Is this a rule of thumb?

[Angus Cattle Shower]

Our neighbour is selling all of his Angus cattle and semen, and we were talking about Birth Weights. I said that I like mine 78-88 lbs, and he said that he has a rule of thumb that if they were less than 85 lbs at birth, they will have no production abilites. Do you beleive this rule of thumb? What is everyones' preferred calf size at birth? How Do you breed for it?

 

[Frankie]

Our neighbour is selling all of his Angus cattle and semen, and we were talking about Birth Weights. I said that I like mine 78-88 lbs, and he said that he has a rule of thumb that if they were less than 85 lbs at birth, they will have no production abilites. Do you beleive this rule of thumb? What is everyones' preferred calf size at birth? How Do you breed for it?

No, I don't agree with his claim. We prefer that our heifers' first calf weigh 70-80 lbs. Since our heifers have EPDs, we have no problem hitting that goal. Our cow's calves usually weigh more, but I don't want animals born here weighing 100 lbs. Angus bull buyers shy away from bulls with high BWs. Even with BWs in the 75-85 lb range, our bulls will come off test weighing 11-1400 lbs. We did have a PFred bull calf born this past spring that only weighed 65 lbs. He was the smallest of the last group we sent to test; I'll be curious to see how he grows. But actualy birth weights are greatly affected by management and season of the year, so I can't agree with your neighbor.

 

[Aero]

it sounds like this gentleman might be a little behind, or he is making excuses for flaws in his program.

 

[TheBullLady]

I wouldn't agree with him either. We have some cows that have smaller calves that turn out to be good replacements. The trick is to have small birth weights, and good growth rates.

I would say our average on the Simmentals is 80-90, and on the Brahmans 60-70.

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with TheBullLady small birth weight and good growth rates.