Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
I love Boot Jack to analyze my cattle. She has a GREAT eye - good judge!
Obviously, I cull from the day they are born, since like 90% of my bull crop is banded at day 1.
In all reality, "most" calves born can't really be analyzed until they are a few months old. If I have a structure problem or temperament problem on a heifer, she is in the kill pen ASAP. Cattle are culled as an on-going daily job.
I agree with previous post - you need to learn how to SEE your cattle and analyze them. Barn blindness is a real thing.
I am not directing these comments AT you BH. Some people will post a picture and they are soooo proud of their animal and it is a real POS. I don't comment unless it is asked for.
If 90% of your bulls are banded on day 1 that makes me wonder about the parents. Are your cows and the sires you use having that much trouble creating something noteworthy? Or are you the ultimate perfectionist?
Temperament issues, from what I have seen originate from the owner, not the animal. Some are calmer than others, but I don't have any in the herd that I cannot touch in an open field. I had a guy over the other day that was telling me about a group of cows that he had looked at buying, he said they ran to the woods as he approached the fence line. That spoke volumes about the owner of those cows. I could probably sum up his entire operation just from that short conversation. Producers might benefit from looking inward at their own temperament issues, and fix those first.
I agree that not every animal is a superstar, that would be a foolish notion to entertain, but if one were to cull for every issue, one could cull their entire herd down to nothing. My herd is not perfection, but with careful AI choices, it's improving rapidly. If I have a heifer that I think is marginal, I will breed her AI to a top sire and see what happens, many times, the offspring do not resemble the momma, they are better, and I get a new calf to work with, again with AI, and the momma can become a future ET recip. I'm building towards a herd of at least 200 recips, which I know if developed from day 1 will be healthy and not bring any disease or issues into my herd. People think that an average or below average cow will work fine as a recip, but I think that if you want a calf that performs, the momma must be above average. Low quality cows don't raise high quality calves, but that is just my opinion.
Now as to ignoring DNA tests and genomic-enhanced EPD's, this proved not to be a great strategy in the dairy business, where I'm pretty sure the VERY BEST dairy operators paid close attention to the numbers and survived. We don't show our cattle here at Branded, we aren't trying to win the local contest for prettiest steer, we are breeding for performance. We get offers frequently to show our heifers, but I'm not interested. While I appreciate and strive for the best phenotype that I can achieve, ignoring genomic-enhanced EPD's sounds like a recipe for disaster. Unmistakable, has been beat up on CT with no mercy at all, but I assure you his progeny will rank higher than most of the entire Angus herd for traits that matter most to ME, which is namely heifer pregnancy (top 5%) and milk (top 10%). Most commercial operations that do not test their cattle have no clue where their cows rank, and most of the time no clue where the sire ranks in those categories. With Angus GS, I know that Unmistakable's progeny will give me daughters that milk well, and get pregnant fast. I can always AI those daughters to a sire like Vermilion Spur E143 (AAA# 18838120) or Hoover Dam and build from that, but at least I know I've stacked important maternal traits into that progeny. If I were to rely solely on phenotype, I really don't have any clue about what I'm putting into that progeny. That's a fact whether you choose to accept it or not. I like heavy milking cows and heifers, and I like them to get pregnant on the first service, that might not matter to some, but it's very important for what I'm trying to achieve.
