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Ok bull sale contest,...........
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play in the dirt
Posted 12/17/2018 21:24 (#7178849 - in reply to #7178549)
Subject: RE: Ok bull sale contest,...........



south central IOWA
ndsu84 - 12/17/2018 20:02

Nice.

We AI all heifers to low bw bulls. Cows are bred to higher YW.

Our cows milk better than heifers but I’m not saying I expect poor calves from the heifers. Just the nicest calves from the 4-5 year olds.


You saying your cows milk better makes me think 2 things.... you can't judge an animal's milking ability by the size of her udder and a heifer needs good nutrition pre calving in order to milk well.

A first calf heifer is still growing before and after she calves. She's going to put a lot into her milking if she has the reserves to do so. She probably can't eat enough grass to grow herself along with supply a calf with enough milk. She's gonna have to rely on her high body condition score pre calving in order to do both. That's why 4-5 year olds raise bigger calves because they're done growing themselves, in good condition because of that and can put what she eats into her milking.

So then it becomes, I don't want to feed corn to my heifers because.... it costs too much, don't want them fat, don't want the calf born too heavy, want the heifers to be raised the same as the cows.

If you're giving up 100lbs at weaning (the difference between a dink calf or a big calf) but the spread is probably bigger, you can feed way more corn than she needs for a couple years and still not spend more money than what you're giving up in those 100lbs.

Then there's the bred to low BW Angus bulls....I feel that Angus is such a big breed that they can pretty much solidify a certain trait. You want a small calf for heifers but that's all you get. They're born small and are small at weaning because. It's another reason Simmentals compliment Angus. A heifer simmental bull will still give you the growth that you're only going to get from a higher growth Angus bull but that Angus bull won't give you the calving ease like the simmental bull will.

If a good cow gives you 10 calves and a mediocre one gives you 7, why give up 10-15% of that animals useful potential just so she exists that first year she calves?

Now if everything I've said was a fact for every heifer/cow, then everyone would be doing it that way but since there's too many environmental or genetic variables, I can look like a fool just as easy as the next guy.


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