infertile heifers (added pic of our bottle baby)

[dragonmorgan]

I reah that the cows can get over havin trich but the bulls will always have it and when they do give it to the cows it causes them to lose the calf and need to be rebred. Either way we are goin to have all our cows checked and any future bulls we get checked also just to be certain. I had never really considered it takin more feed for the bigger cows. I was just thinkin about that since we sell our cows for meat and get paid by the pound bigger cows would be better. I realize that when I describe her as monster big its makes her sound like one of those HUGE cows you see on the net when you look up show cattle quality cows and shes no where near that big, but she is bigger than our cows which are pretty small. I need to take my camera out with me and get a few pics of the cows. These are the only cows Ive ever seen up close so I dont have anything to compare them to when I try and describe them. Its one of those things where it sounds better in my head lol. And we have around 150 acres (3 big fields and 2 smaller fields) with 3 ponds on it.

And I just read your other post and it made sense and reminded me that right now our cows are mainly on grass and hay (and not the best quality hay) plus some occasional range pellets and the big heifer is healthier lookin than any of our other cows. Does that mean that shes a good cow in terms of grass food conversion (not sure how to word that).

 

[WildRoseBeef]

You know it very well could! Did you mention earlier that she's got some Hereford in the woodpile? That could be partly the reason why she's so well conditioned on what you give them.

Like I said in that thread there, sometimes the cows that are smaller aren't always the ones that are the best in terms of feed conversion. If a cow of any size can keep in good condition or, heck, even GAIN on grass and hay, that's a measure of good feed-convertibility right there!

Can't wait to see your cows, but hopefully you won't mind some critiquing if we see something that needs to be mentioned.

 

[dragonmorgan]

the calf we are bottle feeding right now is a hereford mix. The big heifer is a Charolais cross (bull was a Charolais and the mom was a mutt cow although alot of our cows have some Brahma in them somewhere). She def seems to be doin the best on the grass and hay they eat. Its the main thing we like about her because where most of the other cows are stayin small shes gotten bigger than them all. Shes a bit of a bully because of it, which is why we named her Meanie lol.

And I welcome the advice and the critiques. Me and DH have had alot to talk about since Ive been gettin everyones input and we even talked to his dad some about it all and hes in agreement with what we have planned to do.

 

[dragonmorgan]

Also I have a few questions about our little calf. Should I post them here or start a new topic under the calf forums?

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Don't matter, it's your post you can hijack it or not.

Oh, the big gal is Charolais! Well then, not surprised about the size of her, as most chars do get pretty darn big. Of course they're the ones that are hogging the feeder all the time too, which could be a contributor to her size and condition that I didn't think about before. Big size = most dominant which means hogging all the good stuff and leaving the smaller older cows with all the rest. I have to come back and contradict what I said before: her "doing well" is more due to her size and bossiness, not the fact that she's a "good feed converter" lol.

 

[dragonmorgan]

Well I havent had much of a chance to get out in the field with my camera but I did manage to snap a few while we were puttin out hay the other day. Most of the cows were in the back of the field eatin but I did manage to get a pic of one of the calves on the "vet list" since shes lost both the calves shes been preggo with (I think her bein young has something to do with it too but we want to make sure that losin them didnt mess anything up inside her). The big white hog in the background with her head in the blue feed bucket is the big heifer I was askin about. I hope I can get some better ones of her when we go back out there. I always used to get her and the bull confused lol. The cows have been spendin alot of time in the woods because its startin to get cold down here finally. Anyway I also took a pic of a couple calves we have shut up to get ready for the sale. The Hereford lookin one is comin to our house, hopefully tomorrow, and the others are just a boy calf and a very skittish heifer. I gave my opinion that super skittish ones be culled and it was taken seriously lol. Anyway, I figured since I was already makin a post and addin pics to it I might as well add in a couple here.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Looks like someone left out a box of crayons! Those two Char-cross calves look a bit scrawny, but it could be the picture that skews what they really look like.

 

[dragonmorgan]

lol yea. We have just about all colors except black. Our next bull is a black one tho so that should change once we get him. We do have one that I think is gorgeous. Shes a brown brindle and her face is white with lots of little black spots. Shes one of our old ones and Ive been hopin shell have a calf that looks like her but so far most of the calves have been white. Those 2 little white ones are a little thin but not too bad but weve been workin on fattenin them up for the sale.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Can you get a pic of that brindle cow? I'd love to see one of her.

Don't be shy about the pics, we LOVE pictures on here.

 

[dragonmorgan]

Lol i been tryin. We went down there today to check them and most were up by the barn but i had forgot my camera Doh!