NOT BIASED! What's the weight, frame, ect of your Ideal Cow?

[alacattleman]

Of my place? Was the grass 2 inches tall or 5 inches tall? Sure, I could get away with a little more frame. Maybe. I don't really need to and I don't want to. Personal preference[/u].

and there you have it....i started out with what i thought i wanted, and what i thought would work ....but you can bet the market, coupled with my enviroment over the years changed my herd for me...

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

I no of a few ranches out in your part of the world Blackcowz and they seem to be doing alright with a little larger frame score cows than you are talking about. People just having a little fun with your topic try having some yourself.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I have a ? for you since you didn't respond to my other Ones,Is your goal to raise some sort of seedstock or is it running a comm. herd?

 

[Brandonm22]

Of my place? Was the grass 2 inches tall or 5 inches tall? Sure, I could get away with a little more frame. Maybe. I don't really need to and I don't want to. Personal preference[/u].

and there you have it....i started out with what i thought i wanted, and what i thought would work ....but you can bet the market, coupled with my enviroment over the years changed my herd for me...

We cross the same trails and around here everybody had moderate framed cattle ....then they got big...then most of them went out of business. Alabama has less cows now than it has at any time in the last six decades. I am not saying that the two are necessarily linked; but where there is smoke....

 

[grannysoo]

this is one of my effcient cow's

There's a difference between giving good advice like KNERSIE and taking things too far and being a pain. :cowboy:

Anytime you want to talk cows, you want to make really sure that the skin is thick. Yours and theirs....

I haven't seen anything painful here except your youth. You'll grow out of that faster than you could ever imagine.

Enjoy the fellowship and humor that others have given. It's what makes life good.

 

[blackcowz]

I have a ? for you since you didn't respond to my other Ones,Is your goal to raise some sort of seedstock or is it running a comm. herd?

Maternal genetics. Raise bulls and heifers to sell and also raise good replacements. Steers ought to be decent feeders.

 

[CPL]

I'll try something for a change and actually try to answer your question MYT. I've always been taught to respect anothers opinion. Obviously that trait isn't universal. :roll: :roll:

My ideal cow would probably be between 5.5 and 6. Some bigger maybe a little smaller as well. What's more important is the quality of the cow. I'd take a frame 7 that is more desireable in phenotype than a frame 5 that is sale barn junk. I think most people would, but when it comes down to smaller and closer type cattle I'm not exactly sure you can use frame size in either way to pick one of the other (as long as it isn't extreme frame either way). I think the cattle industry is best served at 5-7 frame wise. But you have to be careful because I've seen alot of frame 5 cattle that are not easy fleshing, but have seen 7's that are so it just depends.

Of course another thing I forgot to mention in my ideal cow was that she must be red with a white face ;-) .

 

[blackcowz]

I'll try something for a change and actually try to answer your question MYT. I've always been taught to respect anothers opinion. Obviously that trait isn't universal. :roll: :roll:

My ideal cow would probably be between 5.5 and 6. Some bigger maybe a little smaller as well. What's more important is the quality of the cow. I'd take a frame 7 that is more desireable in phenotype than a frame 5 that is sale barn junk. I think most people would, but when it comes down to smaller and closer type cattle I'm not exactly sure you can use frame size in either way to pick one of the other (as long as it isn't extreme frame either way). I think the cattle industry is best served at 5-7 frame wise. But you have to be careful because I've seen alot of frame 5 cattle that are not easy fleshing, but have seen 7's that are so it just depends.

Of course another thing I forgot to mention in my ideal cow was that she must be red with a white face ;-) .

Thank you. Very good job of explaining it.

 

[KNERSIE]

I like 'em how they looked back in '49 and the early '50's.

You've obviously done some research, now dig just a little deeper and be open to the problems of that era. Then go back further to the 1920- 1930 era and ask yourself if what you see in the '40-'60 era was really progress.

 

[blackcowz]

I like 'em how they looked back in '49 and the early '50's.

You've obviously done some research, now dig just a little deeper and be open to the problems of that era. Then go back further to the 1920- 1930 era and ask yourself if what you see in the '40-'60 era was really progress.

Well, no. From around '20 to early '60, not much other than getting a little blockier and chubbier. Really, "progress" started around the mid-seventies when they got a little taller and more "modern". Is that right?

 

[Nesikep]

since I am not a good judge of frame score, I'm going to have to go with the formula given of frame score+7x100= weight at BCS 5

I like cows a good frame, I think our mature cows range from 1400 to 1600 lbs, and are fat as pigs (too fat)

for me, Slightly bigger frame and slightly heavier than typical, (if someone has can tell me how to measure frame, that would be great) http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ansci/beef/as1091w.htm is a little complex but I have an idea

I think any size cow can look nice, our herd is most likely in the 7 frame score area, considering they're fat pigs at about 15-1600 lbs

I think this one was about 1400 when we sold her, her rump was about at shoulder level to me (I'm 6') and she's leaner than most

This is more like what we go for

 

[KNERSIE]

I like 'em how they looked back in '49 and the early '50's.

You've obviously done some research, now dig just a little deeper and be open to the problems of that era. Then go back further to the 1920- 1930 era and ask yourself if what you see in the '40-'60 era was really progress.

Well, no. From around '20 to early '60, not much other than getting a little blockier and chubbier. Really, "progress" started around the mid-seventies when they got a little taller and more "modern". Is that right?

I think (atleast in the hereford breed) that they reached a type very close to ideal (and still modern to this day) in the 1920-1935 era. Then the focus shifted to refining and make the cattle typier for the showring untill they reached belt buckle height cattle with no growth and very little milk. Nurse cows and cooked rations was normal management practice in the '40s and '50s, that is hardly anything the industry can tolerate in the current economic state.

 

[Nesikep]

I would have to agree that my geography and climate plays a role in what I think is a good size.. I am of the opinion that feeding Herefords and Longhorns on a lush pasture is pretty pointless, since the cows don't seem to be able give all that much more milk to the calf as on bunchgrass, meanwhile a huge cow is going to have to work mighty hard to feed herself alone in the bunchgrass, and you won't win there either

 

[Roadapple]

If I recall correctly, Kit Pharo, in one of his newsletters, stated a FS 1 was 48 inches tall, every 2 inches in added height, was another FS. If so, take a tape and measure some of your cattle and I'll betcha some of you ar'nt close to what you think you have. I have 2 neighbors say my bull was a FS 7, so I showed them Kit's letter, then measured him at a Fs 4.5. So I'd say a FS 7 is one helluva big cow. Hate to have that feed bill.

 

[Nesikep]

so the pic of the first cow I posted, considering she's close to 5ft at the shoulder (about 5'2 at the tail, always walked downhill)(I think that's where you measured at, right?) would be about a 6 or a 7... she wasn't a heavy eater compared to some big fat tanks who were hereford/sim crosses with about 3-4" less shoulder height.. Her mother on the other hand was about a 5... they were 3/4 and 1/2 Saler respectively

 

[dun]

so the pic of the first cow I posted, considering she's close to 5ft at the shoulder (about 5'2 at the tail, always walked downhill)(I think that's where you measured at, right?) would be about a 6 or a 7... she wasn't a heavy eater compared to some big fat tanks who were hereford/sim crosses with about 3-4" less shoulder height.. Her mother on the other hand was about a 5... they were 3/4 and 1/2 Saler respectively

You measure them at the hip. Seems like 5 foot is about a FS 6-6.5

 

[dun]

Here's a frame score calculaotr. Just plug in age in monrths and hip height
http://www.noble.org/Tools/frameScore.html

I kind of doubt their math though

 

[Nesikep]

I really doubt it too, plugging in 60 months and 60" (5') which I'm certain this cow was at the hip, it gives me a frame score of 9.28... an equivalent bull is around FS 7, so apparently the tape measure seems to be approx accurate for bulls, not so much for cows

at 60 months, a cow is pretty mature, yet it lists a differant slaughter weight for the heifer than the cow.. I don't know about that, listing 1362 lbs as heifer weight, which was bang on what she was when we sold her, she was never going to be the 1607 listed as mature weight, but she was a pretty lean machine

Her mother, at about 54" tall, comes up as a 6.1 frame, and 1300 lbs mature weight... I think she's fat enough she might be as high as 1400-1450 if she's got a calf in the belly.. so it's not far off for that... if you go by the tape measure, she'd be a frame 4 though... which I guess is possible considering I don't have a good reference point to go by



by accident i found out a 6" tall cow weighs -1200 lbs


Based on the information I've been given, i'd have to say I like cows to have a frame size between 1 and 9

 

[Alberta farmer]

Don't know much about frame score but do like my cows around 1400 lbs. in mid summer. Don't want any light boned cattle...they just don't seem to push the scales down?
What is an ideal cow? As far as I'm concerned she is a cow that raises a calf that the feedlot buyers want. In my world that is a black steer with a good frame, heavy boned and weaning close to 650 lbs. Thats what they pay the top prices for. A tan steer in the same weight will come pretty close?
Now if you have a different market you might want a different type of animal. I don't sell calves anymore but that is what the buyers want up here.
That same steer toughed out over the winter and thrown on grass for 3 1/2 months should be pushing the 1000 lb. mark and the buyers still want him. I always try to give them what they want.

 

[CPL]

I really doubt it too, plugging in 60 months and 60" (5') which I'm certain this cow was at the hip, it gives me a frame score of 9.28...

That sounds right to me.