What would you do?

[jersey lilly]

This lil heifer is one of ours, we are tryin to go strait black,(gradually cullin out color) but I just really like this one. What would ya'll do, keep her as a replacement or sell her and forgit it? She was born 5-9-06

 

[alabama]

Do you want May calving cows?

 

[jersey lilly]

DAng, I see your point, had'nt thought of that part ....... bred at 15 mo old, she's gonna calve in May ........

No we really dont aim for May calving, she's a late one.

 

[Rustler9]

Good looking heifer-I'd keep her and breed her to a black bull if that's the color you're striving for.

 

[milesvb]

Nice heifer. Is that her color pattern or did she get rained on?

 

[jersey lilly]

We got rain yesterday!!!!! She's wet. Thank the Lord we got 2 1/4 inches.

 

[ranching hands]

color shouldnt matter if you have cow herd of different color you should use a bull that will sire black calves only there are various breeds out there , but keep that heifer shes big and stout

 

[dun]

My reluctance would be based on May calving

dun

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Do you want May calving cows?

he must she's the product of one,i like her aside from the color she has what i like neat clean navel tight leather you could bump her to fall

 

[MikeC]

What would I do?

I wouldn't worry about color. A good calf can bring top dollar whether she's black or pink. If not, your selling to the wrong buyers to start with.

I would concentrate on more important issues like muscling, fertility, easy doing, etc.


Most of the buyers I know personally are getting wise to all the black lookalikes anyway.

 

[Ryan]

Just curious...what kind of breeding is she? Obviously some brahman in there.. what else?

 

[pinzgauer1]

i'd keep her and let her get older than 15 months and then breed her. Then you wouldn't have to worry bout having a may calf. We never breed a calf that young ,it just seems the older the hiefer the less problems we have with calving ease.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Don't know about other breeds, but our Longhorns sometimes start out one color and then shed out to their "permanent" color by weaning time and later. Same can happen with horses.

 

[Beefy]

culling based on color, to me, is like picking one to cull out of a hat.

 

[plbcattle]

a good cow is a good cow. Replacment females are hard to come by. if she has good parents I would keep her. You don't know what you are getting if you bought another black calf.

 

[Hill Creek Farm]

I like her a lot! Take care and I think that she is a keeper. :cboy:

 

[jersey lilly]

Ok here's the deal, we have nothin but Commercial cattle, Mixed female herd with mostly brangus females but quite a few hereford crosses, and Heintz 57 red and yellow cows.(by heintz 57 I mean, brahman crosses) Ran with Brangus Bulls. There are no epd's to look at, at all here. Her mama is one of the non discript yellow cows. Not one I particularly like but she always raises a real nice calf so she's stayed. The next few years we'll be using Angus Bulls.
We breed most of the time at 15 months, and very seldom have we ever had any calving problems. Not one pull in 15 years. 1 or 2 that didnt mother good, but they went to town. We do some fall calving, so that wouldn't be a bad stretch to put her over into that group. But I'd much rather have her calvin in January or February, they just seem to do better for us here born at that time. Based on what she looks like now if she keeps up and looks good come fall, she'll most likely get to stay. It's awful hard to turn loose of a nice replacement heifer when they look like she does. It'll be a few more years before we can safely say we'll have all black mama's, LOL and by that time the new color will probably be gray ;-) not that we are chasin the color fad, I happen to like my black brangus cattle a whole lot. thanks for all your replies

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Nice heifer. If she continues to grow out, she may easily be large enough to breed for a March calving. If mom was yellow, may have some Simm in her. If it is the normal Simmental diluter gene, than being bred to a black bull, may or MAY NOT produce a black calf. It will be black factored (like this calf) but if the diluter gene is passed on by the dam, the calf may also be grey (like this calf).

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Nice heifer. If she continues to grow out, she may easily be large enough to breed for a March calving. If mom was yellow, may have some Simm in her. If it is the normal Simmental diluter gene, than being bred to a black bull, may or MAY NOT produce a black calf. It will be black factored (like this calf) but if the diluter gene is passed on by the dam, the calf may also be grey (like this calf).

i was thinking along this line too, my biggest concern would be rat tailed off springs

 

[jersey lilly]

Out of all the lil gray calves we've ever had, there's only been one that had a lil rat tail. but he was an awesome lil steer calf. Built about like this one was at the same age, boy did he muscle out.Just had a lil bitty tail LOL That's another thing, I keep hearin everyone talkin about rat tails, why would it matter on a steer? How many people eat the tail? LOL Heifers now, I don't want nothin with a lil bitty tail. Always look for a big tail head on replacement heifers.