Barmyfarmer
Member
We have had a great trade with limis since switching, not as easy as blues when first born for sucking but they are definitely well in demand at market
Which beef breed bull to use going forward
- Thread starter Scholsey
- Start date
buffalo_soldier
Member
- Location
- cumbria
Go to a couple or three sales, see what sells and for what.
Come home, do the numbers and then make a fact based decision.
Or pick a random breed from an arbitrary social media post
Round here it's Blues or nowt.
Come home, do the numbers and then make a fact based decision.
Or pick a random breed from an arbitrary social media post
Round here it's Blues or nowt.
Holsteinfriesian90
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
Holsteinfriesian90
Member
- Location
- Cornwall
We get on well with the limo as well. Normally sell well as calves but will also sell well as stores if your stuck with tb.
M-J-G
Member
I'd assumed that was due to a ? in the background.
I've looked for polled lines of BBs in Germany where polling is considered important and they are pretty much non existent.
The blues always had to come up with some way of generating polled lines to keep up with the rate at which other horned breeds are developing, from what I gather the hornless BBs aren't that pure as there haven't been any natural polled mutations like in most other breeds due to the BB itself being a mutant.
I assume you can't have an actual polled Blue, I'm guessing that it that will result in deformities?
harrysmith
Member
ive used sexed hereford bull semen from cogent with very good results , 80% conception rate and 100% bulls , really nice calves . The semen was priced at £17
M-J-G
Member
There are a few Pp bulls, but very few PP with commercial AI companies.
You generally have to go a breeder or importer to get fully polled bulls.
Because the Simmental has a pretty large global population and a lot of the rest of the world have concentrated on polling its easy to import those genetics.
I've used genetics from Germany and Denmark where most cattle are polled.
Shann_mann
Member
We just brought a Bazadaise bull and will still use Charollais as the AI bull. Went of Blues years ago and finally got sick of the Limmy this time.
- Location
- North of Perth
@muleman time for the picture for educational purposes
- Location
- North Yorkshire
Depends what sells round by you I guess? Hereford here would be a waste of your time and money but blue X and lim X sell well. Surprisingly our dairy shorthorn X bulls sell well as well. We have a neighbour who likes our Angus X but can be a bit hit and miss through the mart.
livestock 1
Member
Keeping cows up with pre calving minerals and iodine on their backs helps plus vitamin e and Selinium can’t get Vitenium Vitasel any more but do have a multivitamin injection now with Selinium
Why can't you get blue crosses to do off forage ? Although not dairy cross ours seem to grow and we only feed them what many farmers would call weeds
Brought in to create a two tier British blue society which should never have happened, if pedigree breeders didn't want their animals used for pedigree breeding they already had an options of not registering them or de-registering them but they wanted their cake and eat it
Taken to the extreme this policy would result in inbreeding, luckily some breeders for AI have said they won't do it and anyone can still use their animals for pedigree breeding.
- Location
- somerset
l always put the dairy cow first, calf value can, and is, negated by hard calvings, which is more important? I would say, milk around 40ppl, the calf is just a minor by-product.
We are perhaps unusual, in the fact that we use a 'easy calving' blue, and AA, A straw of each, per cow, have found increased conception rate. Sweeper bulls are usually hrfd, very occasionally an AA. The BB is called 'doric', bought through our independent AI technician. We only sell strong weaned calves, AA and hfrds bull calves are not that far behind the BB's, but both AA and hfrds heifer calves, take a hit, so will take them on for strong stores.
But, for us, a cow that has an easy calving, gets up to peak yield earlier, and gets i/c at the first service, is all important, a good cow, giving 35 litres, @ 40ppl, or £14 /day, is far more profitable, than a cow, that has a hard calving, risk of rfm, taking longer to get to peak yield, and probably taking more services to get i/c, soon loses the extra calf money.
Again, we are entering new territory with milk prices, our milk for this month, will be somewhere around 43ppl, and we have cows giving 40+ litres, or £17.20+ per day, we have never achieved returns like that, and have no intention of putting those figures at risk, in the hope of a 'better' calf price. Looking at it from a milk sales/cow, its a bit of a 'shock', also makes a lot of good, well bred fresh cows, in market, look cheap at between £1500 and £2000 apiece, what else can you get, to produce those returns, from day one, £500 per month, before cost of production. From a lactation value, anywhere around £3,500 per cow.
We are perhaps unusual, in the fact that we use a 'easy calving' blue, and AA, A straw of each, per cow, have found increased conception rate. Sweeper bulls are usually hrfd, very occasionally an AA. The BB is called 'doric', bought through our independent AI technician. We only sell strong weaned calves, AA and hfrds bull calves are not that far behind the BB's, but both AA and hfrds heifer calves, take a hit, so will take them on for strong stores.
But, for us, a cow that has an easy calving, gets up to peak yield earlier, and gets i/c at the first service, is all important, a good cow, giving 35 litres, @ 40ppl, or £14 /day, is far more profitable, than a cow, that has a hard calving, risk of rfm, taking longer to get to peak yield, and probably taking more services to get i/c, soon loses the extra calf money.
Again, we are entering new territory with milk prices, our milk for this month, will be somewhere around 43ppl, and we have cows giving 40+ litres, or £17.20+ per day, we have never achieved returns like that, and have no intention of putting those figures at risk, in the hope of a 'better' calf price. Looking at it from a milk sales/cow, its a bit of a 'shock', also makes a lot of good, well bred fresh cows, in market, look cheap at between £1500 and £2000 apiece, what else can you get, to produce those returns, from day one, £500 per month, before cost of production. From a lactation value, anywhere around £3,500 per cow.
Scholsey
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire
I don’t intend to get anything to do off forage I just want to sell what beef farmers want to buy.
happycows
Member
- Location
- North Devon Cornwall border
Lim and blues both fairly easy calving on cows and bring in the £££.
Ai mostly but bull here to sweep up. Always plenty of Lim bulls around here for £600 more than fat.
Ai mostly but bull here to sweep up. Always plenty of Lim bulls around here for £600 more than fat.
should be cappedOr Royalties, some bulls have 4 figures for them
M-J-G
Member
With sensible bull selection a calf could be worth £100 over another without it being any more difficult on the cow.
How often do you get an extra 100 quid profit from milk with no extra cost incurred.