What bulls to sweep up?

[Henarar]

there again, the calf is a necessary by-product of dairy farming, might be a valuable one, but the important bit is getting the cow i/c. Big cont calves, might top the market, but they don't all just flop out the cow, you have to factor in the effects of hard calving, RFT and 'dirty' cows as an example.

Again there is a lot of variation, Was talking to a dairy farmer the other day who uses nothing but Ding valley Noah straws and has very few assisted calvings,

last really bad calving here was an angus cross heifer on to an angus AI bull, dead calf and we sent the heifer on, that was several years ago

We had Hford bulls before we went to Blues and if anything find blues more easy calving though there isnt much in it and the switch put our store sale price up by 20/25%, lim stores would be similar money but chalk and cheese to work with

 

[som farmer]

Again there is a lot of variation, Was talking to a dairy farmer the other day who uses nothing but Ding valley Noah straws and has very few assisted calvings,

last really bad calving here was an angus cross heifer on to an angus AI bull, dead calf and we sent the heifer on, that was several years ago

We had Hford bulls before we went to Blues and if anything find blues more easy calving though there isnt much in it and the switch put our store sale price up by 20/25%, lim stores would be similar money but chalk and cheese to work with

just need to workout the risk factor, and if you are prepared to take it.

with any breed, there will be assisted calving's, some breeds less than others, mitigating the risk is the question.

 

[Farmer Keith]

283 vs 277 is 6 days extra

6 x 30 litres =180 litres x 35ppl = £63 minus costs such as feeding for those 6 days

Limo calf instantly worth £100-£200 a head more for absolutely nothing...

Don’t forget the longer gestation means you’ll lose a few extra. That’s a few limos that are worth nothing compared to a “poorer” quality breed. I chucked my last 10 straws on the floor after pulling an enormous dead calf that had been served for 194 days in September for me it’s just not worth the risk, cow was on the vet list pre mating so time will tell but she may never have another calf.

 

[Farmer Keith]

Again there is a lot of variation, Was talking to a dairy farmer the other day who uses nothing but Ding valley Noah straws and has very few assisted calvings,

last really bad calving here was an angus cross heifer on to an angus AI bull, dead calf and we sent the heifer on, that was several years ago

We had Hford bulls before we went to Blues and if anything find blues more easy calving though there isnt much in it and the switch put our store sale price up by 20/25%, lim stores would be similar money but chalk and cheese to work with

Do you find the blues need more meal? We sell all as 18 month old stores but blues never seem to grow here, pretty much a grass based rearing system with a little bit of trough. All blues have came out of fertility plus type of straws so maybe not the best example?

 

[Henarar]

Do you find the blues need more meal? We sell all as 18 month old stores but blues never seem to grow here, pretty much a grass based rearing system with a little bit of trough. All blues have came out of fertility plus type of straws so maybe not the best example?

We don't feed any meal to calves, sell them anytime between 10 and 16 months, ours are not dairy though so its a bit different, blue cross dairy must go on ok though cos whenever I look in the calf ring they will be making prices near the top, same buyers that have been doing the job for years must know what they are doing.
All depends what bull it is in the fertility plus

Edit to say a mate used to buy Blue cross and angus cross dairy at a few weeks old, the Blues cost more money but would leave more margin when he sold them at around two, he was mainly grass feeding with only a couple kg of blend

 

[dairydurham]

What easy calving Limousin Bulls do people use?

Does an easy calving Lim exist? Going a week or more over and the breeds changed to compete with the Blues on conformation. Hardly any Lims on Dairy farms I know of

 

[dairydurham]

An angus/hereford

An AA Bull calf will compete with aLim on price up North at Leyburn

 

[Wesley]

An AA Bull calf will compete with aLim on price up North at Leyburn

Some of the Angus breeding these days is basically a Lim so I’m not surprised

 

[Wesley]

Do you find the blues need more meal? We sell all as 18 month old stores but blues never seem to grow here, pretty much a grass based rearing system with a little bit of trough. All blues have came out of fertility plus type of straws so maybe not the best example?

The sire would have a reasonable impact on it. But I guess all Sires will have a different results on different herds.
A while ago we used a Blue called Twyning Ash Ukulele. We would happily pay a few pounds a straw extra over the other Blues we were offered as they seemed to do better & end up with a better finished animal. Blues will do fine on good grass but will do even better & react well to extra feed. We don’t find they’re as good a converter of grass as an Angus. But will end up with a better bullock if you feed them. As to which is more profitable

​

 

[Henarar]

The sire would have a reasonable impact on it. But I guess all Sires will have a different results on different herds.
A while ago we used a Blue called Twyning Ash Ukulele. We would happily pay a few pounds a straw extra over the other Blues we were offered as they seemed to do better & end up with a better finished animal. Blues will do fine on good grass but will do even better & react well to extra feed. We don’t find they’re as good a converter of grass as an Angus. But will end up with a better bullock if you feed them. As to which is more profitable

​

Our stock bull Ding valley Isaac was a Twyning ash Ukulele son, hell of a confirmation but still easy calving, we have a fair bit of his breeding in the herd but he should have been collected from.
Isaac's EBV's
https://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-...5232520&10=323C063C520B3F030238135B0116070603

 

[More to life]

The sire would have a reasonable impact on it. But I guess all Sires will have a different results on different herds.
A while ago we used a Blue called Twyning Ash Ukulele. We would happily pay a few pounds a straw extra over the other Blues we were offered as they seemed to do better & end up with a better finished animal. Blues will do fine on good grass but will do even better & react well to extra feed. We don’t find they’re as good a converter of grass as an Angus. But will end up with a better bullock if you feed them. As to which is more profitable

​

I’ve gone away from blues some time now but without doubt Ukulele was the best BB we’d used everything since just seemed impossible to finish.

 

[Wesley]

Our stock bull Ding valley Isaac was a Twyning ash Ukulele son, hell of a confirmation but still easy calving, we have a fair bit of his breeding in the herd but he should have been collected from.
Isaac's EBV's
https://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-...5232520&10=323C063C520B3F030238135B0116070603

I’ve gone away from blues some time now but without doubt Ukulele was the best BB we’d used everything since just seemed impossible to finish.

Not really found much since that compared to him. Nothing as consistent anyway. Still have a few blues about but more or less stopped when we couldn’t find anything to match him. I do like a nice blue though. Got a few straws left in the pot but its almost a waste serving Holsteins to him.

 

[N.Yorks.]

Worthless in a calf market

What sort of price differences are you seeing or have you seen?

MRI heifer calf gives a choice - sell, fatten or keep as a replacement. Also further down the line there's an option to sell the cow as they make an OK suckler cow.
Bull calves have a decent frame due to the dual purpose breeding - but it sounds like you think that isn't reflected in the ring?

 

[Farmer Keith]

What sort of price differences are you seeing or have you seen?

MRI heifer calf gives a choice - sell, fatten or keep as a replacement. Also further down the line there's an option to sell the cow as they make an OK suckler cow.
Bull calves have a decent frame due to the dual purpose breeding - but it sounds like you think that isn't reflected in the ring?

We bought 30 MRIs around 2008-2009, you’re right in what so say about the calves being good but they were not dairy cows by any stretch, 5-6000 at 4.1 and 3.2. I only payed £700 ahead for them 1 month off calving so they did alright, beef calf out of them straight away and most culled for more than I payed for them. Remember one only giving 3500 when we started milk recording