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Beefmasters

WE USED TO USE BEEFMASTER BULLS WHEN WE WERE 2OO MILES SOUTH OF HERE. THEY WERE EASY CALVERS. TOLERATED THE HEAT VERY WELL. I REALLY LIKED THEM BUT UP IN THIS AREA THEY DISCOUNT ANYTHING WITH ANY "EAR".
i THOUGHT THE BULLS WERE A LITTLE SLOW IN MATURING, MAYBE TOOK MORE TIME TO BE READY TO SERVICE A LOT OF COWS.
 
A man I used to cowboy for . Had beefmaster bulls, put them on his angus cows. Didn't have any calving problems they had them on the run. The calves grain good, he ran them on wheat pasture. The only draw back was he had to rebuild his correls, the calves was a little wild when we work them in the fall. But as far as the pruebreds, been around them some and like them, they make good mama's.
 
Frankk said:
Good cattle trouble is, some of our buyers don't want any ear at all, say they don't grade well.
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Say, we've got a few calves born during the 25 below zero weather that should suit your buyer just fine. These calves hardly have any ears at all. :wink: :-)
 
on that subject, would you use lack of an external ear(frozen off) as a factor in culling replacement hiefers? Is that a health factor later on?
I've got cows with out a whole ear, but looks like quite a few calves with almost no ear this year.
 
SHORTSTUFF said:
on that subject, would you use lack of an external ear(frozen off) as a factor in culling replacement hiefers? Is that a health factor later on?
I've got cows with out a whole ear, but looks like quite a few calves with almost no ear this year.
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It's possible that if the ears got frozen, the feet may gotten frozen also and could present problems down the road.

Just a thought. I have heard this to be the case but couldn't confirm it.
 
I've kept many heifers with frozen ears and tails as replacements- mainly because the buyer cuts them back or docks for them...They don't look pretty- but have never had a problem with their feet... Altho the buyers claim that the frozen tailed and eared calves sometimes develop foot problems in the feedlot- I haven't seen it with those I kept......

I always think of these cows as the "survivors"... If they are good enough to survive being born at 20 below or in a snow storm thats the genetics I want.. :lol:

All the frozen foot problems I've ever had showed up right away....
 
Oldtimer said:
I've kept many heifers with frozen ears and tails as replacements- mainly because the buyer cuts them back or docks for them...They don't look pretty- but have never had a problem with their feet... Altho the buyers claim that the frozen tailed and eared calves sometimes develop foot problems in the feedlot- I haven't seen it with those I kept......

I always think of these cows as the "survivors"... If they are good enough to survive being born at 20 below or in a snow storm thats the genetics I want.. :lol:

All the frozen foot problems I've ever had showed up right away....
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I concur. Quite a few of our cows are short eared. Just because they're not pretty doesn't mean they are not good mamas. The only drawback is there is no place to put the ear tag. One baby calf is packing around an ear tag that reads, "NENT". This means his mother has "no ears, no tail". We all know which cow it is. :wink:

We've also never had bad feet show up later. They either bother right off the bat, when the frozen ears fall off, or they don't ever bother at all. Another good place for calves with these frozen deficiencies is the Sandhills Cattle Association carcass contest. I always figure that the lack of ears and tail gives the calf a better yield percentage.
 
I agree when they freeze their feet you'll know shortly.I have one cow that froze her ears tail and nostrils she looks like a pig but raises a good calf just the same and she's sound.I think those hot feedlot rations founder lots of cattle they just use the frozen ears as a way to discount calves.

Have you guys noticed when cattle are high those buyers will take most everything but when their cheap they sort the heck out of them.
 
We are like OT and kept some heifers because of frozen ears. Funny, they weren't exactly what we would have picked out on purpose, but every one of them raises a dandy calf.

I think where the feet problem shows up is in the feedlot when cattle are pushed on feed and get heavy. The feet break down because of being frozen. Some of the ranchers from this area have gone back and looked at their calves during the winter and have seen this for themselves. Up until then we all thought it was just a cork and bull story.
 
The majority of frozen feet show up right away, like the ears do. However there are a percentage that show up at weaning and some more that show after feeding for a while.

I was buying calves one year and missed a sore foot on one steer, wasn't bad in October when I bought him, but I barely made 1000 pounds by the time he was pretty bad on that foot. I got a slot at the packer and he just graded with about a pound to spare on the light side, not much fat cover, but enough I got out of him without a loss.

A frozen foot will sometimes show up after the next cold winter. The foot is more suseptible to frost after it has had some freezing on it. The calf could seem 100% sound untill the following January in the feedlot then his foot refreezes and he comes up lame.

That is the reason buyers can discount the froze ears, but they do take advantage of it a little much.
 

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