Is this cross would make a good family cow?

[Symphony]

A vet will not be able to tell you if she is fertile or not. You'll have at least a two year wait on that.

I've NEVER seen a free martin heifer conceive. Never. Do what you need to do, but that's a lot of expense for a barren cow.

And, healthy calves are calves that pee, poop, and nurse. If you can tell if a foal is healthy, trust your judgment on the calves.

Ok, I won't waste the money. As for the rest of the calves, none of you do a herd check on them before weaning time or after. My few family members with farming back rounds say different times for weaning. Most of them did mostly Crop farming and raised a few livestock on the side.

 

[Royd Wood]

A vet will not be able to tell you if she is fertile or not. You'll have at least a two year wait on that.

I've NEVER seen a free martin heifer conceive. Never. Do what you need to do, but that's a lot of expense for a barren cow.

And, healthy calves are calves that pee, poop, and nurse. If you can tell if a foal is healthy, trust your judgment on the calves.

Ok, I won't waste the money. As for the rest of the calves, none of you do a herd check on them before weaning time or after. My few family members with farming back rounds say different times for weaning. Most of them did mostly Crop farming and raised a few livestock on the side.

I think we are drifting from the op questions - Symphony how about starting a new post on weaning as I'm sure theres plenty of different advice

 

[WildRoseBeef]

A vet will not be able to tell you if she is fertile or not. You'll have at least a two year wait on that.

I've NEVER seen a free martin heifer conceive. Never. Do what you need to do, but that's a lot of expense for a barren cow.

And, healthy calves are calves that pee, poop, and nurse. If you can tell if a foal is healthy, trust your judgment on the calves.

Ok, I won't waste the money. As for the rest of the calves, none of you do a herd check on them before weaning time or after. My few family members with farming back rounds say different times for weaning. Most of them did mostly Crop farming and raised a few livestock on the side.

I believe the opposite would be true. There's no better way to check how a calf is doing as far as growth, body condition and health is concerned than checking on them before and after weaning. Especially in cow-calf operations, because that's the best way to tell if a cow is raising a good soggy calf or is raising an inferior, scraggly-looking one.

And yeah, you were certainly asking for an impossible thing by asking a vet out to check the fertility of the calves. That won't happen until breeding time and afterwards when they're preg-checked. So you gotta wait at least 15 to 20 mo. before you can determine if that heifer calf you wanna keep is going to be a good cow or beef for the freezer.

 

[redtailgal]

I agree with Royd.........but I will say this much before I surrender my hand in Hijacking this thread. LOL, Farmerboy......your giving all of us a chance to educate ourselves with so many discussions.

anyway...........

Not sure what exactly you mean by a herd check.

We lay eyes on the cattle daily, to check for injury, illness etc. This also help us make sure no one is losing condition.

We dont preg check at all, we just cull the ones that dont take.

After a calf is born, the mother is looked over and the calf is caught and checked for deformities. Calves are looked at daily to ensure that they are nursing and growing properly, and that the mother is not having any udder issues.

At weaning, we put everyone thru the chutes. Check hooves, tag ears, band bulls, vaccinate, worm etc etc.

We really only put the herd thru the chutes about once a year. If we have a sick or injured cow that we plan to treat, we will of course catch and run them into the chutes for treatment.

Most of our herd checking is done with the cattle loose and me walking thru the herd. I dont like to intervene too much, and any cow that needs a whole lot of "chute time" is culled. Any cow that gives me trouble as I walk thru the herd is culled. If I have to help her calve twice.....she's culled. If she abandons a calf twice, shes culled.

Others may run theirs thru the chutes more often, but I find it hot dusty work, it stresses me and the cattle. Cattle drop weight when they are stressed and I gain weight when I am stressed. Just a bad situation all the way around.


The goal is to have a solid herd that thrives on neglect, lol.

 

[Royd Wood]

Cattle drop weight when they are stressed and I gain weight when I am stressed. Just a bad situation all the way around.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

You can do a "test tube check" on a freemartin heifer at a pretty young age, or you can do a blood test, or you can wait and palpate her. You don't necessarily have to wait 2 years. We knew a dairy who had a bull/heifer twin set born, and the cow was one of their very best cows, had a linear appraisal of something like 95, so they were keeping the heifer just in case she was fertile. I don't blame them. Either way, if I had bull/heifer twins, unless the cow was superb I'd just raise the heifer for beef or sell her for beef.

 

[Farmerboy]

I agree with Royd.........but I will say this much before I surrender my hand in Hijacking this thread. LOL, Farmerboy......your giving all of us a chance to educate ourselves with so many discussions.

That is ok as long it does not get out of hand. lol I am learning too!

Ok, It a bit over due, but... Its Maybelle time!

Overview-

As a day old-

As a month old, changing color-

Now as a 3 1/2 month old, changing back to black-

I like her better when she is all black, makes her look very pretty, healthy and shiny.

My mom is NOT a cattle person, but she was looking at Maybelle, and thought that her legs look short. I was thinking that maybe its because her father was a lowline augus? The previous owner was not sure if Bella was bred by a Lowline or a standard Augus bull, as they had brought her already bred.

Maybelle has gotten much bigger, stockier, and tamer! Yay! It was easy to tame her with slices of bread. The cows go crazy for them. Very pushy they are. Got to watch my feet.

I just can't get over how stocky Maybelle looks! I am sure that she will make some very nice beef calves when bred to Augus bull.

I think that I have missed Bella's heat two times, but I have been eyeballing Bella 24/7 since July, but have seen no sign of heat. I have found an AI guy that is willing to AI Bella, and he got the Guernsey semen ready. All we have to do is wait for her to go in heat again.

The rest of the herd. Please let me know if they look too thin, something wrong, etc.

Bella

November

Pancake

I am wondering what is that round thing right below Pancake's eye? A bug bite? A wart? I have tried popping it, but he won't stand still to let me have a good look on it.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Farmerboy, your herd continues to look great! In regards to the thing under Pancakes eye. It could be a wart. Our black baldie has a few warts on him. They kind of look like that.

 

[Farmerboy]

Farmerboy, your herd continues to look great! In regards to the thing under Pancakes eye. It could be a wart. Our black baldie has a few warts on him. They kind of look like that.

It was a zit! While he was stealing Bella's hay at the milking station, I squeezed the area around the zit, and it popped right in my hand. It looked just like an eye at the size of the marble. The wound have closed up and it looks normal now!




I got a new job, well 2 jobs. They are both at local dairy farms. One at every Saturday morning at 2 am to 6:30 am, and the other job is everyday at 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm, and double shifts at every other day at 11:00 am to 3:30 pm. Both farm have their cows milked 3 times a day! For 2 weeks I have to be at the farm at 3 am every morning! So glad that they changed my hours around due the issue of my coworker. YAY, I get to sleep in! So, been very busy! I am trying to get everything winterized for the winter that will be hitting us very soon.

One of the most coolest thing is that one of the guys that work at the farm used to own Bella before he sold her to a guy, who sold her to me! He still have Bella's mother! And Maybelle's father too!
I went to his farm yesterday, it was cool to be there!

Very beautiful pure Guernsey. Can't wait to get my own Guernsey cow!

Bonnie-

Her daughter- my cow-
Can anyone see any similarities between the two?

I dream of having my own small herd of pure Guernsey someday, and might have chance to buy a pure and bred heifer soon!

Also met Maybelle's father!! Pure LowLine Angus. He is 7 years old and is soo short! Barely past my waist!

Little Man-

Can anyone see any similarities between the two also?

I am still not able to catch Bella in heat again. Its getting frustrating! According to her heat cycle, she is due to be in heat again sometime this week. Please pray that I will catch her in heat at the right time this week, and get her bred!

 

[redtailgal]

Its cool how that all worked out!

I do see some similarities, lol.

They are looking good.