Which calf to sell

[Ellie May]

Yeah DR is right they do look kinda small to offense.... Well if you want the truth?? The black one is kinda small, too big a head, the brown one is good built but too small rear end, the black baldie is good but too raked. It's slightly to slanted as far as it's back is concerned. They look well fed though maybe to much of bellies, but good. As far as breeding if you want color keep the simmental (brown) if you want confirmation sell the black baldie. Really none would be a bad choice to sell.
Ellie May

 

[Campground Cattle]

Judging by the pictures they all look small for 1 year old. Sell 'em.

They don't look that old to me either. I sure don't claim to be able to weigh a calf over the internet, but all three look less that 500 pounds to me.

Craig-TX

Totally agree the brown calf looks wormie and stunted with the pot belly the calf just doesn't seem to shine. As Craig said I no expert on internet pictures.The calves look to be in the 400 pound range. Hate to bad mouth a mans cows not my style. DR is right sell all three.

 

[Ellie May]

Yeah sell all three and buy 2 good lookin' ones.
Ellie May

 

[Jake]

I just looked at the pics again and examined them more closely and picked a few things out. The Black white face seems to be the smallest and has what looks like to be a skinny rear. These calves may be in the 500# range they may look to be between 300 and 450 in the pictures but the pictures weren't taken at animal level they were taken downwards which always make the animals look short stocky and small. I've worked alot at animal photography with some of the bull catalog people around. They might not be as bad as they look but I'd still sell the grey.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

The money from the three calves should buy you a bred cow with a coupon by her side. It's real easy to take pride in cattle that you raised and already own, and believe me noone is bad mouthing your animals. A cow that is bred and especially one that has already calved is a proven winner. Raising your own heifers takes forever, the risk of ending up with a cull is higher and forage requirements are higher.

 

[Ellie May]

Yep it's all about the confirmation and they ain't got the best confirmation.
Ellie May

 

[Anonymous]

Do these calves have a sire that happens to have good E.P.D.'s ?

 

[Ellie May]

You tell him DR!
Ellie May

 

[Ellie May]

Well if you look at his webpage he looks like a small breeder. So maybe we should pick at him to much, everybody starts somewhere.
Ellie May

 

[CopeMan]

sell the brown calf

 

[NCSU Maverick]

Well if you look at his webpage he looks like a small breeder. So maybe we should pick at him to much, everybody starts somewhere.
Ellie May

How did you get to the rest of his webpage...I'm having trouble finding what youre talking about

 

[Anonymous]

Sell the friend the one that he wants and deworm the other 2. Then as soon as they shape up ship them.
Put the money into some quality.

 

[Anonymous]

I would sell the BLACK one to the market....keep the white face one and sell the grey calf... The calf has great breeding potential!!! Great muscularity, nice shape head...the color is a bit odd, but does color important to meat quality?????????? Breed the two I said to keep to a lean beef breed..should get some nice growthy calves!!!!!

OPPSSSSS.... I meant to say he should keep the grey one and the white faced one; get rid of the black one...sorry, my bad...

 

[Anonymous]

I had tried to give my opinion which ones to keep and kept my mouth shut about selling all three. I agree with the others that these calves are very poor quality. The one comes close to decency is the brown/grey calf. I'd exaggerated when I said they were pure breeding potential...they are smallish and wormy (especially the WF calf). The black calf (the real reason why I sell it) got too big of a head on a heifer. The black calf shows signs of dwarfism (big head, small body and they always look wormy). My advice? Sell all three and get some nice bigger heifers for yourself. Plus your reputation is on the line.........think about that! Goodluck!

 

[lazyhill]

I would like to see better pictures of the calves and one picture with all of them in it. The picture with all of them in it should be a clue as to the relative size and scoring of the animals side by side. I do a lot of marketing with photos and have some bad ones and good ones. When I evaluate cows by photos I like to see a shot from the front, rear and side. It gives you a better idea of the overall cow.

Also, I agree with the comments on camera position. At a minimum, you want to get down so that you are shooting the photo right at the middle of the cow's body and not looking down at it. For the most part, you can't get too low. Another thing to consider is taking pictures when the winter fur is gone. When cows put on a lot of winter fur like these 3 have, it often makes them look worse than they are.

Here are a couple of sites that talk about photographing cattle. It may be helpful.

http://www.butlertexaslonghorns.com/his ... raphy.html
http://www.butlertexaslonghorns.com/his ... hyfun.html

Here is an example of good pictures.

http://www.lazyhillranch.com/longhorns/ ... _a_lot.htm
http://www.lazyhillranch.com/longhorns/ ... helmer.htm

Here are some bad ones. The pictures make some nice calves look awful. (Yes I know I need to replace them on my web site.)

http://www.lazyhillranch.com/longhorns/ ... dition.htm
http://www.lazyhillranch.com/longhorns/ ... _rebel.htm

 

[BLACKPOWER]

Well, I have three calves and a friend of mine wants to buy one. He says that it makes him no difference which one he gets. I was going to keep all three of them and breed them this July. Below is a site I have posted a pic of each calf. Now which one should I sell and why? Thanks.

http://johnabillingsley.com/_wsn/page3.html

Those are some of the sorriest looking calves i've ever seen. Those wouldn't even make good roping stock. DO NOT BREED ANY OF THEM. You would do yourself and the poor little heifer a favor.

 

[eric]

well, since John hasn't posted back yet, it appears we have successfully ran off another newcomer to our forum!! John, I sure hope you have some thick skin and realize that most folks in here will give their opinion, especially when you ask for it! But also, most folks don't mean any harm and have the cows best interest in mind, so when they say don't breed them and ship them on down the road, they usually want to do what's best for the cows, and its not really a knock on you, especially if you're a beginner cattleman. Jump back on and speak your mind any time you feel, don't worry about offending anyone!

 

[dun]

He joined up back around the first of the year, so hopefully he's aware by now the way things are.

dun

well, since John hasn't posted back yet, it appears we have successfully ran off another newcomer to our forum!! John, I sure hope you have some thick skin and realize that most folks in here will give their opinion, especially when you ask for it! But also, most folks don't mean any harm and have the cows best interest in mind, so when they say don't breed them and ship them on down the road, they usually want to do what's best for the cows, and its not really a knock on you, especially if you're a beginner cattleman. Jump back on and speak your mind any time you feel, don't worry about offending anyone!

 

[lazyhill]

I hope that he wasn't scared off by the comments. I have read the posts for about a year and just registered recently. I have learned a lot from other people's experiences and have saved some time and money in the process of doing so.

I have also learned who has good advice and who just likes to make noise about their own agenda.

My comments above about photos were advice to anyone who would look at the articles and pictures. When asking someone to judge your cattle based upon a photo, it is essential to have good photos. I meant nothing else by it.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

You are right about photo aspect. Yours came out good.