easy calving belgium blue

charityboy

have a herd of simmental and limousin cross suckler cows ,was running an easy calving charlois bull am thinking of going down the route of using an easy calving ai belgium blue would be glad of some info ,past present expierences calving , calf quality weaning sales etc thanks charityboy

vanderbadger

was also interested in a blue bull but see very few for sale and the ones that are seem to go for big money..also the ones that are on sale seem to be sired outta heavy muscled ai bulls and the calving side would worry me a bit

charityboy

vanderbadger wrote: »

was also interested in a blue bull but see very few for sale and the ones that are seem to go for big money..also the ones that are on sale seem to be sired outta heavy muscled ai bulls and the calving side would worry me a bit

would worry me as well i graze the herd close to the yard so ai would probably be the route i will take ,would easy calving affect quality of weanling

bogman_bass

ELZ (if you can get straws) is 5 stars for both calving dificulty and weaning quality.
AVD is easy calved and so is ETB.

go to www.icbf.com and go to the bull search section at the bottom right of the home page and you'll get all the info you need

Indubitable

I find it is the cows and not the bulls that are hard calved

vanderbadger

charityboy wrote: »

would worry me as well i graze the herd close to the yard so ai would probably be the route i will take ,would easy calving affect quality of weanling

dovea bull BBQ is also an easy calving bull according to ai man, I have a few in calf to him this year so curious to see what happens

morning delight

charityboy wrote: »

am thinking of going down the route of using an easy calving ai belgium blue would be glad of some info

Ask your AI man. I picked out a few bulls from the icbf list last year only to find out the price of the straws were €50-100 each.
Your AI man will have straws for €10 and regardless of icbf, an AI bull will be better quality than any bull you'll buy yourself.
AI also allows you to be more selective, maybe selecting a different breed for replacements.
Good luck;)

vanderbadger

hard to do ai though when working, i tried abit this year, would check the cows in morning, if bulling would try and bring in after work, ai man calling late then but very mixed results, alot of cows didnt keep, got pissed off with it to be honest..that said havent fared out too well with bull this year either

valtra2

why you getting rid of ch have herd of lim and sim myself and was running a lim bull thinking of running a ch with them now or another lim not sure yet

charityboy

valtra2 wrote: »

why you getting rid of ch have herd of lim and sim myself and was running a lim bull thinking of running a ch with them now or another lim not sure yet

getting rid of easy calving bull because even though there is no problem with calving weanlings can be a bit on the small side sold 400kg weanlings last fall for 700 euro they were march born sold in october am looking to reach the 2 euro a kg mark or better

bogman_bass

charityboy wrote: »

getting rid of easy calving bull because even though there is no problem with calving weanlings can be a bit on the small side sold 400kg weanlings last fall for 700 euro they were march born sold in october am looking to reach the 2 euro a kg mark or better

Its not because he's easy calved that the calves are light. you can have a bull that throws beasts of calves that dont grow.
He's weanling index is what you want to look at when selecting a bull

charityboy

bogman_bass wrote: »

Its not because he's easy calved that the calves are light. you can have a bull that throws beasts of calves that dont grow.
He's weanling index is what you want to look at when selecting a bull

you learn something everyday thanks for that back to the ai brochure

Bigbird1

Try RYP{if he can be got} or S671

vanderbadger

does anyone here breed pedigree blues themselves? seems like alot of folks have a couple of pedigree charolais or lims but dont know anyone who breeds pedigree blues..I have seen a few lads on donedeal selling cows carrying pedigree blues embryos if thats the right way to put it, might be a good way to breed your own bull for a couple of season down the line?

bogman_bass

I would not use a blue stock bull for a couple of reasons.
1) there is such a variation between calving difficultys within the breed I would want to be sure its easy calving.
2) blues tend to have bad feet
3) They are so heavy they find it hard to mount a cow

Indubitable

vanderbadger wrote: »

does anyone here breed pedigree blues themselves? seems like alot of folks have a couple of pedigree charolais or lims but dont know anyone who breeds pedigree blues..I have seen a few lads on donedeal selling cows carrying pedigree blues embryos if thats the right way to put it, might be a good way to breed your own bull for a couple of season down the line?

I would buy one at a later age. I find my mostly blue calves. (Around 70% blue) have alot of problems as calves. They get pneumonia very easily as well. At least my blue ones do.

Bigbird1

I know a lad who bought a heifer carrying an embryo he sectioned a great heifer calf out of her,great top and muscle on her by EMPIRE...id only buy from a top breeder tho so ya know wat ur buyin

bogman_bass

Bigbird1 wrote: »

I know a lad who bought a heifer carrying an embryo he sectioned a great heifer calf out of her,great top and muscle on her by EMPIRE...id only buy from a top breeder tho so ya know wat ur buyin

it could be the best calf in the world, its going to struggle to ever see profit if you have to cut it out

vanderbadger

ya putting that type of animal into a heifer doesnt make much sense surely..why not use a big old cow instead

Indubitable

vanderbadger wrote: »

ya putting that type of animal into a heifer doesnt make much sense surely..why not use a big old cow instead

I heard that heifers accept the embryos better that old cows or something. I am not quite sure if it is true though.

charityboy

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

I heard that heifers accept the embryos better that old cows or something. I am not quite sure if it is true though.

have heard of fellas putting embryos in to british fresian cows buying them with three teats still have plenty of milk , they are not to pushed about having to section the cow as long as she rears the calf

Bigbird1

I personaly wouldnt mind the section if i got the right calf...also it would take a fair heifer to calve a pedigree Blue or Charolais

whelan1

we did a lot of et over the years , they say to use a heifer as there is a better chance of them holding also they shouldnt be dirty or anything as they havent calved before ... we only used maiden heifers nearly all beef breeds as we wanted them to suckle the calves after they where born

Bigbird1

I was thinking of buying 3 or 4 to implant round x-mass..What is the success rate,,is it much of a gamble??