One of our Bulls

[randiliana]

What do you think?? He is 3 years old. His average BW on 44 calves is 87 lbs, 81 lbs on the heifers and 91 on the bull calves.

Here are some of his calves

These few are 2-3 months old

This calf is the same one as above.

Newborn out of our Holstein

This one is about 2 months old

And these two would be a week or two old in the pictures

 

[CopeMan]

What is he?

 

[Limomike]

I like the bull real well, ANd that #131 calf is my favorite!

 

[novatech]

Nice cattle Limo. These calves don,t seem to be out of the bull in the pic. You can name that half holstein CAB right? :lol: I'm with you on your favorites.
Thanks for the pics

 

[mnmtranching]

Nice cattle. There is some unusual colors from a black bull.
Is he a mix of breeds?

 

[MoGal]

Hopefully you have a niche in marketing but as for sale barn calves they would be docked tremendously.

Are you sure they are out of this bull??

 

[randiliana]

Hopefully you have a niche in marketing but as for sale barn calves they would be docked tremendously.

Are you sure they are out of this bull??

I know they are out of that bull. As for being docked, the only one that will really get docked is the roan calf. The Hereford types will be docked too I guess, but just down to the same level as any other hereford. The other calves will all be graded in with other calves at the sale barn, or we will sell them in with our 1 owner steers if they are steers and fit in size wise. I don't expect any problems with the Simmental marked calves

For those of you wondering what he is, He is 1/2 Black Angus, and as we found out from the way his calves are marked, the other 1/2 is Simmental. There is a bit of a story behind him.

2 winters ago, when the catalogue came out we picked out our favorites as usual. This bull was #1 from the catalogue. Once we got up to look at him again he was #1, which usually means the bull will sell for well over our budget. Fortunately/unfortunately they had to pull him from the sale because his DNA kept coming back wrong and they did not know who his sire was. As we were after 2 bulls, and only were able to buy 1 the breeder, who knew we really liked this bull asked us if we wanted to buy him. He told us the story, and we decided we still liked him and we bought him. We thought maybe Gelbveih, which worked well enough for us, but as it turns out it is Simmental.

It isn't really a problem, but as I was expecting him to throw solid colored calves we put him with some of the cows that we know can throw colored/spotted calves (the roan in the first picture for example). Of course, when you put a cow that will throw color with a bull that can throw color you get COLOR. We also had a few surprises too, like the #131 calf as she is out of a solid red cow, and also the one pictured with the black cow. Now that I know what he can throw we will make sure to put him with cows that shouldn't throw color. This year he is with our Hereford cows.

 

[mnmtranching]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

 

[CowCop]

~~

The bull looks good and the calves will make beef.

It IS surprising what some bulls will throw.

2 years ago we used a Reg BA and anticipated 99% black calves. NOT.

Everyday was another happy surprise. Reds, R & W and some Blacks and a few B & W.
All my Simmental & SimAngus had red calves. I was thrilled.

Recently at the state feeder calf sale, the red calves outsold the black.
Times they are a changing......

Thanks for sharing your good photos.

 

[randiliana]

~~

The bull looks good and the calves will make beef.

It IS surprising what some bulls will throw.

2 years ago we used a Reg BA and anticipated 99% black calves. NOT.

Everyday was another happy surprise. Reds, R & W and some Blacks and a few B & W.
All my Simmental & SimAngus had red calves. I was thrilled.

Recently at the state feeder calf sale, the red calves outsold the black.
Times they are a changing......

Thanks for sharing your good photos.

I sure don't mind the reds. We have a fairly easy time finding new homes for any good red heifers that we have. And we sell all the good big steers, regardless of color in a one owner group. So far that has worked out well for us. We may not top the sale, but we are usually in the higher end of the sale with them. That is about all you can ask for. As for the spots, they can be a bit harder to sell, as you are never sure whether you should include them in the big group or just grade them.

 

[CowCop]

~

Do you do "on farm" sales ?

Do you advertise weaned calves for sale ?

I find that a litle education about the benefits of "red" over black really helps to sell them.

I sold 2 red steers last year to a man who had purchased "black" for 10 years.
He came out to the farm last July to pick the "Blacks" he wanted. He likes the straight bred angus steers.

We walked out with the mamas and calves for 90 minutes in intense heat and humidity.
I pointed out a few very subtle differences ( color and breed ) to him that he could immediately observe.

He handed me the 2 steer numbers he wanted as we returned to his vehicle. Both were my steers ( SimAngus ), and both red.

He emailed me several weeks ago----He noticed the faster growth rate and the calmer temperments on the steers.
He wants 4 "reds" this year. Apparently his friends want some of that "friendly red beef."

 

[randiliana]

~

Do you do "on farm" sales ?

Do you advertise weaned calves for sale ?

I find that a litle education about the benefits of "red" over black really helps to sell them.

I sold 2 red steers last year to a man who had purchased "black" for 10 years.
He came out to the farm last July to pick the "Blacks" he wanted. He likes the straight bred angus steers.

We walked out with the mamas and calves for 90 minutes in intense heat and humidity.
I pointed out a few very subtle differences ( color and breed ) to him that he could immediately observe.

He handed me the 2 steer numbers he wanted as we returned to his vehicle. Both were my steers ( SimAngus ), and both red.

He emailed me several weeks ago----He noticed the faster growth rate and the calmer temperments on the steers.
He wants 4 "reds" this year. Apparently his friends want some of that "friendly red beef."

Yes, and no. All of our steers are sold through the sale barn. In the presort calf sales in the fall. The vast majority of our steers are bought by order buyers. Some of the smaller ones will go to individuals.

Most of our heifers are sold off the farm. Especially the red ones. We have buyers that want them for mama cows that they are going to breed Char or Simmental. The good blacks we often sell through a special "Select Bred & Replacement Heifer Sale". The tail enders go with the steers to the sale barn and will be presorted in groups with other producers calves.