Beef AI/Bulls MEGATHREAD

Genghis Cant

Interested to read what's being said about Dubai. We bought some straws for heifers, a couple have calved, nice compact stylish calves. 2 real good heifers springing to him, inc a PB Ch heifer. Interested to see how they fare out.

Sheep breeder

Dubai has a smashing proven pedigree on both sides and calves should mirror this,

feartuath

Why the interest in Hereford.I have a few Hereford cross cows here and they usually get LM of BB AI straws

Genghis Cant

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Dubai has a smashing proven pedigree on both sides and calves should mirror this,

There's a lovely KFY heifer there, goin to the bull in May, at 15mths, probably the right side of 450kgs. Will Dubai be easy calving enough?

tismesoitis

Have at least 15 - 20 Dubai calves on the ground already. He is definatly easy calving and suitable for any heifer. Dubai has bred some fantastic heifers for us but i would question the consistancy of his bull calves some can come a little on the narrow side.

mikeoh

Bova seem to be leading the pack when it comes to constantly producing the goods the others seem to throw a few unproven bulls in there and plug the crap out of them for profit while Bova must have a seriously good judge of cattle running the show

The Cuban

Have a look at GZS Gouldingpoll 1 Superduty HQ 2 available from munsterai, breeding really great stuff
http://www.munsterai.ie/siredata.php?id=GZS&type=beef
http://www.munsterai.ie/news.php?item=17

moy83

feartuath wrote: »

Why the interest in Hereford.I have a few Hereford cross cows here and they usually get LM of BB AI straws

They are good and hardy as calves , they would make nice replacement heifers and I think they will be every bit as saleable where I am as a bb or limo .
Im kinda looking towards a low maintenance suckler herd and find that aa or he will do fine on our place when grass mightnt be great or silage isnt plentiful , whereas the bb or good limo cow is just not able for a bit of hardship and to be honest from what I can see their calves aren't all top quality either which is a disappointment when you are keeping a big bb cow for the year and she only throws a middling calf .

moy83

The Cuban wrote: »

Have a look at GZS Gouldingpoll 1 Superduty HQ 2 available from munsterai, breeding really great stuff
http://www.munsterai.ie/siredata.php?id=GZS&type=beef
http://www.munsterai.ie/news.php?item=17

Thanks Cuban , he looks good . Have you used him yourself ?

The Cuban

I have 2 calves on the ground from him, very impressed with them, no bother calving. Calves were on their feet and sucking within half an hour which was great for me as I was monitoring the calving from work

moy83

The Cuban wrote: »

I have 2 calves on the ground from him, very impressed with them, no bother calving. Calves were on their feet and sucking within half an hour which was great for me as I was monitoring the calving from work

What kinda cows are they out of ? I always find the whiteheads mighty for get up and go alright

bogman_bass

moy83 wrote: »

What kinda cows are they out of ? I always find the whiteheads mighty for get up and go alright

I think GZS is dead and gone I think

SPL seams to be throwing good calves and not too hard calved

GCT from Dovea seams to leave great calves but you would want to be careful what cow you use him on

tismesoitis

I think its fair to say the O.Neills know their stuff alright!!

limo_100

bogman_bass wrote: »

I think GZS is dead and gone I think

SPL seams to be throwing good calves and not too hard calved

GCT from Dovea seams to leave great calves but you would want to be careful what cow you use him on

What about DPS he was throwing savage quality is he done now?

limo_100

moy83 wrote: »

Im thinking of using a whitehead on the few cows we have left . There is a mixture of bbx , lim x and aax
I want one that is good and thick and beefy if possible . Not too worried about calving difficulty but dont want a brute either as he might be used on the odd heifer .
Any experience of them ?
Ill probably buy a few straws together and dont mind what company is selling them .
TIA

I had a purebred hereford 2year old heifer calf last week must take a pic for you small calf but she will come il try and get her out dis week

The Cuban

bogman_bass wrote: »

I think GZS is dead and gone I think

SPL seams to be throwing good calves and not too hard calved

GCT from Dovea seams to leave great calves but you would want to be careful what cow you use him on

Thats news to me, local AI man had a bucket of straws from him last year and he was only a test bull at that stage. Thats a pity if its true as I had planned on using more of him this year. Might give that American Hereford the WBK WB BEAR MARK ET 35N a try, I think the yanks are ahead of us when it comes to the Hereford
http://www.munsterai.ie/siredata.php?id=WBK&type=beef

tanko

A lot of Ai Hereford bulls nowadays seem to be quite hard calving, about 8-9% CD. Is this a recent development? I remember bulls like BHG being used at our place years ago, he's 4.4% CD. Have Hereford bulls become harder calved over the years?

limo_100

tanko wrote: »

A lot of Ai Hereford bulls nowadays seem to be quite hard calving, about 8-9% CD. Is this a recent development? I remember bulls like BHG being used at our place years ago, he's 4.4% CD. Have Hereford bulls become harder calved over the years?

I woudnt think so id say its more to do with the cows that there being put on dairy cows are not as square as they used to be. Id say a food suckler heifer would spit out a hereford calf no trouble

tanko

limo_100 wrote: »

I woudnt think so id say its more to do with the cows that there being put on dairy cows are not as square as they used to be. Id say a food suckler heifer would spit out a hereford calf no trouble

That makes sense but surely the ICBF figures should take account of the fact that the HE bulls are being used on cows with poor calving ability and reflect this in the figures. If a farmer sees a HE bull with a CD of 8% it's not going to encourage them to use the bull.

limo_100

tanko wrote: »

That makes sense but surely the ICBF figures should take account of the fact that the HE bulls are being used on cows with poor calving ability and reflect this in the figures. If a farmer sees a HE bull with a CD of 8% it's not going to encourage them to use the bull.

I woudnt think they have it included id say 2them a cow is a cow. Maybe im wrong though

on the river

Ardlahan Ginger (AGI) good bull with very beefy calves. I dont think their is much straws available. Some

AI technians still have some left in the flask.

Farrell

tanko wrote: »

That makes sense but surely the ICBF figures should take account of the fact that the HE bulls are being used on cows with poor calving ability and reflect this in the figures. If a farmer sees a HE bull with a CD of 8% it's not going to encourage them to use the bull.

Could that not be said of lots of bulls, no matter the breed

tanko

Farrell wrote: »

Could that not be said of lots of bulls, no matter the breed

Maybe it could but if Ai HE bulls are being used on a lot of FR and HO cows which wouldn't have the same calving ability as continental cows and with more calving difficulties, I'm just wondering if this is giving HE bulls higher calving difficulty figures than they deserve.

Buncha Fives

tanko wrote: »

PG Lims HCA is the safest option calving wise, AHZ seems to be highly regarded if you can get straws of him. If you have strong heifers with good calving ability OZS might be an option, stylish calves but a bit harder calved.

PG AA GJB seems to be popular.

Dovea Lims EBY looks a good bull, AA MLJ is a fine bull. ZFL looks good but would be harder calved. TLZ is an interesting looking bull.

I would say AHZ is possibly the best option, I like the sound of CWI and I have used MBP with good success before but easy calving has to be a major factor when considering a bull for heifers and the figures suggest that AHZ is one of the easiest calving options.

tanko

Buncha Fives wrote: »

I would say AHZ is possibly the best option, I like the sound of CWI and I have used MBP with good success before but easy calving has to be a major factor when considering a bull for heifers and the figures suggest that AHZ is one of the easiest calving options.

Yeah AHZ seems to have built up a very good reputation, hopefully you will be able to get straws off him as they aren't always available.

Future Farmer

I was under the impression that HE had got more difficult to calve (was told it was US breeding) surely if it was all down to dairy calvings, then why wouldn't more AA be difficult calvers, no?

cattlelegend

Kilsunny Goliath is a serious hereford bull for suckler cows, proven bull probably top choice at the minute in the country think he is available from Dovea

moy83

cattlelegend wrote: »

Kilsunny Goliath is a serious hereford bull for suckler cows, proven bull probably top choice at the minute in the country think he is available from Dovea

His figures dont look as good as the other hereford bulls , do I see his terminal figure at -17 ? What would that mean do you know ?

cattlelegend

moy83 wrote: »

His figures dont look as good as the other hereford bulls , do I see his terminal figure at -17 ? What would that mean do you know ?

I guess it all depends whether you breed your cattle on paper or on what you see with your eyes. Hereford bulls are used on predominately dairy cows which affects their terminal index. I cant understand why you would look at an index if you dont understand it !!!!!!!!!!

moy83

cattlelegend wrote: »

I guess it all depends whether you breed your cattle on paper or on what you see with your eyes. Hereford bulls are used on predominately dairy cows which affects their terminal index. I cant understand why you would look at an index if you dont understand it !!!!!!!!!!

Ill never understand it if I dont read it and get to grips with it . It is was up on the dovea page with the other herefords and their figures are in the plus side while his are in the minus for the terminal side .
He certainly looks a fine bull no doubt