A Herd Sire, Picking The Right Bull Is Key, But Do Epds Tell The Whole Story

which results in healthy cattle. We use our cattle for milk and meat, and you wouldn’t want

There has been a fair amount of hoof root in a couple of the herds. As I look at the environments and management styles, the herds that value health over product primarily has fewer problems with hoof root due to them cleaning out pens religiously and always keeping up on vacations. Another difference I see is that places that do not overcrowd have healthier cows compared to places that overcrowd the cows. Another disease that I see is scouring in calves. Farms that decide to keep their calves inside usually have a higher tendency for scouring due to infection and disease being much for prompt in the air of inside facilities compared to outside. Dr. Carpenter told me that calves first 56 days of life is the most critical stage of its life. The first 56 days reflects the most heavily of the cow’s first lactation. Dr. Carpenters claim results correlate with herds under his supervision. One herd we are at almost everyday keeps their calves inside and the calves are regularly sick. While a different herd keeps their calves outside and seem to have good luck with their calves and are relatively healthy. The other correlation is during there first lactation. Looking at data between the two herds during the cows first lactation also agree that the cows in the herd that have calves that are healthy and kept outside have higher milk production than that

By purchasing a Charolais heifer it opens up many opportunities for multiple different shows I have not participated in before. One main show I have never gone to is the Texas Junior Charolais show and the Charolais National Show. If I get the opportunity to attend I hope to meet new breeders and talk to them about the Charolais breed and what I should breed my heifer to. I’m excited to get the opportunity to attend these new shows so I can meet new people and experience new events. Most of all I want to learn more about the breed to further my knowledge about the Charolais

Thin cows will have inadequate energy reserves to sustain them through the lactation which means the farmer will loose money.

“I have raised 13 breed or reserve breed champions at major livestock shows in Texas as well as dozens of placing cattle,” Greg said. “I have also sold bulls that have sired two champions and many placing steers.”

During the waiting period I spent a lot of time educating myself on steer selection, feeding, halter breaking and grooming. Since I have never been around steer before, I left the selection up to Mr. Hill. Mr. Hill is an expert in determining the structural correctness, definition, balance, set of hock, and frame size. The first order of business was setting up the pin by disinfecting the floor, laying cedar bedding, purchasing feed and water buckets, and hanging a hay stack. With all this done, the pin was ready for my new project.

The Fritz Ranch runs an organic cow-calf operation that runs on an 800-acre of their land (Harper et al, 2). The operation produces, slaughters, packages and markets a final beef product during an 18-month cycle (Harper et al, 1). The cows are usually bred during late winter through early spring, or November

Next are your EPD’s (Expected Progeny Differences). These are the fastest way to make improvements in cattle genetics. An EPD is the data that is collected from the economical traits of future offspring. They are an extremely useful tool in determining your next sire for your herd. What they do is, help determine whether a bull, cow, or heifer is enough to produce calves that are needed to help your improvements to your

Man oh man do I love waking up every three hours to check on the ewes to make sure they're still okay. But once you walk out the back door and hear the first little heart warming “baa” i'm in love. It’s almost like having a newborn baby by your side, well I wouldn’t know what that feels like but i’ve heard many stories. Having a newborn baby and having a newborn baby goat or lamb is as heartwarming as ever. From being able to sit out in the freezing cold barn letting them wear cute little doggy sweaters to keep them warm to watching them grow up to be perfect show animals. Bringing them little treats every so often, well let’s be honest I do it everyday. Sticky, gooey treats every day after school to spoil them more and more. Getting them hooked as babies is even better because as you see them grow and become bigger and better animals they develop amazing personalities that only I can control. But besides that they all are able to live in a huge barn with their buddies in a pen with them. Two animals per pen making 14 Pens in the barn. Now feeding takes forever in the mornings and afternoons because there are so many pens to take care of and they all get you at once. Either by being loud and obnoxious to them jumping along the fences getting in the way of the feeders so I can’t even feed them. I’m trying to move them out of the way but they keep playing

This system is an excellent choice as it produces maximum heterosis in both the calf and cow (51). As such, calves obtain the additional growth benefits of hybrid vigor while heterosis in the cows improves their maternal ability. The terminal cross system is one of the simplest systems to implement and achieves the highest use of heterosis and breed complementarities (17,44). All calves marketed will have the same breed composition. A 24% increase in pounds of calf weaned per cow exposed is expected from this system when compared to the average of the parent breeds.

Sometimes, prognathism is also seen. Both of these features means that the calves find it harder to suckle when young. (12) This means they do not get enough nutrients from their mother’s milk as a calf. This means that they have a lower ability to survive to an adult, and to the reproductive age. This means that there will be fewer cows and bulls that are able to breed, to produce Belgian blue calves. This means that the survival of the Belgian blue cattle population

Consequently, in 1873 a rancher named George Grant “transported four Angus bulls from Scotland to the middle of the Kansas prairie in 1873, they were part of the Scotsman’s dream to found a colony of wealthy, stock-raising British families.” (Angus (n.d.) 2015, April 19,) Grant wanted this breed to be the premier beef choice for the Mid-Western territories.

Like most other purebred livestock producers, Jodey carefully reviews all performance data. Because there are no official confirmation standards for the breed, the data — such as material and paternal traits, growth rates, birth and weaning weights — are key marketing tools.

Inseminate livestock increase productivity and profit. Global Genetic Resources strive to help breeders who use their common sense. We supply all types of bovine semen and provide leading cattle artificial

It is common for the semen of 2-3 bulls to be used to ensure at least one quality sample to produce a pregnancy. In the instance that multiple donors are used, parentage is confirmed via DNA analysis. Most frequently, nonsurgical insemination is performed. This method calls for a trained and accommodating elephant as a large bore cannula is inserted into the lower urogenital tract. A 3m endoscope is inserted through the cannula and conducted to the hymen in first time mothers and the cervix or uterine horn of a cow that has calved. A small insemination cannula is used to deposit semen into the vagina, threaded through the hymen in nulliparous cows. In parous cows the semen may be deposited further into the uterus.14 Surgical insemination