calving ease bulls

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Moocow11

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Ok what are some of the better calving ease bulls?

also i have a heifer that weighed 55 lbs when she was born, along with her dam and grand dam. so would i be able to breed her to a bull that put out bigger calves, or would i always have to be breeding her to a lower BW bull  :)))
 

Show Heifer

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What breed are ya thinking of?? Angus? Maine? Shortie?
Angus: Northern Improvement for show, 1407 for performance. Amoung a few others depending on whatcha looking for.
Shortie: Heard great things of Jakes Proud Jazz. I'll tell ya more in March. ;D
Maine: I'll let others get this one!!!
 

shortdawg

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You couldn't go wrong with Witchdoctor on the Maine side. We had a 70 pounder out of a heifer.
 

Joe Boy

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I am calving my heifers right now and use a Maine bull named, "Hummer."  The first two weighed less than 60 lbs.  55 and 58.  One heifer is small 1050 and the other one is 1300.  The smaller one had the bigger calf.  I have another one that will calf today.  Last Spring my calves were from ALI and were all small and mostly bulls.  I will wean them in a couple of weeks and plan to keep the best one as a clean up bull from my Chi-Angus Limosin crossed heifers. These calves would make a show steer if they had enough hair, and they might.  They are thick and deep with clean necks.  Several neighbors have asked what I was going to do with them.  They are very beautiful right now.  I will use a bull named "ELMO" this year along with ALI and Hummer.  I have 40 straws of TLM Bouncer to use this Spring.  I have a 14 year old Cunia daughter bred to him that will calf next month and I am hoping for a bull to keep for my heifer clean up with the loss of my heifer bull.  Next time I order semen I will probably get "Majors MoneyMan."
 

garybob

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Moocow11 said:
Ok what are some of the better calving ease bulls?

also i have a heifer that weighed 55 lbs when she was born, along with her dam and grand dam. so would i be able to breed her to a bull that put out bigger calves, or would i always have to be breeding her to a lower BW bull  :)))
Get a pelvic area measurement on her, to be sure of what direction to go. REMEMBER: a dinky live one outperforms a stoutest dead 'un.
 

Joe Boy

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I have some Hard Core but will use him on some of my larger cows.  He would be great for heifers.
 

red

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Major's Money Man is also a good bull for bithweights. He'll clean up their front some too.
I have had good luck w/ Foreplay also on my cows. Usually get a lower birth weight. But I agree w/ Garybob, get a pelvice measurement to see where you stand. Just because she was born small doesn';t mean she'll be small all her life.

Red
 

DL

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If ya missed me I have been in computer he** - after 3 hours on the phone to MS in India it may be resolved ag(hhhhhhhhhhh :mad: :mad: :mad:

Like I said before I NEVER gamble with heifers - a really good dead calf and a paralyzed heifer is not worth much compared to a live calf and a heifer that can walk.

I think the advise of getting her pelvic measured is good - the size of the heifer does not necessarily correlate with either the pelvic area or birth weight

Even with the best plans something can go not quite right

For Maines I like WD40 and Witch Doctor, I have not yet used Majors Money Man on heifers but he has good numbers and I have cows bred to him this year - we will see how it goes. I like to see how they work on cows before trying on heifers. Also Taz should work (half blood Maine)

Lots of Angus - I have had good luck with Northern Improvement, Show Heifer has used a bunch of different Angus bulls.

Shorthorns - I would go with Gizmo...good luck

 

afhm

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Here's what I like for calving ease:  Ali, Witch Doctor, Houdini, Proud Jazz, Shiver, Grizz, GCC Old School, OCC Legend, Money Man, Intense Plus, Limited Edition, Bush's Flashback, OCC Machinist.  I have heard Hard Core is good, but I can't get anything to stick when I have used him so I gave up.
 

DL

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afhm said:
Here's what I like for calving ease:  Ali, Witch Doctor, Houdini, Proud Jazz, Shiver, Grizz, GCC Old School, OCC Legend, Money Man, Intense Plus, Limited Edition, Bush's Flashback, OCC Machinist.  I have heard Hard Core is good, but I can't get anything to stick when I have used him so I gave up.

afhm - I have had problems like you had with Hard Core (ie won't stick) with several bulls - different batch, different distributor - no pregnancies - wonder what it is? can blame the person who does the heat detection or the AI since everyone else sticks - maybe phase of the moon, maybe karma hmmm?
 

afhm

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I have had the same trouble with Ali but not as bad, I went back and looked and I am at only 50% conception with Ali.  The calves are darn good (my best steer and one of my best heifers) and I still have some in the tank, but I probably will move on to one of the other bulls unless I have better luck with the rest of the semen. 
 

red

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I used Hard Core this year w/ no problems. Got it from Top Sires. The most problems I ever had w/ semen was w/ Polleriod. Never did anything bred to him. Also had some trouble w/ Sizzler but did finally get one bred to him.

Red
 

TJ

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afhm said:
Here's what I like for calving ease:  Ali, Witch Doctor, Houdini, Proud Jazz, Shiver, Grizz, GCC Old School, OCC Legend, Money Man, Intense Plus, Limited Edition, Bush's Flashback, OCC Machinist.  I have heard Hard Core is good, but I can't get anything to stick when I have used him so I gave up.

Of course, if you want ultra-calving ease, homo polled & black, outcross genetics, pure Angus genetics, easy fleshing, hairy, stout, sound, high marbling, that will sire some eye appeal, a very docile nature, and a definate downsizer, just look at my picture to the left.  ;)  ;D



 

knabe

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and what about male sexed semen on that pic to the left as i don't want a heifer, but want to use something like him on a heifer i absolutely don't want any problems with, but want to eat/sell the carcass?
 

TJ

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knabe said:
and what about male sexed semen on that pic to the left as i don't want a heifer, but want to use something like him on a heifer i absolutely don't want any problems with, but want to eat/sell the carcass?

I could look into that.  Actually, I've thought about sexing the semen for producing heifer calves, because most of the people that we've been selling semen to prefer heifers.  However, I'll bet that commercial producers would prefer male calves.  I'll research it & see what I can find out. 
 

DL

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uluru said:
DL
Which Gizmo are you referring to?
When I did a search on the ASA site I found 5 Gizmos

Thx.......Bob

WOW Bob - 5 Gizmos and that probably doesn't include the widgets! ;D ;D Are all these Gizmo's Shorthorns?
I was referring to The Gizmo, ELBEEs Gizmo
Elbee Leader C087 ASA# 3954318
 
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