Some new steers!

[BuckJones]

Hey,

So I meant to stay away from purebreds this year for the kids in the 4-H Club. We were bored so we called up the folks at Hivalleylimo.com to go see what they have going on in their pens and fields. This trip was solely menat to kill time on the weekend. However, we were extrememly impressed. The calves were all better muscled than what is usual to find around here and the whole herd was very calm some even letting us pet them in the field. Even the bulls in the pens were happy to have the kids feed and pet them. To top it off, the owners were very happy with how the steer we purchased from them last year turned out and told us we could pick any calf and they will steer him for us...even the ones they meant to definately keep as bulls. There were three of those and they said they were so nice, they were giving us a week to decide if we would take them or they stay bulls.

Long story short, we went home, picked up some kids, and took them there the next day. They were picking steers right out of the gates, but as soon as I showed them the ones I had an eye on, they picked em without a doubt.

The downside, they are purebred limos. So...long legs, not much bone, big hipped, boring colour, not alot of hair.

This first one is the smallest of them. He is full brother to the one I showed in one of my threads on here.

This second one is more level topped, but wide and has a huge butt.

 

[BuckJones]

This third one has too much muscle expression for my likes, but we loved his flat, thick top.

This last one is my personal favourite. He embodies the advise I was given on this forum in my other thread. He is more level hipped, and much  more square in the back without giving up the wide twist.

We had another girl pick a steer there, but she may pass to look at some Char X's later.

 

[BuckJones]

Oh yeah...they are all April born calves. The last three are the ones they had marked down to keep as bulls for sure.
We will try to build on last years experience in a couple of ways. The main thing is the feed. Potential of switching feed to COB from barley, still looking into that though. And, increasing the total max feed from 32 lbs/day to 36lbs/day and hitting the target of 36lbs/day by February or even January instead of the usual March. This is for getting total coverage, which we weren't able to get with last years steer. It also helps that we will pick these up in the middle of October like we usually do. We got ours a month late last year.

The next thing is the hair...they are definately not going to have show stopping hair...but we can definately improve on what we did last year. This includes blowdrying them all winter, keeping their hair cleaner with oil, vinegar, and conditioner sprays. Also working their legs hairs...I never did this before because it sucks trying not to have the hair clump. Then, once it's all boned up, there is more to clip.

Just sharing.

 

[BuckJones]

A pic of a steer a kid is considering, but not sure about.

And a pic of the fields. It was such a beautiful fall day.

 

[Aussie]

Quiet limos  but seriously alot of work and a hell of a lot of feed but if you do it right should turn out great

 

[BadgerFan]

the first one is my choice.  and yes, feed the heck out of them early.  Limmis can make some of the nicest fat cattle you'll ever see, and in the right hands they will show fine on a county fair level.

 

[CAB]

Beautiful country and great looking limi calves. I'm impressed with the limi bull named Bulletproof from Straits. He should be a changer for the breed. Look him up here on the Steer Planet.

 

[rackranch]

I wouldn't feed any of them out for show.. just not enough balance there for my tatse... I think you initial thought is correct..stay away from the purebreds... MHO

 

[Show Heifer]

108 is too straight for me. But like his thickness!
My favorite is 93. Nice balance, appears to be correct in his balance.

I see your from canada, and if I am correct, they show steers that are more of the "market" steer type, rather than the "show" steer style. Limi's do quite well in those type of classes, as many market judges realize that limi have great feed conversion, have great ADG, have a high yield and while they will never fit the American Grading system (not enough marbling) they are super tender without being fat and wasteful.

Limi's have come a long distance in the disposition catagory!  As with any breed, if you cull heartlessly with no excuses (but she raised a good calf, etc) on disposition, you will have gentle cows.  Our limi's were never a problem, but we selected for that, and handled them well.

Nice looking prospects! Good luck with them.

 

[BuckJones]

Thanks for the replies.

In our district, we do use more of "market" steer types. Almost every kid sorts through steers that are meant to be sent to feedlots. Ever year though, I notice alot more that are starting to look like "show" steers. The biggest difference is that alot more steers show up with the teddybear hair. THey still come from the same ranches, but kids are learning and willing to put in the extra time to learn better techniques for growing hair.
These calves were meant to be breeding bulls. Alot of the other kids who will be bringing limox steers at our show will have steers sired by one of their bulls.

 

[upthecreek]

I was at the Ag Canada Research Centre on the weekend and they showed us where they housed the first Limo bulls that came to Canada in the 70's.  They sure had to make some tall fences to hold them!!!  The breed has come along way since then.

 

[Silver]

You would be best off to soften their apperance with as much hair as you can get. Bone those legs up for everything they're worth and hope their flanks fill in.

 

[BuckJones]

haha, the firsst limo steer I picked ended up jumping over the fence just after I picked him...went with a different one of course.

Had a look at the Bulletproof bull. Looks like they can sell semen to Canada. Prob be expensive though. These guys have said they would like me to start showing their bulls. Unfortunately, that's very difficult for me because i'm three hours away at university. Wish I could though. To me, this bull actually looks very similar to bulls they have at ivylivestock.com here in Canada. The granddam of the calves we picked is Ivy's Princess on that site.

Question though: what do you guys mean when you say balance?
I've always considered balance as similar to a balanceing scale where the front has to be similar in size to the back. But proportion seems a better term for that. But I also breed Show quality bettas for my hobby, and balance with them would be to draw a line around the edges of their unpaired fins and have the line be a smooth circle free of kinks or rough patches. lol.

 

[BuckJones]

You would be best off to soften their apperance with as much hair as you can get. Bone those legs up for everything they're worth and hope their flanks fill in.

Have attached pic of the full brother to the first steer posted here. This is the hair we were able to get out of him, although my brother was pretty lazy to be getting on with his hair growing. They grow alot of guard hairs and it sucks.

 

[BuckJones]

We picked up these steers today. Since last post on this thread, they've been castrated, weaned and branded. They also have their winter fur already so they look quite differetn than these pics...no new pics though because the've been penned up and look hideous.

Anyway,

Steer in pic#1 weighed 650 lbs
pic#2 was 675
pic #3 690
pic #660.

Generally, we hope for them to be just over double in weight by their target show in August. This puts them in a good position where the Champions have been >1400lbs for two years.
We didn't want to go that high with weights because it would be impossible to finish, or if we did, too  much feed, esp. with Limos.

We also took another kids steer to be weighed. His was a LimFlex from another ranch...800 lbs already. This is way too big for me. If he were mine, I would take him back and trade him. But I didn't know what to tell the kid. For me, this is not a manageable size.

 

[BuckJones]

Just came back from holiday home visit. Brought the camera down to the barn...there was a warm spell, the snow melted and now they are a bit muddy.

This one came down with a case of ringworm...not pretty.

This guy thinks he already won:

Have only managed to get them up to 16 lbs of feed so far. Will try get them up to 20 lbs as soon as they start eating a bit faster again.
Not prettty to look at at this stage, but they are already looking much better then the steers we had last year.
Crap on their legs will come off end of Feb. when the snow melts again and they are moved into bigger, cleaner space.
Also, i've been reccomended to give loose minderal supplement rather than mineral licks. What can you tell me about this? I always worry that we would be giving them too much.

 

[cornershack]

the loose as apposed to blocks, they will only eat as much as they need.  they just work harder for the blocks and there seems to be less waste. the new coated stuff is better but our feed dealer says less palatable. i think it is what they get used to. just like feed changes if they get it gradual they dont notice the difference.