upon reading the concerns of fat deposits in the udder, i contacted my vet. i asked him if i were setting myself up for a train wreck with this calf nearly ready for butcher and wanting now to keep her for replacement. he assured me that i would not have any trouble. my plan is to take her off full feed this weekend, (her and another one :shock
, and move them into a 3 acre pond lot, gradually working them down off of feed. breeding of the two heifers is not planned until mid-july, where my goal is to AI them to GAR Solution. her momma, (of the pictured calf) is also a deep, broody cow that is very easy fleshing. she and quite a few of my other cows will get bettermilk fat on grass. i am not too concerned about this calfs' current weight, i know i can get her into good breeding condition prior to July, i just didn't know if there was a difference between "fat on grass" and "fat on corn"
my opinions on this calf:
PROS
long, deep and wide: lots of capacity.
genetics: she is out of my donor cow and i am in the process of getting all my females to that lineage.
a lot of the traits of her mother are consistently passed on to her calves.
dispostion: very docile.
muscle: i really like her hind end.
conformation: straight backed, not post legged, stands with her head above her backline which is a trait for smooth shouldered animals. hopefully a trait that will be passed on to her sons.
and for TnMtn- she's a braunvieh.
the rest of them i'll tell you later after she calves.
CONS
i didn't get this figured out sooner that i wanted to keep her.
the rest of them i'll tell you later after she calves.
ROB