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For mytfarms

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Anonymous

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Oct302008033.jpg

While not a "Kit" bred cow- I sure wouldn't mind having a whole herd that could do as good as this little 4 frame 1st calf heifer (that probably doesn't weigh over 1000- maybe 1100 lbs)... I sold calves the other day- and this calf weighed 627 lbs- and the only creep those calves saw was the volunteer wheat sprouting in the stubble fields...Thats weaning off about 60% of her weight as a heifer....
Not much more I can ask for- if she'll keep doing that...

Oct302008034.jpg

Same heifer with her March 18th born steer calf...
 

mytfarms

Well-known member
Thanks OT. I seen that pair in an earlier post. I really like that pair. You ever get tired of that cow, know there's someone who would be more'n happy to take her off your hands. :D Real nice, easy doin' heifer. She'll make a great cow for you.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Back when I was more inquisitive I weighed all my cows and calves and figured out % of dam's weight. I think we averaged 48% with a low of 28% and a high of 64%. The high was a little Char/Angus cow that lasted forever-the low was a big old SimmX that was gone. Most people when trying to hit that 50% of the cows weight try to make their calves bigger. Pretty tough carrot to chase-your replacements increase in size too. It's easier to just run a bit more moderate size cow-weaning weight is an overrated profit indicator anyway. Pretty easy to manufacture an extra 1-200 pounds of weaning weight if you use all the concoctions and can afford an alarm clock and long underwear so you can calve early.
 

mytfarms

Well-known member
Ben H said:
I'd like to see the results if you paired her up to Johnny B. Good or Colorado Hobo!!

Huh uh. Put a good 'ol bull like Hunter or Emblazon on her. Maybe even that Idaho bull. I wouldn't think OT would like breeding his nice black baldie to a red bull.
 

Shelly

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
Back when I was more inquisitive I weighed all my cows and calves and figured out % of dam's weight. I think we averaged 48% with a low of 28% and a high of 64%. The high was a little Char/Angus cow that lasted forever-the low was a big old SimmX that was gone. Most people when trying to hit that 50% of the cows weight try to make their calves bigger. Pretty tough carrot to chase-your replacements increase in size too. It's easier to just run a bit more moderate size cow-weaning weight is an overrated profit indicator anyway. Pretty easy to manufacture an extra 1-200 pounds of weaning weight if you use all the concoctions and can afford an alarm clock and long underwear so you can calve early.

There's nothing wrong with calving early. Personally, I was always proud of the weaning weights we got out of our cows, can't complain when you're pulling calves off that weigh between 700 and 850 lbs. And those were off Simm/Hereford crosses that were weighing 1200 to 1500 lbs. That extra weight sure made a difference on payday.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
mytfarms said:
Ben H said:
I'd like to see the results if you paired her up to Johnny B. Good or Colorado Hobo!!

Huh uh. Put a good 'ol bull like Hunter or Emblazon on her. Maybe even that Idaho bull. I wouldn't think OT would like breeding his nice black baldie to a red bull.

Shes hopefully bred back to the Legacy 3R9 son #15800327 or the Bannon of Wye son #15800329....
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
I did the early calving biggest calves in the fall thing for a LONG time-tooo long lol. We have an area NW of us that just about exclusively does it-alot of herds going down the road because the kids don't want nothing to do with it. Once you get more than a couple hundred cows cold weather calving can be a real gong show-unless you have some willing slaves/family members to grind into the ground doing it. But I do admit eight weight calves do make good conversation.
 

gcreekrch

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
I did the early calving biggest calves in the fall thing for a LONG time-tooo long lol. We have an area NW of us that just about exclusively does it-alot of herds going down the road because the kids don't want nothing to do with it. Once you get more than a couple hundred cows cold weather calving can be a real gong show-unless you have some willing slaves/family members to grind into the ground doing it. But I do admit eight weight calves do make good conversation.

This is scary NR, I agree with you fully on both of your comments on this post. :D
We calve in April, that is as late as we can go with what we have to work with.
We sold/gave away our empty cows last week. They AVERAGED 1116 lbs on 23 head.
Our AVERAGE shrunk wt. when the oldest calves are 205 days (the sale barn we sell calves at is 460 miles away) since we moved to April calving is 512 lbs. For where we live I can't complain.
 

RobertMac

Well-known member
...I sure wouldn't mind having a whole herd that could do as good as this little 4 frame 1st calf heifer...
The real question is...why can't you produce a whole herd like her????

Yes, Ben H, she is heterozygous...which may be a clue to the answer to the question.
 

mytfarms

Well-known member
The only reason I would say OT wouldn't is because all the other cows in his herd are working for him. If I could raise different cattle out here, I probly would. Why not? They don't fit my environment. If OT has other cattle that fit like a glove and work for him, than why change the system?
 

Ben H

Well-known member
speaking of color and heterozygous, I ran into something interesting. My mom still likes registered holsteins. She had one cow (holstein) that the dariy farm across town just couldn't seem to breed her back, as a last chance we stuck her with our hereford bull. She took and had a nice black baldie heifer. Her first calf or two were Holtein ET's. The she got bred to another hereford, this resulted in a black baldie bull calf that turned out nice. Her next calf was red, showing that the recessive trait was there and did express. One day I noticed while running that F1 cross through the chute, a red spot on her shoulder smaller then a dime. Now I'm curious how many of these Angus with the red gene may have a red spot on their body like this cow did.
 
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