JWBrahman":29h3hoin said:Faraway":29h3hoin said:JWBrahman":29h3hoin said:Don't be offended but you are probably still a few calf crops away from linebreeding.
I don't know how anybody could find that offensive... :roll:
I'm sure I shouldn't ask, but how many calf crops do you need before you linebreed? And why would that be?
I mean, really, it seems like it'll either work or it won't? And you can surely pound out or otherwise consume your mistakes.
JD Hudgins had several herds of 400 head that he used in his linebreeding program. Guys with a small operation who start inbreeding get into trouble they can't fix. Hence the reference to the Padgett book.
So Cotton needs to have enough calf crops so that he'll have several herds of 400 head. Wonder how many calf crops that'd be?
And my guess is, other than finding a lethal or otherwise very bad defect that was already present-- which would actually be a service to other breeders-- Cotton will have plenty of time to correct any problems that develop. If he hates the calves, he can pretty easily get a new bull or some outcross semen. As for the calves he hates, if he hates them, I'm pretty sure cold paper packages of cattle, or a trip to the sale barn, will straighten that out.