What bulls to sweep up?

[Headless chicken]

As above our current team will finish at the end of this season. It’s a mixed bunch of retained calves and they’ve done us well.
We bought in 2 Hereford’s last year which have been decent but not many calves born to them.
historically we’ve carried on serving even with bulls in as semen is cheap and we gain nothing in terms of service cost by stopping earlier but feel we’re devaluing our calves by doing so.

short gestation, high calf value and easy calving are the main aims.

 

[Jdunn55]

British friesian

 

[More to life]

Angus is the only answer

 

[DairyNerd]

Beef wise Angus is the best compromise between all three attributes. I always think Hereford are slightly easier calving but Angus calves are more saleable.

 

[DairyNerd]

What sort of cows are you milking?

 

[Werzle]

Easy calving lim. Need a good angus or hfd bull calf to make decent money but with the lim the hfrs will be wanted just as much as the bulls. Selling calves is becoming a nightmare, dairy farms should be able to sell calves like they did years ago at 14-21 days for good money . Markets and rearing firms now want half reared 40+days old calfs nowadays . Dairy farmers are getting the same money they did years ago for calves but having to keep them twice as long, its a joke.

 

[som farmer]

we like Herefords
but the down side is if you have some xbred cows, and the calves come out red and white.
AA takes some beating, easy calving, all black etc

if you chase calf value, BB or lim, but you run the risk of calving problems, we used a different BB bull this year, harder calving, worth it ?

sooner use a bull, that's easy calving, cows/hfrs get going quicker post calving, and hold better to first service, reckon that is more profitable than extra calf value. Takes a lot of calf money to pay for a screwed up cow.

 

[Werzle]

we like Herefords
but the down side is if you have some xbred cows, and the calves come out red and white.
AA takes some beating, easy calving, all black etc

if you chase calf value, BB or lim, but you run the risk of calving problems, we used a different BB bull this year, harder calving, worth it ?

sooner use a bull, that's easy calving, cows/hfrs get going quicker post calving, and hold better to first service, reckon that is more profitable than extra calf value. Takes a lot of calf money to pay for a screwed up cow.

Modern easy calving lim comes out like a deer and grows like a mushroom but i get what your saying

 

[thorpe]

we like Herefords
but the down side is if you have some xbred cows, and the calves come out red and white.
AA takes some beating, easy calving, all black etc

if you chase calf value, BB or lim, but you run the risk of calving problems, we used a different BB bull this year, harder calving, worth it ?

sooner use a bull, that's easy calving, cows/hfrs get going quicker post calving, and hold better to first service, reckon that is more profitable than extra calf value. Takes a lot of calf money to pay for a screwed up cow.

as a beef man feck the angus and hereford , go charolais you know it make's sence

 

[som farmer]

as a beef man feck the angus and hereford , go charolais you know it make's sence

in the right place, at the right time, and unplanned, bought a proper char bull, for reasonable money, another buyer was certain the auctioneer didn't have a bid, he did.

brought him home, looked at his size, compared to our cow size, and didn't use him much, lent him to a mate to use, before putting him back through the ring, for £500 profit.

the few calves we had, and the lot pal had, should have kept him, good calves, and easy calving. To late by then.

but for us, the calves are a by product for milk production, its more profitable to get easy calving, no calving problems, and cows are 'clean' come the start of service, and hold better to first service.

i think that the use of 'better' bulls, rather than cheapest, is a much better solution, that would assist the calf buyers. We rear all calves, so we can see the difference.

why not BB, the dairy farmers favourite cont bull ?

 

[DairyNerd]

First year here calved everything to Angus or Hereford, didn't touch a single cow in 45. Second year calved 10 to blue, helped 3 of them. Difference is the blues made 550 at 6 months, the Herefords made 320. You can't have everything.

 

[thorpe]

dad said 50 years ago you only know youve got a good bull when he's dead! now let's look at the job, grass rat type's should be easy calving? x angus and bb waste of fecking time! big boned not extreme chary youve got to put some size into these calve's and for god's sake give em some colostrum, look at the mart reports chary's ALWAY'S at the top, you know it mke's sence

 

[N.Yorks.]

MRI ...... dutch dual purpose:

https://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/dairy/111/meuse-rhine-issel

 

[som farmer]

dad said 50 years ago you only know youve got a good bull when he's dead! now let's look at the job, grass rat type's should be easy calving? x angus and bb waste of fecking time! big boned not extreme chary youve got to put some size into these calve's and for god's sake give em some colostrum, look at the mart reports chary's ALWAY'S at the top, you know it mke's sence

not many in mkts around here, and its dairy country.

grass rats, what can you say ? Not a lot, but they serve a purpose, for some.
cheap milk, v low calf/cull value. Plenty will say good calves are possible, watch a calf mkt, come spring, plenty of calves £5 or less.

what will happen when the arla ban on euthanasia spreads, might just be a big shock for some. The problem is even greater when low prices = less effort spent on colostrum etc.

what's the answer ? No idea, but a solution needs to be found, because if these calves have to be reared, there will be some very cheap mince available, suspect that is a long term strategy of the major retailers !

the use of better quality bulls, rather than the cheapest, is one answer, but the grass rats are usually big herds, so lots of bulls needed, then the sole purpose is to get them i/c asap. Calves are just a by product

MRI ...... dutch dual purpose:

https://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/dairy/111/meuse-rhine-issel

thought they were really dual purpose, tried a bull, definitely not impressed with the milking ability of his daughters, and calves didn't make much more than a hf bull calf.

some rate them, we didn't. Marmite breed.

 

[Headless chicken]

Angus is the only answer

This was sort of what I was thinking but only had bad experiences with Angus bulls with temperament but maybe they were just unlucky

 

[Headless chicken]

What sort of cows are you milking?

Procross

MRI ...... dutch dual purpose:

https://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/dairy/111/meuse-rhine-issel

We’d had similar already with the monty, some sell well others don’t. It’s a job to get pst the mentality that it’s a dairy calf

 

[crashbox]

Beef wise Angus is the best compromise between all three attributes. I always think Hereford are slightly easier calving but Angus calves are more saleable.

I've found Herefords from stock bulls pigs to calve, Angus my preference.

Dearer to buy, though.

 

[Beef farmer]

As above our current team will finish at the end of this season. It’s a mixed bunch of retained calves and they’ve done us well.
We bought in 2 Hereford’s last year which have been decent but not many calves born to them.
historically we’ve carried on serving even with bulls in as semen is cheap and we gain nothing in terms of service cost by stopping earlier but feel we’re devaluing our calves by doing so.

short gestation, high calf value and easy calving are the main aims.

When you carry on serving, who's winning? Ai or the bull?

 

[Headless chicken]

When you carry on serving, who's winning? Ai or the bull?

Often the bull, guess we’ve always just carried on because we’ve not had the confidence in the bulls. You can chuck a lot of semen about for £200

 

[Oliveau]

South Devon