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Badlands, the thing is that I'm not the exception in my neck of the woods, but rather the rule.  Most of us up here like Feb/Mar calving, and most of us realize that the survivability of larger calves is better than that of small calves in the cold.  Quite frankly, I'm not sure why people have all of sudden decided that 80lb calves HAVE to be the norm to allow for easy calving.  It never used to be that way, and according to my vet, there are far more calving difficulties (national average) now than there were 20 years ago.  Besides, as I've mentioned a couple times in this post, I'm only arguing against those who say its impossible to have big calves or make blanket indictments against large calves.  Myself, Randi, and Mike are all proof that a program can be built that makes use of those large calves and all the advantages they bring.


As far as culling heavy, that was very early on in my program.  I bought a bunch of cows whose background I didn't know.  After a couple years, those that were left formed the foundation of my herd.  Since that time, I rarely pull a calf, except in the cases I noted where I'd bought bad bulls.  Anyone who can honestly say they haven't culled heavily at least in the beginning of their programs, I can honestly say that I would never buy livestock from them.


As far as the "nice heifer", I spose you're right.  Better put would have been "nice looking heifer", although in a different program with lower BWs, they would have performed very well and could have been called a "nice heifer".  So I guess it would depend on your point of view, right?


Rod


What city in Missouri has a big arch?
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