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BIG CALF

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http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070303/NEWS01/703030345

I pulled a 148# baldy bull calf out of a 4 year old hereford cow a couple years ago that was the biggest I had ever had...And it was a hard pull... Cow couldn't get up for 2 days and walked wobbly for about a week before she got all the feeling back in her legs and backend...

She was bred angus- but I think the heterosis must have kicked in early.. Since then she has had a couple big calves but the biggest of them was only 108#...

Needless to say I haven't kept any of her baldy heifers for replacements....
 
Needless to say I haven't kept any of her baldy heifers for replacements....
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I would say that was a sound, management decision 8)

Have some Hereford breeders within 60 mi of here, I went over to their calving barn because our vet was (at the time) renting their vet room (one of the breeders is a vet himself). Had several calves in warming boxes...all of them born over 115 lbs, they were thinking about culling a bull... :?
 
Biggest I have seen was 140+ pounds, size of my neighbors kitchen counter top out of the Simmi bull named Picasso.. Biggest we have had was about 115 or so, can't be for sure as my scale busted on him :lol: but he was out of a Maine Anjou bull and a big old Chi Cross cow.. Big and red was that calf, man was he a chunk.. I kind of prefer my 80-90 with a few 100+ pounders that I was getting last year for the most part, have no idea what the bulls are going to throw this year, I think we had 80% new bulls this past breeding season, I would have to do the math and most of the early bulls were new ones except one... We shall see how this turns out, lol. Depending on the cow I don't mind a 100 pound calf.. But With most of my cows weighin in at the 1300 pound range I really don't want to see many over 90-95 pounds ( Still have a couple that tip the scales at 1600.. They can through a 110#er and not bug me...
 
IL Rancher said:
But With most of my cows weighin in at the 1300 pound range I really don't want to see many over 90-95 pounds ( Still have a couple that tip the scales at 1600.. They can through a 110#er and not bug me...
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You got that right; all depends on the cow. I would really prefer my 1500# cows to have a 110lb calf than a 75#, but 85-95lbs is lots for the smaller cows. Live calves with vigor are worth more than dead ones and appreciated alot more than those big dummies.
 
One year we had a bull at 150#, and a heifer at 146#. Our bull had not done this to us before as they were both out of the same proven sire. We blamed it on nutrition, and cut back on protien in the diet before calving, and haven't experienced that again. That was the 02 drought year when we had fed and caked year around.
 
Think I still hold the record at the O'Neill Vet clinic 168 lbs live c-section. Out of a Gelbvieh, Angus cross bull and a black baldy cow. That was 5 or 6 years ago.
 
Buyer said:
Think I still hold the record at the O'Neill Vet clinic 168 lbs live c-section. Out of a Gelbvieh, Angus cross bull and a black baldy cow. That was 5 or 6 years ago.
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Yikes! How did it make out at weaning time?
 
Silver said:
Buyer said:
Think I still hold the record at the O'Neill Vet clinic 168 lbs live c-section. Out of a Gelbvieh, Angus cross bull and a black baldy cow. That was 5 or 6 years ago.
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Yikes! How did it make out at weaning time?
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I don't know how Buyers calf ended up-- but with the 148lber I had, by weaning time the 70-80 lbers had caught up and you couldn't tell any difference in size...Thats pretty well been my experience with all the 100lbers compared to the lighter birthweight ones-- reason I don't think the heavy birthweights are worth the trouble....
 
The gain on a big dead calf doesn't amount to much-the ones that live usually get caught up to anyway. Next purebred breeders that tells me he likes to challenge his cows BW wise I'll think I'll just cuff on the side of the head lol. Unfortunately no one breed has a monopoly on big stupid calves any more.
 
There is a definite Plus correlation between BW and WW. No one can deny it.

But too big is just, well............. too big. There will be relatively few problems if a cow has a calf that weighs 7% of her body weight if she has a BCS of 5-6.

I had a 52 lb. calf a few months ago in amongst my 85-95 pounders.

He's still a runt. Should have banded him the first day.

Read an interesting article about pelvic sizes too. The study showed that larger pelvic openings invite cows into the herd that have bigger calves, so the practice is a wash. He said it didn't help control dystocia.
 
Life is pretty easy if your calves don't get much bigger than a 100 lbs-most cows can pop that out without a hiccup-even my wee little British cows.
 
Alright so lets hear who is on the protien causes high birth weights side and who is on the side that it doesn't. I just had this debate and was proven wrong, so I want to hear what you all think. I'm on the fence about it. My dad swore that it made his calves monsters, I think it was more the bulls.
 
Heel Fly said:
Alright so lets hear who is on the protien causes high birth weights side and who is on the side that it doesn't. I just had this debate and was proven wrong, so I want to hear what you all think. I'm on the fence about it. My dad swore that it made his calves monsters, I think it was more the bulls.
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I say it does. I don't think it will take an 80 lb calf and make it 150 lbs, but I do think it will increase them even 10-15 lbs.
 
randiliana said:
Heel Fly said:
Alright so lets hear who is on the protien causes high birth weights side and who is on the side that it doesn't. I just had this debate and was proven wrong, so I want to hear what you all think. I'm on the fence about it. My dad swore that it made his calves monsters, I think it was more the bulls.
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I say it does. I don't think it will take an 80 lb calf and make it 150 lbs, but I do think it will increase them even 10-15 lbs.
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I agree...A few years back one of Leachmans Angus co-operators (up near Browning Mt, I believe) ended up feeding a bunch of high protein 2nd and 3rd cutting alfalfa hay for the winter-- and even tho they had low BW EPD cows and bulls and the pedigrees gave the calves low BW EPD's--they were getting 95-110 lb calves...

Definitely did not help their salability for low BW bulls at the sale when a bull walked in with BW EPD of -1.0 and a birthweight of 98lbs.... :roll: :lol:
 
Hmmm but what about cows that calve on grass that get to eat all the high protein grass they want before calving. Usually cold winters mean bigger calves-I've heard that the cows blood supply to the uterus increases in cold weather.
 
We had a charolais calf Sunday morning via c-section that weighed in at a whooping 225lbs+ (225 lbs was as high as the vets scale went).
 

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