Star Power - NOT CALVING EASE. story inside

so yea, i posted in the starpower thread about my best friend/partner breeding his champion show heifer to him. by all means this heifer should have had a calf no problem. she had a huge pelvic area and looked like she could handle a calf last august. no joke.


I talked to him today and was informed she had calved and had a hard pull. 2 man pull. 112 lb bull calf our of star power. his "actual" BW was 56lb. so double it and you have my friends calf. the heifer is doing fine and the calf is fine. I recall last expo when he told me he was breeding her to star power. i told him what i thought and we argued over it a few times. today he admitted I told him so lol there is a pic of the heifer

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

Show Steaks said:

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

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the dam is a bleeding purple x 734 with a BW of 75lbs and im positive she had a large pelvic area.

Zach, I like your donkey..

How many cm squared was her pelic area? I am assuming since you "are positive" she has a large pelvic area that you had her measured.



Glad to hear all worked out though.

zach said:

so yea, i posted in the starpower thread about my best friend/partner breeding his champion show heifer to him. by all means this heifer should have had a calf no problem. she had a huge pelvic area and looked like she could handle a calf last august. no joke.


I talked to him today and was informed she had calved and had a hard pull. 2 man pull. 112 lb bull calf our of star power. his "actual" BW was 56lb. so double it and you have my friends calf. the heifer is doing fine and the calf is fine. I recall last expo when he told me he was breeding her to star power. i told him what i thought and we argued over it a few times. today he admitted I told him so lol there is a pic of the heifer

Click to expand...

I hate to tell ya but one small calf doesn't make a heifer bull, and one big calf doesn't make a  bull poor calving ease. I have no personal experience with Star Power, but I think everyone would refer to Ali as a heifer bull...and I had a 74 pound calf and a 110 pound terrible hard pull last year out of flushmate heifers---both Angus. Just goes to show you nature has a sense of humor and stuff happens.

Cowman

I actually have heard of a lot of really big Ali calves, I am kind of suprised people still have him on the heifer list.

cowman said:

zach said:

so yea, i posted in the starpower thread about my best friend/partner breeding his champion show heifer to him. by all means this heifer should have had a calf no problem. she had a huge pelvic area and looked like she could handle a calf last august. no joke.


I talked to him today and was informed she had calved and had a hard pull. 2 man pull. 112 lb bull calf our of star power. his "actual" BW was 56lb. so double it and you have my friends calf. the heifer is doing fine and the calf is fine. I recall last expo when he told me he was breeding her to star power. i told him what i thought and we argued over it a few times. today he admitted I told him so lol there is a pic of the heifer

Click to expand...

I hate to tell ya but one small calf doesn't make a heifer bull, and one big calf doesn't make a  bull poor calving ease. I have no personal experience with Star Power, but I think everyone would refer to Ali as a heifer bull...and I had a 74 pound calf and a 110 pound terrible hard pull last year out of flushmate heifers---both Angus. Just goes to show you nature has a sense of humor and stuff happens.

Cowman

Click to expand...

Very true. I used SP and had big ones and small ones.

Jill said:

I actually have heard of a lot of really big Ali calves, I am kind of suprised people still have him on the heifer list.

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Agree completly we had a First Calf heifer bred to Ali and we ended up having a c-section done and it was a 140lb heifer.

I dunno.. from what I'm hearing.. it sounds like there have been more big SP calves than small.  And, I also hear that must be about the last time you could call them 'big' .. frail is the word I've heard associated more often than not.  I know plenty of people who used him & had calves last spring .. but I've yet to see any in person and these calves are just not showing up in sales or in people's front pasture pens.    I wonder if I could've seen more by going to the local sale barn..    just a thought. 

I tried to attach some pics of my kid's Star Power heifer born May 2008.  Not real stout, but not exactly frail either.  Whatta ya all think? (if they come through)

zach said:

Show Steaks said:

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

Click to expand...

the dam is a bleeding purple x 734 with a BW of 75lbs and im positive she had a large pelvic area.

Click to expand...

I would say that Rusty was feeding her pretty good, and don't forget that Bleeding Purple is a Heatwave son. I have heard several reports of Star Power not being as consistent as some would like. I'm glad everthing turned out okay.

I can handle big calves if the cow has them unassisted. What I don't like is having problems w/ a small calf that should have just been pooped out!

Red

zach said:

Show Steaks said:

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

Click to expand...

the dam is a bleeding purple x 734 with a BW of 75lbs and im positive she had a large pelvic area.

Click to expand...

If she hasn't been measured, there's just no way you can know for sure about pelvic area.  Some of the thickest, heaviest muscled ones will measure the smallest, and/or be odd shaped.

That said however, I do agree that 112# bw's are way too big for a calving ease bull.  From what I hear SP's bw's are pretty inconsistent, but everything tends to be pretty inconsistent when you're using them on 3 (and more) way cross cows.  I talked to a guy last week who'd used SP on a set of Angus heifers and said they were coming in the low 70's with mininmal assisstance...

red said:

I can handle big calves if the cow has them unassisted. What I don't like is having problems w/ a small calf that should have just been pooped out!

Red

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I totally agree with this. The most frustrated I have been with my cattle, involved a C-section and a 70 lb  pale face calf out of a 1000 lb Neon heifer.

zach said:

Show Steaks said:

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

Click to expand...

the dam is a bleeding purple x 734 with a BW of 75lbs and im positive she had a large pelvic area.

Click to expand...

We had a Bleeding Purple bull calf a few years ago, out of a Meyer 734 Granddaughter. 120 lbs hard pull. We will not use him again.

OH said:

zach said:

Show Steaks said:

what is the dam? (pedigree) and are you positive she had a huge pelvic area?

Click to expand...

the dam is a bleeding purple x 734 with a BW of 75lbs and im positive she had a large pelvic area.

Click to expand...

I would say that Rusty was feeding her pretty good, and don't forget that Bleeding Purple is a Heatwave son. I have heard several reports of Star Power not being as consistent as some would like. I'm glad everything turned out okay.

Click to expand...

i dont think he was feeding her but you never know, and i for one am glad it turned out good too. if any one out there dosn't need to catch a bad break its him. And i do know Bleeding Purple is a HW son and the cow is half the equation and then some. have heard from a few people of big SP calves but what bull dosn't have a big claf every now and then? (except TJ's lowline bulls  )

Even those will throw a big one if the bull isn't dominant, I happen to think the cow has a lot more to do with calving ease than ANY bull.

zach said:

what bull dosn't have a big claf every now and then? (except TJ's lowline bulls  )

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I think Jill is right.  I don't know that the cow has a lot more to do with it, but I think that the cow does have plenty to do with it.

I haven't had a big one yet, but honestly, some of these cows having 150 lb. calves could POSSIBLY have a big one out of one of my bulls too.  The bull is only 1/2 the genes & some cows just have big calves & later gestations.  The difference though is that the calf would not be nearly as big as it would be out of another bull.  I've never had 1 calf over 70 lbs. out of Doc Holliday, even the 1/2 bloods (and the other 1/2 of some of them is capable of 100+ lbers.), so I just don't see any calf topping 100 lbs., even out of cows that normally have baby elephants, but I'm not gonna say that 1 couldn't get a little big, because it is most certainly possible & eventually I may hear a story about it happening... hope not, but a fluke most certainly could happen. 

The thing is, I think a heifer bull should be measured by it's flukes.  Is that number 1 out 5, 1 out of 7, 1 out of 10, 1 out of 15 or 1 out of 500?  Numbers of flukes per heifer exposed is where a calving ease bull is proven, IMHO.  I'm not & never will say that other bulls wont work on heifers most of the time, but I will say that I think that Lowline bulls will have a lot less flukes than most anything with Maine, Shorthorn, Chi or Clubby. 

My thoughts are these... If you want extreme calving ease, use a fullblood Lowline.  If you want 5-6 lbs. per day gains in the feedlot, use a Fullblood Chi.  If you want more milk than a calf can drink, use a Holstein. 

I think the cow does have more of an effect because ET calves aren't allowed in contemporary groups and their birth weight is thrown out the window as far as genetic evaluations go.

LN said:

I think the cow does have more of an effect because ET calves aren't allowed in contemporary groups and their birth weight is thrown out the window as far as genetic evaluations go.

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RE ET Calves... A buddy of mine had a Get Serious (Shorthorn) X Lowline ET bull calf out of a full sized recip that only weighed 54 lbs.   Also, fullblood Lowline ET calves weigh a little more than non-ET calves, but not much more just a few lbs... not enough for me to think that the cow is the only cause of 120+ lb. calves.  Like I said, the cow has plenty to do with it (at least 1/2), but IDK about a having a lot more to do with it. 

I think that the reason why ET calves vary so much is because nutrition & body condition varies so much.