What to do? I need some opinions.

[kickinbull]

If you want to purchase a bull possibly one of you neighbors has one for sale.

 

[Son of Butch]

IF you A.I. I'd definitely choose the Select Sires tech over the vet.
The Select guys I've known have been good and will point you in the right direction on sire choices. They also carry
Ka-Mar Heat Detector patches, so you can buy 5 or 10 instead of a box of 50 to aid you in observing standing heats.

By the by
At our local sale barn there is a vet on duty, if you buy a young slaughter bull you can run him right to the vet for bse
and semen test. If by chance he would fail you can put him back in the ring for slaughter without ever having to take
him home.... just saying...

 

[angus9259]

You may very well be right, but I'm going to give it a shot. If it doesn't take, maybe I will buy a bull this fall and make my girls fall calvers. You live and you learn.

I applaud your attitude. Fall calvers will make the bull cheaper too! Living and learning is all any of us can really hope to accomplish in life....

 

[BC Acres]

IF you A.I. I'd definitely choose the Select Sires tech over the vet.
The Select guys I've known have been good and will point you in the right direction on sire choices. They also carry
Ka-Mar Heat Detector patches, so you can buy 5 or 10 instead of a box of 50 to aid you in observing standing heats.

By the by
At our local sale barn there is a vet on duty, if you buy a young slaughter bull you can run him right to the vet for bse
and semen test. If by chance he would fail you can put him back in the ring for slaughter without ever having to take
him home.... just saying...

Those are good points Butch. I will keep that in mind.

 

[boondocks]

You guys have been a lot of help. I called my vet and he does AI rvice. I would have to take my cows to him. Haven't heard back from him yet, but I have heard from his secretary. I also called Select Sires and found the tech that services my area. He seems like a very nice guy and is very helpful. He told me to plan on $50-$60 per head depending on the bull I select. They would come out a second time too since I don't have a cover bull. The tech is only about 30 min from my house. I may give it a whirl and see how it goes.

Anyone have any experience with some of the bulls select sires offers? Right now I sell weaned calves at the barn so I want decent weaning weights and something that puts out good heifers in add I want to retain some. Thanks!

Good thread and good advice. BC, we have just had cows (registered black angus) for about 5 years. We've gone from 2 to almost 20 (selling and butchering several along the way)--solely with AI from our Select Sires tech. We also have a friend (retired AI tech/Cornell ag expert) who helps pick out our matings each year. We have used Conneally Comrade as much as we can the last 2 years. His calves have been phenomenal. Small at birth but incredibly vigorous. They literally hit the ground running. Has added some carcass without (knock wood) sacrificing the things we liked in our herd (temperament, hardiness).
I will say that going to AI, without a cleanup bull you will have to really watch heats from about day 15-25 after AI, so that you can catch any that didn't take on round 1. Even so, out of 5 mamas, don't be surprised if you end up with one that doesn't take even after 2 AI tries. If you want to keep your calving season tight (and I would want to), you'll have to be willing to sell any mamas that fall too far out of the group. But for sure I wouldn't spend serious $ on a bull for 5 cows....

 

[BC Acres]

Well, I talked to a Select Sires AI tech and am going to have him AI my cows. He suggested the Comrade, Composure, or Capitalist. I see boondocks reccommends Comrade. I was leaning toward Composure with the higher weaning weights since I will sell my calves after weaning. Anyone ave calves from the Composure bull?

 

[True Grit Farms]

Boondocks, says she gets mostly heifers so that would be something to consider when your selecting the bull to use.

 

[dun]

Higher weaning weight potential can cost you money at selling time if the cow doesn;t have the milk to allow the calf to reach it's potential. Without adequate milk the calf will look like a poor doer and will bring less at the barn.
That's one of the traps of chasing higher weaning weights

 

[BC Acres]

Higher weaning weight potential can cost you money at selling time if the cow doesn;t have the milk to allow the calf to reach it's potential. Without adequate milk the calf will look like a poor doer and will bring less at the barn.
That's one of the traps of chasing higher weaning weights

Thanks for the info dun. What should I be more concerned with if I want to sell calves at the barn?

 

[dun]

Uniformity, frame and muscle. Find out if any of the barns have a value added type of sale for weaned preconditioned vaccinated calves. If there is one, do whatever they require to make that sale. You might not in the first year or 2 get much more then you ahve in them. But after you have a reputation for the right type of cattle you will end up getting a little more then the run of the mill calves thatare in the sale.

 

[BC Acres]

Uniformity, frame and muscle. Find out if any of the barns have a value added type of sale for weaned preconditioned vaccinated calves. If there is one, do whatever they require to make that sale. You might not in the first year or 2 get much more then you ahve in them. But after you have a reputation for the right type of cattle you will end up getting a little more then the run of the mill calves thatare in the sale.

Are there certain EPDs that I should be more concerned with in order to add that uniformity, frame, and muscle, or do you look at the bull himself and his offspring to use the eyeball test? I assume part of uniformity is a tight calving season with mommas that are similar frame and breed.

We have a "special weaned cattle sale" every now and then. I sold in it last fall. I only had 3 calves (1 heifer and two steers).

 

[dun]

EPDs won;t help, it's pretty much eyeball

 

[bse]

If there's no heifers, I wouldnt use the high CED LBW bulls, there's really no need. I bought some Niagra to use on some commercial cows, low SC but I think everything else may work. I'm sure there are several more without being heifer bulls.

 

[Son of Butch]

If there's no heifers, I wouldn't use the high CED LBW bulls, there's really no need.

+1 :nod:
I read a report of a study regarding calf birth weight and calving difficulty in cows.
It found that 3rd calf cows and beyond giving birth to calves up to 12 lbs heavier than average had exactly the same
percentage of difficult births as 3rd calf+ cows giving birth to average birth weight calves.

It concluded calving difficulty in cows did not increase until the birth weights went more than 12 lbs over average.