Calving issues as of spring 2011

[BCC1]

I have had issues with Grizzly calves comign about a week early and was curious to see if anyone else has had the same issue, also when it comes to starpower calves the birthweight of this bull is accurate but what the owners and distributors of his semen dont share with you is that he was a twin and the combined birthweight makes his calves thrown out at about 100-120 pounds the largest i have hear so far is a calf weighing in at about 148lbs on DOB.....so either the owner loaded the cow up before birth or this bull is unpredictable when it comes to BWI

 

[CAB]

Every bull is calving ease it seems until proven otherwise instead of the other way around, but on the promoter's defense, we all keep on believing & trying them out for them year after year.

 

[SFASUshowman]

Have your Grizzly calves been underdeveloped in some way? I dont really consider a week early to be an issue, I actually find it pretty normal. You know a cow doesnt have a calendar that tells her when to calve, I actually start watching my due-to-calves pretty heavily about 2 weeks before the date I have them marked due on the calendar. So I would say a week early is perfectly normal and acceptable for the cow to calve.

As far as Star Power goes, I dont remember him ever being promoted as a calving ease bull.  First he is out of a Heatwave cow, that pretty much blows him out of the water as calving ease in my opinion. Second on their add for Star Power they clearly state "Not Recomended for First Calf Heifers" that in itself is saying they dont trust him to be calving ease.Yes he was 70 lbs out of a 1st calf heifer. And yes his EPD for Calving Ease is -1.6. But Heatwave is not a Simmental, and his EPD's are from the Simmental association. So his EPD's are probably not overly accurate. Based on what I see and what they have stated on the add for him, I dont think I would have ever even considered using him as a calving ease sire.

 

[CAB]

Have your Grizzly calves been underdeveloped in some way? I dont really consider a week early to be an issue, I actually find it pretty normal. You know a cow doesnt have a calendar that tells her when to calve, I actually start watching my due-to-calves pretty heavily about 2 weeks before the date I have them marked due on the calendar. So I would say a week early is perfectly normal and acceptable for the cow to calve.

As far as Star Power goes, I dont remember him ever being promoted as a calving ease bull.  First he is out of a Heatwave cow, that pretty much blows him out of the water as calving ease in my opinion. Second on their add for Star Power they clearly state "Not Recomended for First Calf Heifers" that in itself is saying they dont trust him to be calving ease.Yes he was 70 lbs out of a 1st calf heifer. And yes his EPD for Calving Ease is -1.6. But Heatwave is not a Simmental, and his EPD's are from the Simmental association. So his EPD's are probably not overly accurate. Based on what I see and what they have stated on the add for him, I dont think I would have ever even considered using him as a calving ease sire.

You maybe thinking of a different bull. Star Power is a PB Simi,( Dream On X SVF Sheza Star N902), and he is still being advertised by some as double bred calving ease,( Steppingstonegenetics) and was by everyone in his debut year. Dave Sinclair has commented on SP about the calving ease issues with Star Power, but like I said, until proven otherwise, user beware!!

 

[SFASUshowman]

Well like I said there...I dont know Star Power very well but when I looked him up online...Right next to his birthweight it siad Not recomended for first calf heifers

http://sinclaircattleco.com/StarPower.htm

And sorry on the Heatwave thing, I was misread. I saw an article about him and thought it was referring to Star Power being 5/8 and out of a Heatwave cow. But it was actually talking about a Star Power sired calf that was 5/8 and out of a Heatwave cow. I misread the way the article was written.
But still I dont consider him calving ease...I dont consider any Simmi calving ease.

 

[Till-Hill]

Star Power was promoted at first by Genex as calving ease and they retracted that statement very fast!

On the other hand no Simmy's are calving ease.....Shear Force, In Dew Time, Ranch Hand, Jumpstart, Majestic, Wrangler, Stetson, Grandmaster I forgot some but in that group in 4 of the top 5 Calving Ease bulls of the breed I believe. You are so wrong my friend. I have been using these Simmy bulls on commercial heifers for a long time. I would be willing to bet that the Simmental breed will take over the Angus breed in Calving Ease. You used to be able to buy an Angus bull and just bet he was an easy calver. Not no more! That's just my opinion tho. And I think they are worth a look at for breeding heifers.

 

[ALTSIMMY 79]

100 percent agree with the last statement made . Well said ! Especially on behalf of In Dew Time , they don't come much easier calving than him !