We weigh all of our new calves within 48 hours of birth. Our "Range" of weights over past 5 years has been 45 - 73#. Our "average" calf weight is around 55#.
Along with a large pelvic area, another reason purebred Longhorns are easy calvers. And, if a LH is cross-bred with an English or Continental breed these "easy calving" genetics are passed on.
University studies of many breeds and hundreds of live births point to 99.7% unassisted calving with Longhorns.
Longhorns crossed with Charlolais are especially good producers of calves that usually do not take "a hit" at the sale barn (if that's where you're selling them). Breeding most any polled non-Longhorn cattle to a Longhorn will usually produce a polled calf, since the horn genetics are generally suppressed by a polled cross-breeding.
If one's commercial breeding program (for sale barn calves) has a 20% pulling history and a 1-2% calf death rate, you can take a lot of price discounting at the sale barn to make up for lost calves and/or expenses, problems with pulling calves, etc.
Then, as a "bonus" the Longhorn genetics are naturally resistive to most common cattle/calf illnesses and diseases that produce sickly calves. Of course, preventive vaccinations and de-worming are always in order for any breed of cattle.
Our "Longhorn Medicine Cabinet" includes: Betadine, Scarlet Oil, LA-200 (just in case), and Bag Balm (for our weather-beaten hands), and Tetanus Toxoid (when we band a bull calf).
