Murray Grey calves

[waihou]

We have just started halter training some calves to take to our local show this coming Saturday.
They are July and August 07 born and still on their mothers. They got halters put on for the first time 23rd Dec. They have nothing but milk and grass, and a bit of old hay whilst tied in the yards.

We thought they were growing rather well so far!

This bull calf Cossack, was weighed yesterday 690lbs at 167 days of age. Daily gain 3.46lbs/day.
He will be going to the show without his dam, we seperate them from their dams for the day so they get used to not having milk for lunch!

This heifer calf, Cherry weighed 568lbs yesterday at 145 days of age. Daily gain 3.23lbs/day

They will get a wash, but that is about all! We have just started leading them out in the paddock, now just have to practice getting them on and off the float. The Show is an outdoor one day affair but all the Beef breeds will be in one class as there are not enough animals of any one breed to hold breed classes. Hopefully there will be Simmentals and Highlands there, as well as our 8 Murray Greys so will keep you posted on results!

 

[Aero]

Will that condition get you very far in a show?

it seems like every show animal here has to be bcs 7 to even get looked at. maybe the folks that run your show have some sense and are looking for good heifers instead of fat ones.

even if they dont do well I commend you for taking real animals to the show.

 

[LFF]

I hear that New Zealand has execellent grass. What type of grass have your calves been grazing on? Most would not put on that amount of weight at such a young age in Kentucky's enviroment on anything but grain or may be alfalfa, and that would still be difficult to accomplish.

 

[Santas and Duhram Reds]

I prefer your heifer over your bull from those pictures.

 

[CPL]

I hear that New Zealand has execellent grass. What type of grass have your calves been grazing on? Most would not put on that amount of weight at such a young age in Kentucky's enviroment on anything but grain or may be alfalfa, and that would still be difficult to accomplish.

I wanting to see the grass or their mothers! Those are very incredible weights! Nice calves.

 

[Flacowman]

I'll take both if you'll ship 'em to Florida! lol Seriously though, two nice calves and good luck.

 

[waihou]

Our grass is actually a mixture of rye, cocksfoot with lots of dogstail and weeds like yarrow and plantain and some white clover. We probably should re sow, but have been here 30 years and have only fertilised and once when we had a drought direct drilled some newer varities of ryegrass and cocksfoot.

Actually most judges do comment if the animal is too fat, but there again they like to see some condition! The emphasis over here is for 'lean beef' so judges look for the animals ability to meet the market and its breeding potential. In calves they are not looking for fat but the mothers ability to rear a good calf.


I'll look out some typical grass photos. We are lucky in that it doesn't get as extreme from season to season as you get in USA. Last year our area had 979mls of rain, sorry can't quickly convert but must be around 3 ft. Our longest drought period was 19 days! Just had floods and torrential rain here on 15th Jan, bridge washed away,and paddocks flooded. We got over 8 inches in 24 hours. The photos of the calves were taken 4 days later.

This is the dam with the heifer calf soon after she was born in August. This is our winter-cows out on grass with hay or silage supplement only.

The dam of the bull calf just before she calved in July.

This is another calf we are training for the same show, on her dam. She is not as well muscled as the #230, but still a good heifer.

This is a heifer calf we showed last January, standing in our typical mixed pasture, and at a show in November 07 in the yearling class-straight off grass!

This was a novelty class-the handler had to be dressed to represent the country of the breeds origin!

 

[CSM]

Very nice. You should be proud.

CSM

 

[Keren]

Lovely calves, waihou, true representatives of the breed.

I like them all, the two show calves and the cows. But I like last years silver heifer the best!

All the best for the show

 

[OK Jeanne]

A terrific bunch of Murrays! I also like last year's heifers best; although all really look good----and such
impressive gains!! I would like to use some of your photos in our next newsletter if you don't mind.

 

[waihou]

Last years heifer calf , Bonnie Lass, is going to the show as well, in the yearling classes-her half sister Bella beat her in the last show we went to last Novemeber, so we'll see how they go on Saturday!

 

[texast]

All your cattle look as though they could be show cattle in my book.At least front pasture cattle. Will you keep the bull calf as a herd sire on will he become T_Bone?

 

[waihou]

Thanks for kind comments-we do have a few that we would rather not have "in the front paddock" don't we all!?
We also have quite a few black ones, and they are frowned on over here in Murray Greys, although accepted for registration. The Society reckons we are known for being Grey-not Black ;-) However some cows are pretty good types with good EBV's and DNA so it would be a shame to cull their black offspring. There are now 3 black cows with calves too, but no black cows have had black calves. Perhaps we could export them to your side-I'm sure the beef wouldn't taste any different whatever the coat colour.

OK Jeanne, you're very welcome to use any photos you wish!

We may use the bull calf on a few unrelated animals, but his sire has been our main herd sire for 4 years, so a lot are his half sibs. His mother is mated to a new young bull with good EBV's this year, so we're hoping she will throw another good 'un. Our main outlet for bulls is for dairy herd heifer mating and his BW EBV is below standard-so that is where he may be destined-or the National Beef Bull Sale in May '09 if he is a standout at yearling stage

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

I envy you the grass and temperate weather. If the Govt was not so socialist I would be tempted to migrate. :|