bull used to clean up maiden heifers in dairy herd

case 5150

Hi all, ran a friesian bull the last few years after Ai, this year i was thinking of running a Angus or Hereford bull to mop up, what is yer opinion and which breed should i use and what ye run with yer own heifers and cows. cheers in advance

Farmer Pudsey

case 5150 wrote: »

Hi all, ran a friesian bull the last few years after Ai, this year i was thinking of running a Angus or Hereford bull to mop up, what is yer opinion and which breed should i use and what ye run with yer own heifers and cows. cheers in advance

Why are you stoping useing the freisian with maiden heifers is it because of calving difficulty or is it you have enough freisian heifers. If you have a calving difficulty problem an easy calving AA bull will solve that problem however if your heifer's calf without difficulty an Hereford will be as easy as a freisian to calf unless you were useing a holstein bull and whitehead calves in general make about 100 euro more than AA calves

case 5150

sorry should have said, i run a british friesian type herd with few holestins mixed in, no have enough friesian heifers using 9 weeks Ai as i find the later heifers need to much feeding to reach bulling weights the following spring and was nearly been killed with the friesian bull last july, just wondering would the hereford be harder calving on bf heifers than the angus or is there any other breed to consider, prefer short gestations breeds

whelan1

using a friesian bull on your heifers will speed up your herd improvement why move to a beef breed? In saying that we ai the heifers to friesian and then put an angus bull in with them, but we breed angus so i dont have to go buying a bull

case 5150

whelan1 wrote: »

using a friesian bull on your heifers will speed up your herd improvement why move to a beef breed? In saying that we ai the heifers to friesian and then put an angus bull in with them, but we breed angus so i dont have to go buying a bull

was thinkin of using a beef breed as when i go to sell the late born calves i would get a higher price per head for a angus/hereford at 10 days old compared to a freisan bull calve, was just thinking of the idea as may do someting soon as the breeding season nearly upon us again, am i mad do ye think and stick with the freisian

whelan1

will you have enough replacements? We still have a good few people buying angus bulls for heifers and then they sell them on after the breeding season, last year most of the ade a few pound on what they had paid us

case 5150

whelan1 wrote: »

will you have enough replacements? We still have a good few people buying angus bulls for heifers and then they sell them on after the breeding season, last year most of the ade a few pound on what they had paid us

i hope so, this year now i had 60% of heifers calved in 3 weeks and hope to hit 75% of cows calved in 6 sixs, with still another 12 0r 14 cows incalf to Ai, so i hope so, if i was buying a Angus or hereford i would keep him for a few seasons, how you find the angus on the heifers and what type of heifers have you and would a young angus bull be a tad small for jumping mature cows. cheers

whelan1

the bull i have for my heifers is 4 years old, i put him with the cows to clean up also... if gettig a bull for cows he would want to ideally be 18 months at least.... my heifers are big enough as we calve down at 2 and a half years.... calves are a grand size, there are minimal claving problems and there is a hell of a market for angus calves

case 5150

sorry whelan 1 for all the questions but you have me nearly sold on the angus. do you use traditional or candian angus as some lads say candian is hardier calving

keep going

went back to an angus this year and very happy,i suspect he is even shorter gestation than the fr.same reason as yourself late fr heifers are hard work to calve at 2 years.might give the heifers one shout of ai and throw them into the bull after that

case 5150

keep going wrote: »

went back to an angus this year and very happy,i suspect he is even shorter gestation than the fr.same reason as yourself late fr heifers are hard work to calve at 2 years.might give the heifers one shout of ai and throw them into the bull after that

was thinking the same as you, 3 weeks ai nd then bull in, you use a traditional angus? how do you find the tempement of the angus, the freisian are mad bxxxards, nearly got killed with a 18 month last july

sh1tstirrer

case 5150 wrote: »

keep going wrote: »

went back to an angus this year and very happy,i suspect he is even shorter gestation than the fr.same reason as yourself late fr heifers are hard work to calve at 2 years.might give the heifers one shout of ai and throw them into the bull after that

was thinking the same as you, 3 weeks ai nd then bull in, you use a traditional angus? how do you find the tempement of the angus, the freisian are mad bxxxards, nearly got killed with a 18 month last july

If you are using ai for heifers why don't you tail paint and ai for 7days inject the ones that don't come in and a few may need a second injection. It will shorten the breeding and make it easy to watch for repeats. I used that method on maiden heifers last year and only 2 repeated there was no need for a bull.

whelan1

case 5150 wrote: »

sorry whelan 1 for all the questions but you have me nearly sold on the angus. do you use traditional or candian angus as some lads say candian is hardier calving

ours are canandian angus... but as i said we have minimal calving difficulty.... on the temperment of the bulls, NEVER trust a bull

mattthetrasher

calves concieved this year will calve down as 2 year olds in 2015.just maybe to keep it in mind.they might make a nice price

connormi

Over last few years we have been finishing young bulls mostly dairy bred angus and herdford. We find the herdford do more fighting and messing than the angus. We have a big anugus bull with sucklers throwing great calves. When buying him breeder had a load of bulls some very small for heifers and bigger types for cows and sucklers. Was a angus bull at mart over a ton few weeks ago so you will get what ever type you want.

Most dairy farmers get a small bull as some of the calves we buy tend to be small and prob off heifers. All they want is a black calf they can sell so if keeping calves for beef or building a good selling relationship wit a beef farmer try and get a half decent size bull. Herdford calves make a small bit more when selling but must be dehorned! and there is a lot more breeders selling angus than herdford. What part of country are you from.

case 5150

connormi wrote: »

Over last few years we have been finishing young bulls mostly dairy bred angus and herdford. We find the herdford do more fighting and messing than the angus. We have a big anugus bull with sucklers throwing great calves. When buying him breeder had a load of bulls some very small for heifers and bigger types for cows and sucklers. Was a angus bull at mart over a ton few weeks ago so you will get what ever type you want.

Most dairy farmers get a small bull as some of the calves we buy tend to be small and prob off heifers. All they want is a black calf they can sell so if keeping calves for beef or building a good selling relationship wit a beef farmer try and get a half decent size bull. Herdford calves make a small bit more when selling but must be dehorned! and there is a lot more breeders selling angus than herdford. What part of country are you from.

looking for a nice handy bull, not to big as dont want ta set the heifers back and have trouble down the line getting hard in calf, a medium bull be grand, but 1 that could be let run with the a herd of 110 cows for last 5 weeeks to bull the straggers, from north offaly

case 5150

was offered a eight month old angus bull that is 260kgs for handy money, i am suspicios that he mighten be big enough in july to jump on cows, what do ye think??