Two old Aubrac cows

[Nesikep]

My only possible suggestion for improvement is making it simpler!

For me, I look at my herd every day, and I'm always looking at which ones are cull priorities.. Doing the numbers thing is definitely part of the equation, but I find they never tell the whole story... I have cows that can't make a decent heifer to save their life, but their steers are always great (about half the herd).. As long as I have the feed I keep them around until something reliably and proven better comes along.. Some make somewhat smaller calves that are put together very well, and some cows just don't make good calves paired with certain bulls. If I'm honest with myself, I think I can say only about 25% of my replacement heifers really make GREAT cows, but I think in about 5-10 years I'll be improving that significantly because of better stock to draw from and a better eye.

In my spreadsheet, each cow gets a score for every calf she has, and the value of each calf increases, which gives a bonus to long lived cows.. she also gets half the score of her daughters, so even if she wasn't a great cow but produced great animals it counts to her score. It's not perfect, but it does help me see which bloodlines are more reliable bets.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Nesi ... you said a great thing there ... "until something reliably and proven better comes along" ... that's why there is substantial latitude in my model for keeping / eating / selling cattle ... what stocking rate do I want ... do I want to get younger ... or maybe I have nice orders for bred heifers, or maybe bred cows, or ...

You have a spreadsheet to help you make decisions; I do too ... just sounds like mine might have a few more columns.

 

[Nesikep]

As I had mentioned, I have some old cows that can't make a decent heifer to save their life.. I have one that's going on 12 years old, never had any luck with her heifers, but her steers are always nice meaty guys and she always has a calf... Especially since I'm not a seedstock guy, I don't want to lose the pounds on the scale by replacing her with an unproven heifer that I might have to replace 2 more times before I have something at least as good... Her days ARE numbered (and she's the last of that maternal line)... I figure maybe 2 more calves from her, I have a big cull list for next year already with young cows that just aren't pulling their weight and probably never will... either way none of them will ever give me a replacement heifer I could keep with good conscience. Then I have Sabine the 13 year old witch at calving time with the YUUUUGE udder, I figure next year is her last year too. Of the 3 heifers I kept last year I think 2 of them are fairly safe bets, and of the 4 from this year I am pretty confident in all 4 so far as long as they don't fall apart over their first winter.. they're all fat right now anyhow.

 

[French Anne]

Hi !
France is back..

Good cows, if you want my opinion:

Suzette has à perfect body and good plumbs. But something is disturbing me about her head, does she really have grey horns like on the photo ? And she has no black under her eyes or on her legs.. But still an exellent cow !

Cassie is very different. She is more à cow for beef.. She seems to have an exellent pelvis. Just be careful, she has not so good plumbs (on the photo)

That's just my opinion, but congratulations you have two great cows !

Anne

PS: i'll post in this topic à photo of Nantes, my 20 years old cow. A professional photographer came Last week for her, Hope i Will have the photos soon to post them..

 

[frieghttrain]

Hi !
France is back..

Good cows, if you want my opinion:

Suzette has à perfect body and good plumbs. But something is disturbing me about her head, does she really have grey horns like on the photo ? And she has no black under her eyes or on her legs.. But still an exellent cow !

Cassie is very different. She is more à cow for beef.. She seems to have an exellent pelvis. Just be careful, she has not so good plumbs (on the photo)

That's just my opinion, but congratulations you have two great cows !

Anne

PS: i'll post in this topic à photo of Nantes, my 20 years old cow. A professional photographer came Last week for her, Hope i Will have the photos soon to post them..

Nice to have you back

 

[WalnutCrest]

Hi !
France is back..

Good cows, if you want my opinion:

Suzette has à perfect body and good plumbs. But something is disturbing me about her head, does she really have grey horns like on the photo ? And she has no black under her eyes or on her legs.. But still an exellent cow !

Cassie is very different. She is more à cow for beef.. She seems to have an exellent pelvis. Just be careful, she has not so good plumbs (on the photo)

That's just my opinion, but congratulations you have two great cows !

Anne

PS: i'll post in this topic à photo of Nantes, my 20 years old cow. A professional photographer came Last week for her, Hope i Will have the photos soon to post them..

Very much looking forward to seeing Nantes!

Regarding Suzette, she is very light pigmented. If this helps explain, her paternal grandsire was Invincible, her paternal granddam was a Mignard daughter out of the Bos family herd, her maternal grandsire was a Nolan daughter (out of another Mignard daughter), and her maternal granddam was out of yet another Mignard daughter. I'm not sure where her very light pigmentation came from, but I don't know much about Invincible. Mignard had excellent pigment (among excellent productive traits).

Cassie is very different genetics. Her sire was Goeland, the Duches son, and Heros half brother. Her dam goes back to the very first North Amaerican imports.

It'll be interesting to see how they adapt to my management, such as it is. Due to age and phenotype, I expect Suzette will have an easier time of it.