Makes one Wonder

[ArrowHBrand]

Now first I just want to say that some people don't mind calving out 100-100+ lb. calves, but I do. I check BW's all of the time whether I'm buying replacement heifers, bulls, or weighing just born calves, their BW's are very important to our business. For Shorties, 100 lb. BW is a little high. None of our Shorties have been that stout. However, one year we had twins and both weighed mid 60's so if you add them together and reasoned it as one calf that would have been a big calf. For us BW isn't the only factor we take into account, but it is a big one. I like our cows to calf unassisted if all possible.

 

[Northern Rancher]

I weigh the big dead ones if the coyotes haven't cleaned them up yet.

 

[SEC]

The birthweight thing does get silly at times I will agree. We have purchased bulls from the Foothills of Calgary to North of Edmonton where birthweights always seem to be higher than ours by 10-15 lbs, yet when their calves were born they were right in line with ours.

For those that consider EPD's to be a good tool and will complain about the actual bwt's of a specific place you are of little faith. EPD's are based upon ratios and while the bwt may seem high what they ratioed is more important. At some places 90lbs at birth could be on the high end of things while other places 90 lbs may be light.

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

How about this for bwt stats;


Born Alive
Born Dead
Below could be scored 1-10
Cow bull
Heifer Bull
Calf vigor

Could work just fine but the results are purely relative.

This may be as good as anything. We don't really have a "heifer Bull" as we feel our heifers should be able to have calves from any bull we use. The only limiting factor should be the bulls physical size.