Backbone Ranch
Well-known member
Our spring calves are just now hitting 5 months old. As a group, we are very happy with them. The majority of the calves are sired by Tony this year, but we do have about a dozen that are sired by OK Boss II. Although they are still young, we have a fairly good idea of which heifers we will be retaining from this calf crop.
This is our favorite purebred bull calf of this year's calf crop. He is 4 1/2 months old here. He has more muscling, especially through the rear, the our other calves. He had a 92 lb birth weight and has been a tank since day one. We sent off his tail hair to get a parentage test done this past Friday, so we should know in about 3 weeks if he is a Tony son or a Ballee Thumbs Up son.
This calf is a 75% Murray Grey x 25% Guernsey bull. He is 4 1/2 months old as well and had a 102 lb birth weight. All of his full sisters have been 100% silver, but his full brother from 2016 was almost identical to this calf. He is going to make one heck of a steer!
The 914 heifer is probably my favorite of this year's calf crop. She is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus and is standing in front of her 10 year old dam. She is pictured at 3 1/2 months here and had an 82 lb birth weight. She is a Tony daughter.
This heifer is a full sibling to the 914 heifer and is from the 2018 calf crop. She had the highest average daily gain from birth to weaning of any of our 2018 heifers. She will be bred this fall to have her first calf. She is 15 months old here.
The 926 heifer is a 3 1/2 month old daughter of OK Boss II, a darker Murray Grey bull that we used last summer. The mother of this calf is currently 11 years old, and this is her 3rd heifer calf to date. We will definitely be retaining this heifer calf as a replacement.
This heifer is 2 1/2 years old and is due to calve in about 6 weeks. She is sired by Balmoral Elation, a Murray Grey bull that was born in 1978. His genetics go back to the founding Murray Grey stud in Australia. She is currently bred to BB Backbone's General.
This last photo is an embryo calf that is 7 months old. She is out of similar genetics as the rest of our herd, and we just purchased her a few weeks ago. We will be DNA testing her to verify her parentage, but I have high hopes for her.
This is our favorite purebred bull calf of this year's calf crop. He is 4 1/2 months old here. He has more muscling, especially through the rear, the our other calves. He had a 92 lb birth weight and has been a tank since day one. We sent off his tail hair to get a parentage test done this past Friday, so we should know in about 3 weeks if he is a Tony son or a Ballee Thumbs Up son.
This calf is a 75% Murray Grey x 25% Guernsey bull. He is 4 1/2 months old as well and had a 102 lb birth weight. All of his full sisters have been 100% silver, but his full brother from 2016 was almost identical to this calf. He is going to make one heck of a steer!
The 914 heifer is probably my favorite of this year's calf crop. She is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus and is standing in front of her 10 year old dam. She is pictured at 3 1/2 months here and had an 82 lb birth weight. She is a Tony daughter.
This heifer is a full sibling to the 914 heifer and is from the 2018 calf crop. She had the highest average daily gain from birth to weaning of any of our 2018 heifers. She will be bred this fall to have her first calf. She is 15 months old here.
The 926 heifer is a 3 1/2 month old daughter of OK Boss II, a darker Murray Grey bull that we used last summer. The mother of this calf is currently 11 years old, and this is her 3rd heifer calf to date. We will definitely be retaining this heifer calf as a replacement.
This heifer is 2 1/2 years old and is due to calve in about 6 weeks. She is sired by Balmoral Elation, a Murray Grey bull that was born in 1978. His genetics go back to the founding Murray Grey stud in Australia. She is currently bred to BB Backbone's General.
This last photo is an embryo calf that is 7 months old. She is out of similar genetics as the rest of our herd, and we just purchased her a few weeks ago. We will be DNA testing her to verify her parentage, but I have high hopes for her.
