I have a registered angus cow and this is her second calf, calf is from different bull than first. Her calves are short, dumpy, and basically terrible looking, they don't gain weight like they should, they fill out but they just stay short and dumpy. It seems like last years bull calf, his eyes really did not fit his head as far as proportion size, this may of just been me finding some more things to not like about him. The cow is a nice looking cow, full size, one of my better looking cows. My question is what is this called, apparently she passes it along. This years calf is only 3 weeks old but I can already see it in it. His ears droop, he is not near as active as the calves, now if you go up to him he can run as fast as the others and seems basically healthy.
runty looking calf
- Thread starter tuck
- Start date
sidney411
Well-known member
It always seems that the best looking cows have the worst looking calves and the cows that look like he!! hav ethe biggest, best looking calves. That cow is keeping all her nutrients to herself and not growing a good calf. I was sell her if it bothers you to have a poor doer.
novatech
Well-known member
Ditto And do not give it a second thought. Do not let these genitics be pased on.alabama":gdcoktbu said:
Since you have regestered cattle, keep a copy of her pedigree and refer back to them when you buy other cattle.
*Cowgirl*
Well-known member
Agreed.novatech":14pk1nz7 said:
3MR-what do you think epds have to do with this?
While the looks of an animal arent documented in EPD's the same things contribute to both. If he doent like his runty looking cows, but has continued to breed to LBW, LWW, etc bulls, regardless of sire, then he may have the answer to his runty calf delima. There are more than one or two bulls out there that will produce runty calfs.
All im saying is that if you dont like the looks of the calves you are getting with a particular set of bulls, then I would take a hard look at all the available information on that set of bulls, not just bloodlines.
All im saying is that if you dont like the looks of the calves you are getting with a particular set of bulls, then I would take a hard look at all the available information on that set of bulls, not just bloodlines.
This is my herd bull, sire of this years calf
BW +3.4
WW+51
YW+90
His sire is Hyline Right Time 338
On the dam side there are some Krugerrand and Pine Drive Big Sky
Last years calf sire
BW+5.5
WW+44
YW+80
There is Traveler 124 GDAR and Baldridge in his background.
I can not find any of the same bloodlines for these two bulls, but like I said before the rest of the calves look good, so to me it has to be her. One day she will go to the sale barn, but I am not ready to replace her or more specific I don't have a replacement ready. I dread what I will get for her at the stockyard compared to what I paid for her, I don't want you to think this is some high dollar cow because it is not but I paid enough that I know I will not get it back. But this is the second calf that I will be able to sell off of her, what stinks is that I can not register these things. I don't know about this registered cow business anyway, I don't want to sell anybody a bull or a heifer to go into thier herd that I would not want in mine. So if I don't think they are good enough I don't register them.
BW +3.4
WW+51
YW+90
His sire is Hyline Right Time 338
On the dam side there are some Krugerrand and Pine Drive Big Sky
Last years calf sire
BW+5.5
WW+44
YW+80
There is Traveler 124 GDAR and Baldridge in his background.
I can not find any of the same bloodlines for these two bulls, but like I said before the rest of the calves look good, so to me it has to be her. One day she will go to the sale barn, but I am not ready to replace her or more specific I don't have a replacement ready. I dread what I will get for her at the stockyard compared to what I paid for her, I don't want you to think this is some high dollar cow because it is not but I paid enough that I know I will not get it back. But this is the second calf that I will be able to sell off of her, what stinks is that I can not register these things. I don't know about this registered cow business anyway, I don't want to sell anybody a bull or a heifer to go into thier herd that I would not want in mine. So if I don't think they are good enough I don't register them.
how is her milking ability?
Your philosophy about not selling registered cattle that you don't consider good enough for you is the right one if you want to stay in business. Just make sure that you give a calf enough time and opportunity to develope before culling. If you feel that you've done that and the calf still don't measure up, by all means cull it.
Your philosophy about not selling registered cattle that you don't consider good enough for you is the right one if you want to stay in business. Just make sure that you give a calf enough time and opportunity to develope before culling. If you feel that you've done that and the calf still don't measure up, by all means cull it.
This is just one cow with Runty calves or multiple cows. I was under the inpression it was at least several different Mommas all with Runty cows from the same bull, which is why I had a harder time associating the runty calf with the cow. If its one cow that you have used several bulls on and you still arent getting what you want, then I would have to change my opinion and say you need to cull the cow.
BAGTIC
Well-known member
Have you had the bull DNA checked? It might be chondrodysplasia.
*Cowgirl*
Well-known member
Ya'll are making this WAY too complicated. One cow that raises a nasty cow every year is a cull. It has nothing to do with EPDs or the bull. If every other calf by the bull is preforming up to par then it is this cow's fault. If you are tired of her preformance, cull her.
*Cowgirl*":3eo1xr3u said:
Bingo
Had a heifer from our top cow and sired by a really good bull. All of his daughters did great, except the one from the top cow. She appeared to milk more then adequately but her calves just never really thrived. We gave her twice and when she did the same thing with the third calf she went to the kill pen.
That cow and thaqt bull just didn;t nick. She turned into a great looking cow, she just didn;t deliver.
dun
*Cowgirl*":2dsrzim0 said:
I agree, I previously missread and thought it was a herd of cows rather than one.
I find its usually the lowest common denominater that is at fault. ie: 20 cows. 2 bulls = bull problem or 2 bulls, 1 cow = cow problem. Not science, but an easy rule of thumb.
