Well, I am not too terribly concerned about a higher BW. As long as the cows are having them unassisted, that is really all that matters. I figure a cow should be able to give birth to a calf 8%-10% of her body weight. With 10% being the top end of any of the calves. So you figure you have 1200 lb cows in the frame 5-6 range (which is what ours are), they should be able to handle 96 lb calves easily. Our BW's for the last few years have averaged around 90 - 95 lbs, so that is pretty darn close to 8% on our cows. We don't have many assists at those weights, usually just the odd malpresentation. I am not looking to push the average BW any higher than it is, but at least, I know that if we happen to pick up a bad bull, we shouldn't have too many problems. Right now we are using 2 100 lb BW bulls, neither one is throwing calves even close to that, so if you can have heavy BW bulls throwing lighter BW calves, I am sure the opposite is true.......
I see no point in breeding a 1200 lb cow to have 50-80 lb calves, you are losing a lot of weight there come weaning time, and I think you are asking for trouble in the replacement heifers.
