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What age are they finishing at suckler calves or do you sell them on to someone else to finish ?
I wasn't a fan of them when I had them.I've said it before and I'll say it again, British Friesian X Limousin is the best suckler cow.
Sounds like a black Hereford with a Charolais bull....if it ain’t broke!Best suckler cow is the one that calves herself calf sooks is 500kg at a year old makes £1150 and calves first week of calving and lasts 10 years.If only it was that simple
I’m just amazed that anyone would consider this a brilliant bull...
As for cows, always found our Blue X Holstein very disappointing, used to get some cracking calves when put to a Blonde bull but poor cow fertility, cows didn’t last and were expensive to keep, also had a lot of difficult calvings. But it all depends on your system
7 month winter......I wish.As above, what’s good on a lowland farm with maybe dry land and a 4 month winter wouldn’t necessarily be any good in an upland area, high rainfall, with a 7 month winter. Also do you like to sit up with them all night,and see too many c sections?
Looking forward to seeing the first cows Black Baldies with Galloway / Hereford criss crossBlack baldies best performing cow for us, small cows that average 550kg when in working condition, never see meal in their lives, good fertility, calve unaided, rear good growth calves, and are very little trouble, running to 1400ft . Tried all types of dairy crosses and they’d never last more than 3 calvings with us, tried welsh blacks too and they weren’t up to the job.
Why so long before anyone mentioned anything about cost of keeping them? Surely that must be one of the most important things when considering what is the 'best' suckler cow? It doesn't matter what the calf is worth, if the mother has cost more to run than that.
Like any business it’s not turn over it’s the bottom line that counts.People ignore the cost of keeping big cows and like to brag they always have the biggest calves in my opinion. The mindset of "biggest income" and not "biggest profit"
biggest cows by no means always have the biggest/best calves anywayPeople ignore the cost of keeping big cows and like to brag they always have the biggest calves in my opinion. The mindset of "biggest income" and not "biggest profit"
Why so long before anyone mentioned anything about cost of keeping them? Surely that must be one of the most important things when considering what is the 'best' suckler cow? It doesn't matter what the calf is worth, if the mother has cost more to run than that.
This topic has been done to death on here many times.People ignore the cost of keeping big cows and like to brag they always have the biggest calves in my opinion. The mindset of "biggest income" and not "biggest profit"
There was some research done in America by some of the big breeders on feed conversion and they found that limos were by far the most efficient at converting feed to meat. But within the breed there was also a big difference between sires. When genomics gets going over here properly I think we will get a better understanding and will be able to select sires not just on weight gain but also on feed conversion.This topic has been done to death on here many times.
I think if people have much of a brain they can work these things out.
Size of cow isn't really what it's about, it's what she can produce at as low a cost and with as little man power as possible.
Plenty of cows, both big and small cows are inefficient, it would be naive to assume that all small ones are more efficient.
If farmers haven't got the intelligence and/or are not educated enough to figure these things out, words and suggestions aren't of much use to them.
I did a research project on it at uni. Very little research on comparisons between breeds especially recently, most stuff comes from the 80s/90s which is fairly meaningless these days.This topic has been done to death on here many times.
I think if people have much of a brain they can work these things out.
Size of cow isn't really what it's about, it's what she can produce at as low a cost and with as little man power as possible.
Plenty of cows, both big and small cows are inefficient, it would be naive to assume that all small ones are more efficient.
If farmers haven't got the intelligence and/or are not educated enough to figure these things out, words and suggestions aren't of much use to them.
Is that a new type of composite to rival the Stabiliser?
I remember visiting the late Stephen Hart in Oxfordshire about 30 years ago and his ideal suckler cow was an Angus x Jersey (i.e. as small as possible) to which he would put a Charolais bull. He reckoned that was the most efficient way.
I remember visiting the late Stephen Hart in Oxfordshire about 30 years ago and his ideal suckler cow was an Angus x Jersey (i.e. as small as possible) to which he would put a Charolais bull. He reckoned that was the most efficient way.
I had some Jersey cross cows once upon a time, low udders, milk fever, poor priced progeny off them and their daughters are the memories that I gained from them.I remember visiting the late Stephen Hart in Oxfordshire about 30 years ago and his ideal suckler cow was an Angus x Jersey (i.e. as small as possible) to which he would put a Charolais bull. He reckoned that was the most efficient way.