Backbone Ranch
Well-known member
We are about 10 days out from weaning the majority of our calves. Most are between 7 and 8 months old. We have a handful of calves that were born in late-spring and early-summer, but they won't be weaned for another month or two. We are retaining eight heifers and a bull calf from this year's calf crop. We haven't gotten any significant rain since August, so most of our pastures are beginning to decline, especially those in the river bottoms. Our native pastures on the topland still have decent nutrient value to them, and that is where the cows are now. I was able to get pictures of a handful of the calves.
This heifer is AI sired, by a bull named Balmoral Elation, and her mother is a full sibling to our current herd sire. She was born on March 12 at 84 lbs. She will be slightly larger framed than most of our cows when she hits maturity, and she is one of my favorite heifers from this year's calf crop.
This next heifer is out of a 7 year old cow and our current herd sire, BB Uncle Tony. She was born on March 17 at 100 lbs. Her mother consistently throws larger calves, regardless of the bull she is bred to. Her heifer last year out of a different sire weighed 98 lbs. Despite this, her calves are born easily and are always replacement quality.
This heifer was born on March 29 at 78 lbs. We actually AIed her mother last year, and to tell you the truth, I am very glad that she didn't take by AI. This heifer is sired by Tony. Her great grandsire on both sides is JOPA Elation Power, the Grand Champion bull at the 1989 National Murray Grey Show.
This last heifer is one that I have really high hopes for. She is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus and is sired by Tony. She is one of our younger calves, born on May 16th at 78 lbs. She is the spitting image of her mother, but is a bit more feminine.
This bull calf is of very similar breeding as the dark heifer above. They are 75% siblings (have the same sire and their dams are half sisters). He was born on March 20 at 78 lbs. He too is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus. He will be going to a commercial herd nearby us that runs close to a 1000 cow/calf pairs.
This next calf is purebred Murray Grey. He is sired by Tony and out of a 5 year old cow. He was born on March 25 at 86 lbs. His mother is one of the prettiest cows in our herd. She is very deep bodied, has a great udder, and better than average muscling in her hindquarters.
We decided to keep this little bull to use over our heifers and, depending on how he grows out, as our next herd bull. He is significantly younger than the majority of the calves. He was born on June 3rd at 82 lbs. His mother developed ovarian cysts during the breeding season last year and was coming into a standing heat every 11 days or so. We ended up giving her a shot of lutalyse to clear things up, and she bred very soon afterwards. This bull is only 4 1/2 months old in the photos, but he is almost as large as some of the 7 month olds. He is developing nicely through his front half currently, and knowing his mother's past calves, his back end will fill out soon. His mother is also pictured below as a 9 year old. He won't be weaned for another 2 months or so.
Normally, we wean our spring calves all at the same time. However, two years ago, about a week before we took our herd sire to Elgin to be collected, he broke into our group of heifers and bred a handful of them. They ended up calving in mid to late June and are still trying to get caught up with the spring calving herd. Those individuals are due to calve in April of 2018, so they are almost in sync with the remainder of the herd now.
And this calf is nowhere close to being weaned, but I thought that I would share this photo as well. This is our very best first-calf heifer with her 4 week old heifer calf. This cow is out of an older bull, Cadella Park Golden Boy, who was born in 1972 and imported from Australia as a 2 year old. She is a granddaughter of the 81 cow above.
Thanks for letting me share.
This heifer is AI sired, by a bull named Balmoral Elation, and her mother is a full sibling to our current herd sire. She was born on March 12 at 84 lbs. She will be slightly larger framed than most of our cows when she hits maturity, and she is one of my favorite heifers from this year's calf crop.
This next heifer is out of a 7 year old cow and our current herd sire, BB Uncle Tony. She was born on March 17 at 100 lbs. Her mother consistently throws larger calves, regardless of the bull she is bred to. Her heifer last year out of a different sire weighed 98 lbs. Despite this, her calves are born easily and are always replacement quality.
This heifer was born on March 29 at 78 lbs. We actually AIed her mother last year, and to tell you the truth, I am very glad that she didn't take by AI. This heifer is sired by Tony. Her great grandsire on both sides is JOPA Elation Power, the Grand Champion bull at the 1989 National Murray Grey Show.
This last heifer is one that I have really high hopes for. She is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus and is sired by Tony. She is one of our younger calves, born on May 16th at 78 lbs. She is the spitting image of her mother, but is a bit more feminine.
This bull calf is of very similar breeding as the dark heifer above. They are 75% siblings (have the same sire and their dams are half sisters). He was born on March 20 at 78 lbs. He too is 75% Murray Grey x 25% Angus. He will be going to a commercial herd nearby us that runs close to a 1000 cow/calf pairs.
This next calf is purebred Murray Grey. He is sired by Tony and out of a 5 year old cow. He was born on March 25 at 86 lbs. His mother is one of the prettiest cows in our herd. She is very deep bodied, has a great udder, and better than average muscling in her hindquarters.
We decided to keep this little bull to use over our heifers and, depending on how he grows out, as our next herd bull. He is significantly younger than the majority of the calves. He was born on June 3rd at 82 lbs. His mother developed ovarian cysts during the breeding season last year and was coming into a standing heat every 11 days or so. We ended up giving her a shot of lutalyse to clear things up, and she bred very soon afterwards. This bull is only 4 1/2 months old in the photos, but he is almost as large as some of the 7 month olds. He is developing nicely through his front half currently, and knowing his mother's past calves, his back end will fill out soon. His mother is also pictured below as a 9 year old. He won't be weaned for another 2 months or so.
Normally, we wean our spring calves all at the same time. However, two years ago, about a week before we took our herd sire to Elgin to be collected, he broke into our group of heifers and bred a handful of them. They ended up calving in mid to late June and are still trying to get caught up with the spring calving herd. Those individuals are due to calve in April of 2018, so they are almost in sync with the remainder of the herd now.
And this calf is nowhere close to being weaned, but I thought that I would share this photo as well. This is our very best first-calf heifer with her 4 week old heifer calf. This cow is out of an older bull, Cadella Park Golden Boy, who was born in 1972 and imported from Australia as a 2 year old. She is a granddaughter of the 81 cow above.
Thanks for letting me share.
