Big Baby

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Just came in from delivering the biggest baby we have ever had born here. Weighing in at a whooping 151 lbs. Big char limo calf and we were able to pull him by hand, hes as long as a freight train. Put him in the warm barn with his moma and will give him some colostrum here shortly. Im just glad to see him and his mom are doing fine

Wondering if anyone else had, delivered any big calves in the past or this season?

[Faster horses]

We try very hard not to have big calves. Over 85 pounds is too much on this place.

It has been literally years since we have had to have a C-section and if we pull a calf out of a cow, it is backward or something else is wrong.

No thanks--you can have 'em.

I'm glad he was okay, though.

[3words]

Hows your calf doing?Get him to suck the cow?Was the cow past her due date?Had a few big ones this year,the biggest was probably around 130 lbs.I personally prefer them under 90 lbs.Those big ones,can sometimes lead to a lot of extra work.

[Shelly]

We've had a few big ones this year. Two of those were especially big, over 150 lbs. Both cows had them on their own, one we helped suck, the other did it on his own. Both cows were at least a week overdue.

[Oldtimer]

MR- The biggest I ever had was a couple of years ago.. 148 lb big black baldy bull calf pulled out of a 5 year old Hereford cow --- angus bull- apparently the heterosis kicked in good before he was born....

[Andy]

A couple of years ago we took a 142lb calf out of a 16 month old 1000lb heifer. That was the only calf i have ever taken out the side.

[Les]

A few yrs back when the trend in simmental was big and tall we had a first calf heifer have a 150 lb bull calf unassisted.The heifer was tall and very long,and the calf was the same all legs and length. The bull the heifer was bred to was over 6 feet tall at the shoulders and if you put him in a 16 foot stock trailer you could not shut the divider gate as he was too long.When the bull was finally sold after a few yrs he weighed 2800 lbs and he was far from fat. He was a very gentle quiet bull.He would not fight with other bulls not even yearling bulls.The only thing he didnt like was a needle.

[alabama]

Wow: Big Calves!!! Good luck with them but I hope I don't have any like that. 90 pounds is way plenty and I have few over that but I hope not to many.
Heifers should run 65 to 80 and bulls should be 70 to 90 but always some on the end of the curve.

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Greetings everyone.. thought I would bring you an update on the calf we called the jolly giant. We gave him 2 litres of colostrum this morning around 1:30 and when I went back over to check the cows this morning he was up sucking his moma. He is doing fine and moma is doing good as well. The cow is a 7 year old charolais and was over due by almost two weeks. Still have him and his mom in the barn.

[Shelly]

MR, you getting any bad weather right now? We're experiencing almost blizzard conditions right now, have been since late afternoon. I was dreading going out to do chores this evening but hubby gave me the evening off and he went and did them himself when he got home from the city. I was pretty broke up about it!

[3words]

Good to hear MR.

[Manitoba_Rancher]

Shelly,

The weather here isnt too bad. Real strong east wind making it feel cooler than it is. The temp is about -3 but I dread if the wind gets up with all of this loose snow around. It will be a complete blizzard. Are things improving out your way now?