horned cattle calving problems..

[Baldie Maker]

I have some registered hereford heifers that I keep on my grandfathers farm and for the most part he is the main care giver of them. I am in college and contribute when I can. I a.i.ed this year to ribeye and they are safe in calf and won't calf until mid feb. I was talking to him about A.I. next year and going back on them with Domino 3027 as i like his epds, pheno, and especially his carcass characteristics. When we then got into a heated debate over horned cattle having calving problems because they have a bigger head. I have no experience with horned cattle, but i said that they couldn't have any bigger head when they're born because you can't even tell if they have horns when they're born unless you feel for them. I said that if they have a big head it's because their sire has a big head, not because he has horns or not. So after all that, my question is there a difference? I want in the future to use the likes of domino 3027, oxh mark domino 8020.

 

[jerry27150]

never noticed any diff between horned or polled

 

[farmwriter]

Horned cattle have their own set of issues to be sure, but that ain't one of them.

 

[MO_cows]

I can't follow that "logic". Especially since one of the easiest calving breeds is Longhorn. It's not the calf's head that gets stuck anyway, it's usually the shoulders.

 

[Bez+]

I have some registered hereford heifers that I keep on my grandfathers farm and for the most part he is the main care giver of them. I am in college and contribute when I can. I a.i.ed this year to ribeye and they are safe in calf and won't calf until mid feb. I was talking to him about A.I. next year and going back on them with Domino 3027 as i like his epds, pheno, and especially his carcass characteristics. When we then got into a heated debate over horned cattle having calving problems because they have a bigger head. I have no experience with horned cattle, but i said that they couldn't have any bigger head when they're born because you can't even tell if they have horns when they're born unless you feel for them. I said that if they have a big head it's because their sire has a big head, not because he has horns or not. So after all that, my question is there a difference? I want in the future to use the likes of domino 3027, oxh mark domino 8020.

Who ever you were arguing with knows little about cattle

Bez+

 

[KNERSIE]

That is just another old wife's tail. Of all the horned bulls available in the USA, 3027 is the one I would most likely use. BTW Rib Eye is heterozygous so if you have a few heterozygous or horned cows expect to see some horns out of him.

 

[novatech]

I have some registered hereford heifers that I keep on my grandfathers farm and for the most part he is the main care giver of them. I am in college and contribute when I can. I a.i.ed this year to ribeye and they are safe in calf and won't calf until mid feb. I was talking to him about A.I. next year and going back on them with Domino 3027 as i like his epds, pheno, and especially his carcass characteristics. When we then got into a heated debate over horned cattle having calving problems because they have a bigger head. I have no experience with horned cattle, but i said that they couldn't have any bigger head when they're born because you can't even tell if they have horns when they're born unless you feel for them. I said that if they have a big head it's because their sire has a big head, not because he has horns or not. So after all that, my question is there a difference? I want in the future to use the likes of domino 3027, oxh mark domino 8020.

I'm with Knersie. When I was a kid the same story was going around about polled Herefords.
As far as the crosses are concerned, I can only comment on using Brahman over Herefords. When looking at birth weights, on EPD's, of Brahman bulls I don,t think they will give you a true number when using them as a cross. The reason is that the Brahman cow limits the size of the calf. The numbers are taken from Brahman X Brahman. You would only get true numbers when taken on crosses, using Brahman bulls, which does not happen. This is one of the reasons that the Brahman cow is considered the back bone of F1 crosses in the south.

 

[randiliana]

Every year we calve out cows that are bred to horned bulls and to polled bulls. Whether the head is polled or horned, makes no difference. We've had big headed angus calves and small headed Hereford calves, all goes back to the genetics of both the sire and the dam.

As far as having more trouble with crossbred calves VS purebred calves, well, that is called heterosis. Crossbreds simply grow faster than purebreds. Just use common sense when picking your bulls and you shouldn't have any problems with cows having calves. Having said that, the only C-section we've had in the past 15 years was a 3 year old Hereford cow bred Hereford......

 

[bigbull338]

as stated thats pretty much an old wives tale.but it does have some merit.im from the old school just like your grandfather.but you can cut the big head odds by using a known calving ease horned bull.an make sure the heifers are well grown.