CAB
Well-known member
Had a cow go 171/2 hours Sat. 2:00pm til 7:30am Sunday morning. C-section Sunseeker, bull calf. Cow wouldn't dilate. Z model year cow, never had that happen B4.
Calving question??
- Thread starter fluffer
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dori36
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justme said:
In that case, run, don't walk, to get some Lowline genetics into your commercial herd. Absolutely NO problem for most haldblood Lowlines, crossed with just about any other beed or combination of breeds, to finish at 1100 pounds. they'll do that all day! And, they'll grade on a fraction of the inputs of other commercial feeders. The biggest challenge to putting percentage Lowlines in a feedlot is how to educate the feedlot owner on how to feed them to finish to grade 1-2 and choice and not keep them on feed as long as other cattle. And, if you feed out Lowlines on the same amounts and types of feeds as regular cattle, they'll mature early and start laying on copious quantities of fat! Ugh, not a good thing. Lowlines are best fed out in a lot with other Lowlines where their regimen can be taylored for them.
ROAD WARRIOR
Well-known member
As long as we're pitching calving ease bull - why not consider the breed known for calving ease and maternal traits - Red Angus. Hope for a heifer and if you end up with a steer it is still a merchandisable product. Sullivans used to breed all of their "clubbie" first calf heifers to R A calving ease bulls. RW
Show Heifer
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Fluffer, you said something that caught my attention....what breed was your heifers???? We used a 100% calving ease angus bull on some gelv heifers and had a COMPLETE diseaster! Was told that the heterosis is at its ultimate when crossing any british breed with any continental breed. That EPD's are out the window....
The ones we saved were awesome, grew way better than weeds, but lost way too many calves and a few cows.
The ones we saved were awesome, grew way better than weeds, but lost way too many calves and a few cows.
Show Heifer
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ROAD WARRIOR said:
I have seen some of those RA epds....a +3 to a +6 BW EPD doesn't scream calving ease to me......seems like the recent sales I have been to are all in that range. But that goes for black angus too....
Know of someone who used a "calving ease" RA bull on heifers and are getting calves averaging 95. It happens in all breeds!!
shortyisqueen
Well-known member
I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the 'my breed is a...and they always...' mentality, no matter what breed you have. Fluffer didn't get big calves because it was an Angus - they got them because it was the wrong Angus (of course, not with their knowledge).
We all have our breed of choice and cattle that we are (rightfully) very proud of. Its probably just me but I find the blatant breed sales pitches to be a little bit rude. There are quality cattle in every breed that can get the job done and inferior cattle in every breed who can't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but just because an animal is a Lowline does not guarantee it will sire a premium market weight steer in the same way having an Angus bull does not guarantee calving ease. Do we have so little respect for other's breeding programs that we can resort to saying 'its just your breed'...when clearly, its not...?
We all have our breed of choice and cattle that we are (rightfully) very proud of. Its probably just me but I find the blatant breed sales pitches to be a little bit rude. There are quality cattle in every breed that can get the job done and inferior cattle in every breed who can't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but just because an animal is a Lowline does not guarantee it will sire a premium market weight steer in the same way having an Angus bull does not guarantee calving ease. Do we have so little respect for other's breeding programs that we can resort to saying 'its just your breed'...when clearly, its not...?
ROAD WARRIOR
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Show Heifer said:
Bawndoh
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shortyisqueen said:
I absolutely agree!! Some breeds were origionally bred to do some things better than others, but lately they all fall in the same category. The category that Shortyisqueen is talking about.
ROAD WARRIOR
Well-known member
shortyisqueen said:
Did NOT mean to come acrossed as rude or belittle any one elses breed of cattle, if I offended you I appologize. With that said I will make one statement meant to represent only my herd and the offspring produced by it. IF I tell you a bull from my herd is a sleep all night heifer bull - count on it! If I tell you I wouldn't use that bull on heifers - that is exactly what I mean! I have bred 4 to 8 generations of nearly every cow in my herd. I will not make statements on calving ease about calves sired by AI bulls until I have used them in my own herd. AI bulls have to prove themselves to me in my herd and produce at least equal calves to the herd bulls that I clean up with or the semen gets pitched out in the road. There have been alot of disapointments hit the gravel over the last 18+ years and I'm sure there will be many more. RW
fluffer
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Show Heifer said:
Show Heifer
Your right about heterosis! A 50/50 combo does pretty good, but the trick is to have 3 or 4 breeds represtented. In our case we use Gelbvieh, Simmy, and Angus. But if you do a 2 way cross studies show that a Hereford Gelbvieh cross produces the most heterosis.
The 2 cows that we had to pull calves on were both crossbred who knows what cows bred to this angus bull. No Gelbvieh in them that we know of. There are some really good calving ease gelbvieh bulls. He have bred heifers to gelbvieh bulls and not pulled 1 calf. The only time I have had to pull a gelbvieh calf was when I was breeding for the show ring.
showsteerdlux
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I have a friend that went through the master cattlemens program. They had some researchers come in from UT and the lady said for color in todays market a hereford X angus, and if the market will ever move away from color that an angusxherefordxshorthorn would be the best calf out there for grading, cutability, gaining, etc. I tend to agree with her as those 1/4 and 1/2 blood shorthorn carcasses are hard to beat. JMO.
fluffer
Well-known member
Hmm, I would think that in order to have ideal heterosis you would want some british and contenentail in the cross. Who know, it depends on the cattle you use I guess.
I forget who did the study I saw published about the Gelbvieh Hereford cross being the best. They had studied several different combos and pb cattle, but here again it was one place and 1 study.
I think everyone has different cows, different feed, different management practices, and different goals. As long as your reaching your goals then I would say you have what works for you!
Fluffer
I forget who did the study I saw published about the Gelbvieh Hereford cross being the best. They had studied several different combos and pb cattle, but here again it was one place and 1 study.
I think everyone has different cows, different feed, different management practices, and different goals. As long as your reaching your goals then I would say you have what works for you!
Fluffer
showsteerdlux
Well-known member
I totally agree with you about if it works for you then its good. Around here there was a craze for gelbviehs and now they are not even bought. There is a cattle feeder in our area who will ship any gelbviehs he gets in as soon as they hit his lots so I guess that is one reason alot of people arent using the gelbviehs anymore as we have been told they dont do good at the packers.
fluffer
Well-known member
That is the biggest downfall of the Gelbvieh breed- THE BREEDERS are not selecting cattle for their carcass quality. That is why we stopped showing. I like the Gelbvieh breed and think they have a TON to offer in the beef industry. But with people breeding them with no regards to marbling or cutablity it hurt them. We started breeding for carcass traights and our cattle just couldn't compete in the show ring. We decided we were going to quit showing for a while and breed the kind of cattle that the industry needs. Others are doing the same thing. You will see a gradual change once the genetic selection starts to show some progress. It is unfortunate that one or 2 bad cattle can ruin a breeds image. You would also be surprised at how well these cattle can cut if they are properly bred.
Fluffer
Fluffer
