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Picking Hiefers

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PPRM

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Just read thru the Kit Pharo thread. A lot of it was what happens to your cows with these bulls....


Well, I pick my heifers entirely on the cows. I have some Cows that I will kepp a Hiefer out of every time. Reason is that every calf they have turns out to be very impressive. They breed back, have great udders and continue to produce....


I don't do weaning weights or really anything to pick heifers other than two things. See who the momma is and then look at them and see if I like how they look. I have them on different pastures, so it might not be a fair comparison anyway.

One year I had too many heifers I liked so I had the Vet take Pelvis measurements to narrow my choices...Well, I coulda bred these girls to a Charlais and they woulda been ok....So that didn't help, but it was interesting that by selling anything that ever needed help, this was the result over time....

I agree with I think it was Jinglebob, The biggest cow never bring in the biggest weaned calf. I think this year I got rid of the last "Big Cow"...Or she got rid of herself. I pregged last spring to make sure everything bred before turning out to asture (I Fall Calve). She was bred, in the spring, but open in the fall. This without having a calf on her thru the summer....

I like the ratio idea FH had....But I know the lines of cows in my herd that really pop calves. So I have tended to buy bulls based on where I want my steers to go and the resulting hiefers have been ok....A lot of it is I think the Simmental Angus cross has tended to give me good cows....As IO have more cattle, I might start AIing a litle more to get the hiefers I want,


I think some of my luck may be with how I started my herd. I bought older bred cows from the hill ranches. I fed them up and put them on mineral. So the hiefers were out of cows that had stayed in herds for awhile, but finally gotten to old to produce on the forage base they were out of....

Anyway, I read the thread and realized that I think my cows are good sized, not monstors and I never really worried about the Bulls I used ruining a good cow line. I guess one bull I chose early on came outta a 12 year old cow and was in the top 5 % of this guys calves for WW, Gain and YW....these were hill raised calves too.....I saw that as putting longevity and perfomance in my cows...


Just some thots,

PPRM
 
PPRM- I do about the same thing on picking replacements....Thats where the little pocket book comes in handy-- start from when the calf is born keeping notes on BW- calving ease- cows udder- cows milk supply- cows disposition- build- any faults I notice...Keep adding to it thru the summer and compare back to bloodline history and by fall its pretty easy just to make out a list of the tag numbers you want to keep for replacements...

Sure wish I would have kept more the last couple of years now- some of these old gals are dragging out calving.....
 
I have always kept all heifers trying to build up a larger cowherd.I have noticed that alot of those little dumpy heifers grew up to be the best cows I have and the best heifers never do much at all...its a guessing game at best..
 
I hear ya Denny. I hate the day we pick replacement heifers. Never know if you are selling the best ones or keeping them. Someday I hope we can keep them all and breed them and see for ourselves.

We were gonna do that this year, but they are just worth too much money. The neighbor wants some of them so we are selling some.

Our neighbors on Clear Creek in Wyoming kept all their heifers. They raised Herefords and sold them after they had raised one calf. They said often times, the ones they wouldn't have kept as yearlings, were the est heifers.

Drives me nuts picking them!! We try to do it ON THE COW but don't always manage to get that done.
 
Denny,

I start with sorting out the hiefers from my top cows FIRST...Then I look thru them....Seems to work for me as it has been a few years since I sold any 3, 4 or 5 year old cows.....Last time it was a replacement from a cow I kinda liked, not one I loved...Good leson, if you don't Love what the cow does, forget the hiefers froom her,


PPRM
 
There are exceptions tho- those calving seasons with cold weather and blizzards- when most of the replacements are those with little or no ears left....Make ugly cows, but some have turned out great- and you know they have the survivor instinct :wink: :lol:
 
Oldtimer said:
There are exceptions tho- those calving seasons with cold weather and blizzards- when most of the replacements are those with little or no ears left....Make ugly cows, but some have turned out great- and you know they have the survivor instinct :wink: :lol:
Click to expand...

I hear you there I have one thats tag reads BOB short tail and ears another is 2FE stands for 2 frozen ears pretty original ya think.
 
We pick our replacement heifers off our most trouble free cows-always pick the middle frame wise too-a weigh scale won't build you much of a cowherd-steers with tits usually-we did the performance deal for years-changed to this method and have a better cowherd because of it.
 
I remember helping a Hereford guy brand. He did have a Brangus cross looking cow, very nice udder. Bred to the same bulls as all of his other cows, well, her calf was head and shoulders above the rest. We sorted and she was at the fence checing her calf. When we got it in the calf table she was there not 15 feet away. Never did she get aggressive to us...


Well, this made the guy nervous. He said she always had the best calf, but he was goin to sell her. Struck me as she'd been the only one I woulda kept. The others were pretty mediocre,


PPRM
 

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