• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

what a load of crap!!!

Manitoba_Rancher said:
What I have a problem with is these pb breeders that have these monster calves at weaning time, then say well its all growth and maternal. I call b/s on that. I always see one very prominant World known Charolais breeder that says that, and his calves are on heavy creep feed from the time they hit the ground til the day they are weaned. Then when you read a sale book with his bulls in it, they say these bulls have not had any creep. What happened to the day when the mother cow raised the calf and the grass helped with the job. Northern Rancher have you seen any of this type of deal going on up there?
Click to expand...

We don't generally wean huge calves down here because of the high water content in the grass, but it's not impossible to wean a 900 lb. calf with no creep. I have had several over 800 with NO CREEP. I have a friend in Kentucky who weaned one over 1000 with no creep.

When a calf gets over about 3-4 months, milk is only a supplement anyway.

A lot of producers put them on creep 30 days before weaning so that they will know how to eat. Depends on rain too.

Get to know the bulls you are buying at a young age and you will know his background and feeding regimen. Walking into a bull sale 30 minutes before a sale and picking one out is insane anyway.
 
BTW one of the steers weighed 1100 as well on the same ration.
Here is a pic of the steer going in to fall. This was around the last week of october . He weighed 762 Nov. 1 . Down here in Arkansas for cattle to weigh without alot of grain it takes guts and a wide base. Our forage is washy and it takes alot of it to make a pound of beef.
100_3273.jpg

Here he is again at the bottom of the pic. This is sometime in Dec. I think.
100_4112.jpg
 
NR or anyone else, in your environment what type cattle work on forage?
Here I don't want little cattle like Pharo suggests. I don't want very tall cattle but they have to be big volumed, wide based, and I like them to be stout looking. They won't work for me if they are tall and gutless. They won't work for me if they're little and fine boned either. I guess smaller framed bold type cattle would be what I like best.
 
The best I've ever had were longhorn cross. If you breed them to a terminal sire, they will wean off a good calf. The heifers are very feminine and the bulls are very masculine. They will consistently wean off 55% of their body weight and will last until they are 16 to 18 years old, so you don't have to replace them as quick, which puts more dollars in my pockets. Of course, I strive to be a "least cost" producer. They have always been good eating, any I've ever butchered.

As a friend said one time, "If they paid us by taste instead of pounds, everyone would be running corriente's or longhorns".

Now I'll just set back and listen to the arguing! :lol:

A smaller more efficient cow seems to work berst around here, but it's hard to get them from the bulls that these PB guys are selling.

I think Soapweed has a good idea about where to get bulls. Most of the higher priced bulls out there will not produce any better of a calf for most of us then the lower to middle end. I think the cow has more to do with the claf than the bull. A cow or mare or even a woman, contributes .75% of the offspring, unless you get a very dominate male. Thats why so many smaller studs are said to throw bigger than they are. Just look at the mare they are breeding him to.

In other words, you can use what is considered a scrub male and it won't hurt you very much, but you can't use a scrub female. They will always raise scrubs. If you don't believe me, just look around. And I ain't just talkin' about livestock here! :shock: :o


Oh man, am I ever going to get it now by all the liberals! :lol:

DISCLAIMER: All of the above is not to be construed to be anything but an opinion of the writer and is not meant to be taken as anything else. :wink:
 
I have a friend who buys LH cows Jinglebob. He says they are the best deal in the cow business. I just wonder how they convert feed in the lot. Lots of them I have seen have been pretty meatless .
 
I just had a guy looking for a bull for his longhorn cows. His number 1 concern, no white as he gets docked big time if the calves aren't almost solid black, they look holstein when black and white are mis matched.

Another feedlot said they love the longhorns as they never get overfat. If the market isn't good one week hold them till the next they will still be the same weight and no fatter.

I am waiting to see a longhorn beef program launched real soon. :-)
 
MoosominTrip068.jpg


Here is a red angus bull that was the high gaining bull at Dylan Biggs forage test-I think he looks pretty shiny for a eleven year old bull-he's bred a pile of cows and will be breeding some more this spring. Alot of people here don't realize that cattle selected for years on a chicken and pig ration (high concentrate) of course will look terrible when faced with a life on forage. Cattle that do good on a forage program will do great in a feedlot-the reverse isn't always true. By the way one of my cows that regularily raises a Prime-Yield Grade 1 steer is 3/4 Hereford-1/4 Longhorn. I don't need to look in the feedbunk to know how a bunch of yearling bulls have been fed-I've seen too many good young bulls crastrated and crippled with a feed bucket over the years.
 
NR- You are dead on the money when you talk about these bulls that are raised on grain. Bulls that are raised on forage will have long lives and still be breeding cows when they get up over 10 years old. Damn near all of the PB guys around here push the creep feed to their calves all year and then they crow about 1000 lb weaning weights ... get real!!
 
If a yearing bull is worth his value he should be a little on the fleashy side. Not because the breeder pushed the grain to him but because he is a good keeper. It doesn't take much grain to grow up these animals anyway 8-12 lbs of oats with good hay . After all when you buy a bull are you not looking for the most efficient productive animal you can buy? I'm not saying he should be butterball fat but in Southern Manitoba the first 30 days of breeding season (June) the pastures are wet ,humid and full of Mosquitoes the size of Humming Birds :!: Meanwhile you new yearling bull ( if he's worth his salt) is busy Breeding, not eating and will have to be in top notch condition. I would rather have him on the chubby side than on the lean side :wink:
 
We quit taking bulls to sales years ago primarily because you almost had to kill your bulls with feed to sell them! We moved entirely to private treaty sales where we can grow the bulls out properly using a light grain and hay ration and target them for proper condition by breeding turnout.......seems to work well and we've had quite a few guys that were able to run these bulls to an advanced age.
 
cowsense said:
We quit taking bulls to sales years ago primarily because you almost had to kill your bulls with feed to sell them! We moved entirely to private treaty sales where we can grow the bulls out properly using a light grain and hay ration and target them for proper condition by breeding turnout.......seems to work well and we've had quite a few guys that were able to run these bulls to an advanced age.
Click to expand...


Advanced Age Is that what were to call you :!: :wink: :cowboy:
 
NR- If he's still close around the first of July maybe you can just turn him out in our Angus field........no bears or wolves to get him down here!!! :lol: :lol: :wink:
 
Well it would have to be a camp job cause we run them 70 miles away......don't really have much in the way of facilities there but bulls don't seem to mind working there! :roll:
 
Northern rancher.You must be young and inexpierianced to have that opinion in my opinion.Rember it's 20 month,s from birth to slauther.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top