New calves at Oakbar

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oakbar

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We've got some new calves at Oakbar Ranch.    Hopefully, I've attached pictures.    Let me know what you think!!
 

Attachments

  • Vortec X Myrtle Bo hfr.(4 days old).JPG
    Vortec X Myrtle Bo hfr.(4 days old).JPG
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  • Molly(Xbred)and Urlacher(Sin City) 2 wks old.JPG
    Molly(Xbred)and Urlacher(Sin City) 2 wks old.JPG
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  • Vortec X Myrtle Bo hfr.(4 days old).JPG
    Vortec X Myrtle Bo hfr.(4 days old).JPG
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oakbar

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Sorry guys, I put the Vortec heifer on twice.    Here's another calf by Tonic and my daughter's Sonny/Charmer heifer we got from Vogels.
 

Attachments

  • Urlacher & Sonic 3 days old.JPG
    Urlacher & Sonic 3 days old.JPG
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SKF

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They all look like great calves. I love the Votec heifer!!!!!
 

fluffer

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Wow, nice calves!  Have a really dumb question though, who is Urlacher?  There is a Gelbvieh bull Urlacher  :)))  But I am guessing your talking about a different bull

Thanks
Fluffer
 

oakbar

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Sorry for the confusion!!  Urlacher is what we named the Sin City calf because he was so stout and powerful looking.  We use the alphabetical system of showing the year the calf is born.  This is the "U" year--so my daughter named him Urlacher.  His mother is our oldest cow and has produced many feeder calf champions,etc for us at our local shows.    She is a "G"  model (I think that makes her 13 years old)and we're being asked to consider selling a flush on her this year.  A friend of ours wants to flush her to Heatwave.  Many of our neighbors have purchased her daughters and granddaughters to raise show calves for their kids.  A couple of years ago there were four calves at our local fair where she was either the dam or grandam.

We're anticipating 3 more calves this week-- a Who Made Who and two ET calves out of our Myrtle Bo cow and Sonny.  We're getting anxious to see what her Sonny calves will look like after seeing her Vortec heifer(in the picture above). 
 

shortyjock89

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Hey there Oakbar, good lookin calves.  I was wondering how that Tonic calf came for you guys?  I was thinking about  breeding the heifer in my avatar to him. 

P.S.  I really like the look of that Vortec heifer, she looks like she going to be super stout.  Happy Calving!!
 

oakbar

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Our Tonic calf came really hard but I don't think it had anything to do with the calf or his sire.  He weighed 80 pounds and his momma is a big, stout heifer(we affectionately call her the White Elephant!!") that my daughter showed last year. She was our champion market heifer at the local fair(we showed her as market because my other daughter was showing a Vortec heifer(Champion breeding heifer) and they would have been in the same class).  Anyway, back to the birth.  Our vet helped us pull the calf and he said that the heifer had a pelvis that was somewhat cone shaped with the front of it being narrower than he would like.    The calf came positioned correctly until the head got to the birth canal and then it would either go to one side or down.  We finally got everything lined up properly and then had to pull pretty hard.  The calf had trouble standing the first couple of days on its front legs but as you can see everything is OK now.    I may try to talk to some of the other breeders that have full sibs to her to see if they have had similar problems.  John Sullivan bought a flushmate from Vogel's the same day I bought her.  Another flushmate was a Reserve All American heifer for Vogels.  I believe another flushmate was a Reserve All American bull that Vogel showed for the owners last year as well.

The bottom line is I would use Tonic again on heifers but I would probably do a better job of getting pelvic measurements on my heifers--even if they are big bodied. We plan to keep breeding the cow but we'll continue to put a premium on the calving ease of the bulls we use.  She could probably use a little "downsizing" anyway.
 

Attachments

  • Sonic(Tonic & SonnyCharmer) 3-7-08.JPG
    Sonic(Tonic & SonnyCharmer) 3-7-08.JPG
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OH Breeder

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oakbar,
May I ask what your farms name is? Great looking cattle you have. the bloodlines you have are pretty desirable at the moment.
 

kane1598

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I really like the sin city bull calf.  what was his birthweight like?  Oakbar, you seem to know alot about shorthorn club calves, who is your pick to make winning steers? Sin City?
 

oakbar

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Our farm name is Oakbar Ranch.  We're located in extreme northern Iowa right where Interstate 35 crosses the MN border.  All of our calves will be for sale this year unless we decide to keep a heifer or two for my daughter to show. 
 

oakbar

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kane1598 said:
I really like the sin city bull calf.  what was his birthweight like?  Oakbar, you seem to know alot about shorthorn club calves, who is your pick to make winning steers? Sin City?

The Sin Sity calf weighed 80 pounds at birth.  The cow had him really easy on  2/20( -15 degrees below zero) and he almost froze his ears off.  I got him in as quick as I could and eveything seems Ok now though.  We've also had some excellent calves out of King Kong and this cow--2 feeder calf champions--and some of the clubby bulls--Who Made Who, Double Stuff, & Hide N Watch.

As far as picking bull for clubby calves goes, I think you really have to know your cow and what she "nicks"with.  I've seen some really good Sin City calves although not as many as his brother--Vegas-produced.  Unfortunately, Vegas is TH positive.  Many of the clubby guys really don't care too much about TH and PHA as they are looking for a terminal cross animal.  Some even seem to prefer it to get the extra hair, stoutness, and square body type.  We have had both TH and PHA positive females that we've had to breed around.  I really don't like it but if you pay attention you can manage it and still get some really nice  calves.  I won't generally use a carrier bull if I'm looking to make a cross for a purebred calf, however.  If you do have a carrier cow you really need to test all the offspring which can get kind of expensive and time consuming.  I usually steer the bull calves and test the heifers.  Our Myrtle Bo cow is out of two  carrier parents (in fact there are carriers on both paternal and maternal sides for generations)and yet she  is clean for TH.  In fact, the only reason I got her bought was that the former owner thought she was a carrier.  We got the test back a week after we bought her and she was clean.  Sure brought a smile to my face, though!!

More and more, I think there are enough clean bulls that almost anyone should be able to find one without sacrificing to much in quality!! 
 

oakbar

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Hey everyone!!  Thanks for all the positive comments on our calves!!  We are really excited about our calf crop this year and all the new and interesting cattle people we'll meet because of them and our new friends at SteerPlanet!!

We got a real nice Who Made Who heifer calf out of one of our clubby mommas this morning at 8:00.  She's black with a white star on her forehead, a white ring around the lower part of her tail, and a couple of small white slashes/spots on her body.  Really eye catching!!  She weighed 100 pounds but the birth went well and she's already up sucking and bucking!!

WE're looking forward to our first ET calf(SonnyX Myrtle Bo) later this week.

Hope the snow isn't causing too many problems for those of you in OH, IN, & KY.  Looks more like northern Iowa or MN !!
 
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