Mark: If I read this correctly, you might have just allowed your cattle unrestricted access to the brewers grain. Is that correct? If so, you may have created some problems. I am very familiar with wet distillers grains, which are fairly similar to brewers grain. If cattle are overdosed on...
Cystorellin, Factrel, and Ovacyst are all the same. I've used all of them on hundreds of heifers/cows, and they all work just fine. Buy whichever is cheapest. We synchronize a herd, apply estrotect patches, and timed AI those that have rubbed off patches. The ones that don't have rubbed...
I crossed Wagyu with some of my cows. The calves seemed to be small, and didn't have much vigor. They were a lot smaller than my regular calves at weaning, even when raised by my better cows. I sold some to neighbors who were very curious about them, and raised a couple myself to butcher...
The dam of this bull obviously wasn't a good mother. This can carry on to him, and his daughters may not have much mothering instinct. He is also very small for his age (many of my calves are at or above 500 lbs at 6 months of age. Of course, your calf never had much of a chance to grow...
I would try to get the calf and cow in a small pen, and see if they can't make amends. Calves always do much better when raised on their actual mother. It's also a LOT less work! You might want to try Calf Claim. It's a powder that cows love to lick, and it often gets them to accept a calf...
For the past couple years, I've been buying the panels made about 80 miles from here. The mfg company is called, tuffernhell, and I think they have a website. I buy the 24' panels. They weigh around 900 lbs, are stand alone, and cost $275 each. They are 6' high, with 2&7/8 inch pipe on the...
From your chart on the Shorthorn bull:
CED = Calving Ease Direct, which is the difference in % of unassisted births in heifers. The higher # the better. 16 if very good.
BW = Birth weight of the calf compared to the breed average. A -number is better. The bull you asked about is -3.4, which...
We finally had a couple days of sunny weather with little wind. The calves really needed that, and it's amazing how fast they can bounce back! The next week or so is expected to be nice also, so maybe we have turned the corner into spring. I'm hearing horror stories of cattlemen south of here...
I live in South Dakota, and we have had an April 2 day blizzard, with up to 20" of snow, 40 - 60 mph winds, and in some places, ice on everything. The loss of calves, lambs and other livestock has been terrible. Personally, I've lost 4 calves since yesterday. We happen to live in an area...
The blood test is called DG29. You can use it 29 days (or more) after breeding the cow/heifer. It works with either AI or natural breeding. My company (Genex) sells the kits, and I have used them. Basically, you raise the tail of the animal, locate the vein under the base of the tail, insert...
Hope you had insurance on the animals that the hurricane killed. The rest look good, but the light colored one in the middle could use some extra groceries. Here's hoping 2018 is a better year for you and yours. Merry Christmas!
It appears that she's from California, and that's a totally different sales region from mine here in SD. I'm sure Genex has a presence in CA, but I don't personally know of any of them. Perhaps she could do a search and find someone, or else could call Genex headquarters in Shawano WI to find...
jhm47 here---I am a rep for Genex. Not at all sure what breed you'd be interested in, but I have access to both dairy and beef breeds. I also have some VERY easy calving semen that is somewhat older, but still viable that I'd sell for $10.00 / straw. This semen is either red Angus or Black...