Nesikep
Well-known member
I've had a long line of pets form one old cow, and I noticed a few traits
the grandma of them all was "Josie", a mostly hereford cow with some trace of simmental, possibly
she will throw 2 differant body types of calves, thin leggy ones, and stout fat ones, Josie herself was always pretty boney
in the case of this line, we always had better success with the stout calves, and her steers were always stocky, but the heifers... well, Rosie was one of her daughters, stout and fat, great milk, but small udder, which is always nice since the newborns can find them easier. Rosie (1/2 red angus) had a daughter (Lizzy) which we kept for some time.. gorgeous cow, mean as heck with 4ft cloudstabbing horns which she knew how to use (a true 1 owner cow), and she was about 5 1/2 ft tall at the shoulder (she was 1/2 Saler), and never was that good of a performer, meanwhile, her sister Titzia is the stocky type again, and so docile she can be ridden (1/2 shorthorn would explain that), and her first calf was the leggy type, but at about 7 months weighted in close to 700 lbs...
what I have found is that big weaning weights do not correspond to big cows, as almost all of this line stay around 1400 lbs, but there is a range of weaning weights...
so what I found is the full grown size of the cow is pretty much predetermined by her ancestry and breed, but the growth rate is from how much milk she gets as a calf (ok, hereditary too), but these are two different things to look at
As for birthweights, from what I understand it is usually from the bull, and we have had bulls that would produce giant calves (120 lbs) on our big cows and 70 lbs on our smaller ones, which is fine by us.. what we ALWAYS look for in a bull is the shape of the head, you don't want big portruding eyebrows and big heads... since once the head is through, the rest is usually easy
the grandma of them all was "Josie", a mostly hereford cow with some trace of simmental, possibly
she will throw 2 differant body types of calves, thin leggy ones, and stout fat ones, Josie herself was always pretty boney
in the case of this line, we always had better success with the stout calves, and her steers were always stocky, but the heifers... well, Rosie was one of her daughters, stout and fat, great milk, but small udder, which is always nice since the newborns can find them easier. Rosie (1/2 red angus) had a daughter (Lizzy) which we kept for some time.. gorgeous cow, mean as heck with 4ft cloudstabbing horns which she knew how to use (a true 1 owner cow), and she was about 5 1/2 ft tall at the shoulder (she was 1/2 Saler), and never was that good of a performer, meanwhile, her sister Titzia is the stocky type again, and so docile she can be ridden (1/2 shorthorn would explain that), and her first calf was the leggy type, but at about 7 months weighted in close to 700 lbs...
what I have found is that big weaning weights do not correspond to big cows, as almost all of this line stay around 1400 lbs, but there is a range of weaning weights...
so what I found is the full grown size of the cow is pretty much predetermined by her ancestry and breed, but the growth rate is from how much milk she gets as a calf (ok, hereditary too), but these are two different things to look at
As for birthweights, from what I understand it is usually from the bull, and we have had bulls that would produce giant calves (120 lbs) on our big cows and 70 lbs on our smaller ones, which is fine by us.. what we ALWAYS look for in a bull is the shape of the head, you don't want big portruding eyebrows and big heads... since once the head is through, the rest is usually easy
