I finally took time this weekend to pay a little detailed attention to our new calves that have been hitting the ground for the past three weeks. Until this point, it was check to see if they were alive and move on to the next spot. We finally cooled off and the babies actually act like they are more alive than dead. As of last night, we have about 58 AI calves that have lived through the heat/coyotes/dust etc. Calving difficulty is about the only problem we haven't had due to our weather conditions. I do have several calves from new bulls and interesting observations on them include:
Smilin Bob - 8 calves born. I have a weak spot for baldies and have immediately noticed that he does a great job of "keeping" the white on the faces if the mommas have some, maybe even increasing the amount of white on the faces a little. I've been unable to consistently get any baldies out of HW and his sons for a while now. This attribute of Smilin Bob was one of the first thing that jumps out at me when looking at his calves. Overall, I'm really pleased with his calves - good hair, bone and muscle for babies.
Fireman - several folks on here last year had seen this red bull of Brandon Horn's and liked him. I used him. Three calves born so far and everyone of them are uniquely black and white spotted. You can see them from a mile away. Good looking calves so far.
Montego Bay - I used him on some second calvers and some of my probably TH-carrier females. Good looking, solid black calves. I've got five live ones so far. A coyote got the first one about three days after it was born. All solid black.
I've got the best looking baby bull calf I've ever had out of Monopoly and a Friction cow. I'm becoming a real believer in Monopoly based last years calf crop - two of which are in my show barn and the rest got kept for replacements. They may not be the thickest things when born, but the ones I'm messing with have gotten better every day. I've only got five this year so far, but every one of them are real nice for their age.
Sorry, no photos yet.
Smilin Bob - 8 calves born. I have a weak spot for baldies and have immediately noticed that he does a great job of "keeping" the white on the faces if the mommas have some, maybe even increasing the amount of white on the faces a little. I've been unable to consistently get any baldies out of HW and his sons for a while now. This attribute of Smilin Bob was one of the first thing that jumps out at me when looking at his calves. Overall, I'm really pleased with his calves - good hair, bone and muscle for babies.
Fireman - several folks on here last year had seen this red bull of Brandon Horn's and liked him. I used him. Three calves born so far and everyone of them are uniquely black and white spotted. You can see them from a mile away. Good looking calves so far.
Montego Bay - I used him on some second calvers and some of my probably TH-carrier females. Good looking, solid black calves. I've got five live ones so far. A coyote got the first one about three days after it was born. All solid black.
I've got the best looking baby bull calf I've ever had out of Monopoly and a Friction cow. I'm becoming a real believer in Monopoly based last years calf crop - two of which are in my show barn and the rest got kept for replacements. They may not be the thickest things when born, but the ones I'm messing with have gotten better every day. I've only got five this year so far, but every one of them are real nice for their age.
Sorry, no photos yet.
