor in July. The second one is the one my BIL and I are having a debate about.
Long story short, he bought her, a black Angus heifer, from a local (to him) rancher with the information that she was 3 years old and had a prolapsed uterus after having had one calf. She was a feeder at that point to the rancher and sold her for $600 to my BIL in November of 2018, telling him she would hit 1200 lbs by Feb 2019 and be ready to slaughter.
My BIL then wanted one that would be ready sooner and "traded" the 3 year old in for a barren 5 year old black Angus heifer. I then bought the 3 year old and went to pick her up in December. I saw both of them in the feed pen and the older one was bigger frame than the younger one, but not by a whole lot.
I've been feeding mine out on 14% All stock, corn and barley mix and set a slaughter date of Feb 12.
My BIL called me today and informed me that my heifer was "not ready" because his was not ready according to the rancher and needed several more months to feed out. (The rancher he bought from is feeding out his cow for him, supposedly)....so then he tells me that his cow was 1000 lbs when he traded for her in Nov and that mine was only 600 lbs and had a ton more growing to do. Mind you I've done TONS of research and while I'm no expert, something did not seem right.
A supposed 3 year old heifer with good BCS having already calved once weighing only 600 lbs? That is typical weaned stocker weight from all I've read.....not what a typical 3 year old would weigh.....my jersey, if putting on 2 pounds a day (which I'm sure he has because he is getting awful big) should weigh close to 600 by now and she was quite a bit bigger than him when I brought her home.
So I went out and frame scored my heifer using my fence as the height marker (I can't get THAT close to her to use a tape and level).....if her age is what they told me, at 3 years old and ~48", she's a frame score 3 maybe even a 4. Her BCS is between 5-6 and I put her weight at target weight of 1000lbs or more.
He's insistent that she HAS to hit 1200 lbs or we are "wasting money" and slaughtering her too early. I'm thinking I'm there or close to being there but he says that's impossible based on the fact that his cow isn't ready for slaughter and was bigger than mine 2 months ago.
I can see where HIS older cow, which has a frame score of a 5 would need to be closer to 1400 lbs or even more because her BCS was a 3-4 when I saw her. But I tried to explain that one size does not fit all and he would have nothing of it.....so what's the deal?
We just bought two cows this past year with several other people to split for meat. One is a Jersey steer that is about 9 mos old and filling out well. Probably send him to the processor in July. The second one is the one my BIL and I are having a debate about.
Long story short, he bought her, a black Angus heifer, from a local (to him) rancher with the information that she was 3 years old and had a prolapsed uterus after having had one calf. She was a feeder at that point to the rancher and sold her for $600 to my BIL in November of 2018, telling him she would hit 1200 lbs by Feb 2019 and be ready to slaughter.
My BIL then wanted one that would be ready sooner and "traded" the 3 year old in for a barren 5 year old black Angus heifer. I then bought the 3 year old and went to pick her up in December. I saw both of them in the feed pen and the older one was bigger frame than the younger one, but not by a whole lot.
I've been feeding mine out on 14% All stock, corn and barley mix and set a slaughter date of Feb 12.
My BIL called me today and informed me that my heifer was "not ready" because his was not ready according to the rancher and needed several more months to feed out. (The rancher he bought from is feeding out his cow for him, supposedly)....so then he tells me that his cow was 1000 lbs when he traded for her in Nov and that mine was only 600 lbs and had a ton more growing to do. Mind you I've done TONS of research and while I'm no expert, something did not seem right.
A supposed 3 year old heifer with good BCS having already calved once weighing only 600 lbs? That is typical weaned stocker weight from all I've read.....not what a typical 3 year old would weigh.....my jersey, if putting on 2 pounds a day (which I'm sure he has because he is getting awful big) should weigh close to 600 by now and she was quite a bit bigger than him when I brought her home.
So I went out and frame scored my heifer using my fence as the height marker (I can't get THAT close to her to use a tape and level).....if her age is what they told me, at 3 years old and ~48", she's a frame score 3 maybe even a 4. Her BCS is between 5-6 and I put her weight at target weight of 1000lbs or more.
He's insistent that she HAS to hit 1200 lbs or we are "wasting money" and slaughtering her too early. I'm thinking I'm there or close to being there but he says that's impossible based on the fact that his cow isn't ready for slaughter and was bigger than mine 2 months ago.
I can see where HIS older cow, which has a frame score of a 5 would need to be closer to 1400 lbs or even more because her BCS was a 3-4 when I saw her. But I tried to explain that one size does not fit all and he would have nothing of it.....so what's the deal?
