Have purchased 36 Black Angus heifers that have been AI bred to calve in a 14 day window starting Feb 14th. The heifers were bred to "Right Answer" bull. He is a calving ease bull with excellent EPD's for heifers. Anybody else use the AI method with the "Right Answer" bull?
Common enough on dairy farms here.............
wat were the heifers weighing? Nice looking heifers
still learn'n, the heifers weighed 1100 lb and cost $1950.00 / hd, had all shots and so far have been very gentle and easy to handle.
Very nice looking. I just this morning butchered a nice heifer, as a rule I would have had her bred but she was just to cranky to keep around.
Our conception rates with AI are all over the place. The last batch of heifers we did, I bought hereford semen. Which showed 3 out of 30 stuck to AI. Calving in a 14 day window would be really nice. Also always keep your gaurd up with heifers. We pelvic measure and use lbw bulls, but still have to pull a calf in the middle of the night every once in a while.
Are these stud heifers? Here in Oz , we would be lucky to get much more than half this rate for commercial cattle at the moment. Cheers, Greg
Queenslander, I am unsure of what you mean by stud heifers? The cattle in the pics are females that are appox 2 yrs old and will have their first calf in appox 1 month. And yes cattle prices here in the US are at an all time high. Hopefully I will get my money back on these if prices stay good for 3 years, if they don't it won't be much fun working for nothing, but that is a chance you have to be willing to take to be a cattleman. I have made better money in cattle when they are high for the most part vs low cattle prices over the long haul but that could change too.
That always is nicer when they don't run around like a turkey with its head cut off! I have never had them measured yet but this year we kept back heifers for replacements and just about everyone I have talked to pelvic measures! I would rather find out early on in the game if I mite hafta pull a calf then later on! We havnt Ai'd we bought a really low birth weight and calving ease bull so would shouldn't have to pull! Feed bunk do you feed your heifers with a wagon? We feed our cows in the evening and very seldom do we have any calves at nite seems to make a difference! Jerry
Yeah I always try to stick with the rule feed at night and calve in the day. We primarily fall calve so theres hopefully grass when were calving. I always bucket feed though to keep them used to coming to me, then when forage runs out ours get silage with a feed wagon. To me the measuring thing is good, but if there are some young ones in the group they may not make the cut do to age. We save all of our heifers out of the herd, but Im starting to think if a guy was buying them he should buy heifers opposite his calving season and breed them when theyre a year and a half old instead of a year.
Over here, we call seedstock breeders, ie. operations that breed bulls for sale , stud breeders. Operators, like myself, that breed trade cattle are called commercial breeders. Of course, stud cattle command much higher prices, but good quality angus heifers , preg tested in calf, would struggle to make any more than $1000,lesser quality much less. Cattle producers here are doing it pretty tough at the moment, with stagnant prices and skyrocketing cost of production. We are fortunate to have a road maintenance business as a sideline. With a few pieces of gear, we are able to gross almost as much from it as we do from 1000 commercial breeding cows +progeny. Cheers, Greg
Quennslander, thanks for explaining that. I feel for you on that low price problem for we in the US have been there too in years past. The skyrocketing costs you refer too are they mainly feed & hay costs?
No one thing in particular, just combined operating expenses but I guess every business the world over has to deal with these. Our biggest issue is falling returns,in real terms, as opposed to ever increasing costs. I sometimes like to trot out the following bit of boring trivia. In the mid eighties the average weekly Australian wage was $382 and a 450 kg (990 lbs) feeder steer would bring $ 450. Last year the average wage was $1485 and the same steer worth, maybe, $900. I know we've become more efficient over the past thirty years but there is a limit to how low you can go. Cheers, Greg
With US prices so high and Australian so low, is there beef being shipped across the Pacific like they do with Oranges?
From one million tonnes ( metric) ,that Australia exports annually, roughly 220000 tonnes, mostly manufacturing meat,goes to the US. Most of our problems stem from the strength of the Aussie dollar over the best part of a decade. Also compounding the situation is an extremely bad drought that has gripped large parts of Qld. for over twelve months. Still, there are people making money from the beef industry at the moment,but unfortunately, not many are producers. Cheers, Greg
I've never used right answer, but I know a few people that have and they have really liked his calves, they've all calved good and taken off.
Denver m , We have got 15 calves on the ground from Right Answer and have only pulled one so far and it just had its legs doubled over and caught. I am very pleased so far with the whole outfit, heifers and bull. The weather we had the last couple weeks has been tough with 8" of snow and the ice that was under it. QUOTE=denver m farms;475316]I've never used right answer, but I know a few people that have and they have really liked his calves, they've all calved good and taken off.[/QUOTE]
How the heifers and calves doing? Out on grass? Jerry
Jerry, When the heifers started calving February 15 it was near 0 and we had 6" of snow and ice needless to say we lost the first 4 calves in a row, I was sick. Then our luck got better and we had 65 live calves in row and never pulled any or had any further trouble. The "Right Answer" bull was great he was the right answer for that group of heifers. The calves really have good vigor with very good maternal traits that will allow us to save a nice group of heifers from them also.
Sorry to hear bout the dead ones we had some in feb or early march that didn't make it to! So what do you do with the ones that lost their calves? Beef? Sounds good on the right answer! Jerry
I had another group of heifers we raised that are just now being bred, I put them with them and decided to keep them for a second chance. On another note we bought 4 - Polled Hereford bulls to breed them with and decided to have them semen checked at the last minute, sure enough 3 out of 4 were bad. The breeder could not believe it either for we have used their bulls in the past and never had any issues. Just really glad my son in law decided it was a good idea to check them, cause I probably would never have. QUOTE=still learn'n;497653]Sorry to hear bout the dead ones we had some in feb or early march that didn't make it to! So what do you do with the ones that lost their calves? Beef? Sounds good on the right answer! Jerry[/QUOTE]