Line breeding

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I am seventy five and run about a dozen cows as a hobby . I have a bull that is going to be five in February (very good blood line) . I have kept Three of his heifers back and really don't want to switch bulls since my bull has done me a very good job. what are the pro's and con's in this mating ?
 
I don't know if it's just bad luck, and it's anecdotal evidence with my size of a herd, but there was just always something wrong with any heifers I kept from father/daughter or mother/son matings when kept as replacements.. they made fine feeders though

I have had good luck with full sibling/cousin matings though, Maybe don't keep any of the calves from your related heifers, but keep a bull calf to replace the bull later on
 
I am seventy five and run about a dozen cows as a hobby . I have a bull that is going to be five in February (very good blood line) . I have kept Three of his heifers back and really don't want to switch bulls since my bull has done me a very good job. what are the pro's and con's in this mating ?
Could you breed those 3 to a friend or neighbor's bull? Or AI them?
 
The results are mixed. Although I had a bull that was line bred by mistake and he turned out great. I used him for 10 years and his bulls sold like crazy. All his calves were incredibly constant no matter what cow he was bred to. His heifers have also turned out to be great cows.

All that being said, I would line bred very carefully. Maybe try a small sample size like you are doing. From what I understand with line breeding is that it will compound traits which explains why all my calves out of my line bred bull were extremely consistent. The problem is it will or could compound the traits you don't want which could be a disaster.
 
Happens every day, all over the country. I've got two young cows that each have had two bull calves and are bred back again to their sire, no problems so far. They grew well and sold just like the rest.
I bought them with the herd, not what I would have done myself. After seeing the results, I didn't worry about it. They will be with a different bull this year, however.
 
This cow is a result of a son mother mating.
 

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I bred 5 heifers back to their sirr last year. 1 calf of the made the culling. Dont know if the heifers didn't milk sufficiently or the breeding was at fault. The mommas were in good condition the whole time. 1 of the calves came out around 125 pounds. Ruined the heifer pulling the dead calf. Shell be steaks in 2 weeks.

I did retain 1 of the calves as a replacement. Those 4 mommas were again bred by their sire. Calving now.

Just pay attention. If there's anything you don't like about the offspring, get rid of them.
 

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