Bdgp

bogman_bass

Mine too and herd test on Tuesday so 2 birds with one stone

Dozer1

same here tags arrived another job for the weekend

Aravo

Job done. Thought the bit Of The tag to be returned was a bit weak. The scanable barcode broke off one. I sellotaped it to the capsule.

Limestone Cowboy

Been said on here many times before by others but only really noticed it myself this evening. Was in gort Mart for a few hours and there wasn't 1 nice breeding heifer in the whole Mart that was 4 or 5 stars. Any that had them were mostly very plain, poor quality or first cross dairy. What has this scheme achieved? Too much faith placed in Icbf and the stars are almost a farce at this stage. The calving difficulty figure is about the only info worth paying attention to.

charolais0153

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Been said on here many times before by others but only really noticed it myself this evening. Was in gort Mart for a few hours and there wasn't 1 nice breeding heifer in the whole Mart that was 4 or 5 stars. Any that had them were mostly very plain, poor quality or first cross dairy. What has this scheme achieved? Too much faith placed in Icbf and the stars are almost a farce at this stage. The calving difficulty figure is about the only info worth paying attention to.

Maybe cos there being kept. Selling two heifers to the mart next week. Theyre not the 5 star ones...

Limestone Cowboy

charolais0153 wrote: »

Maybe cos there being kept. Selling two heifers to the mart next week. Theyre not the 5 star ones...

God help the fella that has to try and buy a few so if that's the case. They'll have a herd of friesans.

Anto_Meath

charolais0153 wrote: »

Maybe cos there being kept. Selling two heifers to the mart next week. Theyre not the 5 star ones...

Yes you are correct, any lad that is at suckling will try to keep the best ones for himself to try and improve his herd. But if you have your quote of 4 & 5 stars then I would be picking what I think is best after that and not really relying on the stars. But you cant beat your own heifers for replacements. They know you and your farm and they are nearly always easier to manage.
The thing about the dairy cross bred heifers is that their heifers make great cows as they will have two generations of beef and also plenty of milk.

sonnybill

Got my white tags done there at weekend and all bvd tagging done , great feeling to have them in the post, I have them split up everywhere this time of year so 1’s and 2’s in different places so hassle but I think it’s welk worth being in the scheme and the BEEP

Buford T. Justice XIX

Just got paid today.

We had an inspection in January, I think.

Only 4 months late...

Tomjim

If a bull is 5 star across all breeds on replacement and is 3 star across all breeds on terminal does he qualify for BGDP Scheme

High bike

Tomjim wrote: »

If a bull is 5 star across all breeds on replacement and is 3 star across all breeds on terminal does he qualify for BGDP Scheme

yes he does qualify

Dunedin

Tomjim wrote: »

If a bull is 5 star across all breeds on replacement and is 3 star across all breeds on terminal does he qualify for BGDP Scheme

Yes. Absolutely

Tomjim

Dunedin wrote: »

Yes. Absolutely

I only got this Bull on Sunday and accepted him into my herd on the same day but he is not appearing as eligible on ICBF

Simmental.

Tomjim wrote: »

I only got this Bull on Sunday and accepted him into my herd on the same day but he is not appearing as eligible on ICBF

Dose he have a genomic evaluation?
https://www.icbf.com/wp/?p=11874

Tomjim

no he hasn't, its blank, its coming up as 0 for both terminal and replacement and its coloured pink. What does that mean?

simx

Quick question lads cousin is buying a stock bull and is 4 star within ch breed but not within all breeds is he still eligible

tanko

Tomjim wrote: »

no he hasn't, its blank, its coming up as 0 for both terminal and replacement and its coloured pink. What does that mean?

Have you tried putting his tag number into the bull search on the ICBF homepage?

Never wrestle with pigs

simx wrote: »

Quick question lads cousin is buying a stock bull and is 4 star within ch breed but not within all breeds is he still eligible

Yes, you have one of four boxes to tick to qualify. Replacement in either it's own breed or across breeds. Then you have terminal in its own breed or across breeds. So a 4 or 5 star bull in any of those 4 boxes will qualify.

Sami23

Just on bulls in general - what age would ye say a young bull would be fit to serve cows as thinking of buying a stock bull this year for the first time.
Also any tips or advice on having a bull on the farm would be greatly appreciated.
I'm just sick of trying to get cows in calf with AI and still ending up with empties every year.
Tia

whelan2

Sami23 wrote: »

Just on bulls in general - what age would ye say a young bull would be fit to serve cows as thinking of buying a stick bull this year for the first time.
Also any tips or advice on having a bull on the farm would be greatly appreciated.
I'm just sick of trying to get cows in calf with AI and still ending up with empties every year.
Tia

Depends how many cows but I'd say at 18 months would be fine. Some lads say younger lads would be grand but no point wrecking them

Never wrestle with pigs

Sami23 wrote: »

Just on bulls in general - what age would ye say a young bull would be fit to serve cows as thinking of buying a stock bull this year for the first time.
Also any tips or advice on having a bull on the farm would be greatly appreciated.
I'm just sick of trying to get cows in calf with AI and still ending up with empties every year.
Tia

How many cows and what type etc?

Sami23

Only 10 cows - a mix of black and red limos and couple of white heads

kollegeknight

Tomjim wrote: »

no he hasn't, its blank, its coming up as 0 for both terminal and replacement and its coloured pink. What does that mean?

It has happened with me before with new born calves that it takes a day or two for the stars to appear- maybe same for transfers in?

anthony500_1

Sami23 wrote:

Just on bulls in general - what age would ye say a young bull would be fit to serve cows as thinking of buying a stock bull this year for the first time. Also any tips or advice on having a bull on the farm would be greatly appreciated. I'm just sick of trying to get cows in calf with AI and still ending up with empties every year. Tia

I was in same boat here, not around enough to catch them bulling, was a pure disaster I went the opposite way to most and bought a 5yr old high star bull with great breeding cheap off done deal so bought off farm, I seen his calfs on the ground and was very happy with what I seen. This will be his 3rd season running with my cows and only reason I'll be getting rid of him is because I've kept all the heifers he produced.
A good electric fence is the only way to stop him heading off to the neighbours bulling heifers but once it's on he won't even sniff over the wall at them. Biggest problem I have is after his job is done trying to find a corner to keep him in.
Got caught the first year where I scanned the cows and once they were in calf put the bull back with them. One broke never spotted it and ended up with 1 calf 6mts after the rest. Not ideal in my own situation. There is not much in the line of stockmanship different to cows other than obviously never trust a bull etc keep an eye out on the likes of done deal and ask for the tag no, then check out his stars breeding etc on icbf bull search it will give you a good idea if the bull on paper at least will suit your herd before you ever go and look at him.

Sami23

anthony500_1 wrote: »

I was in same boat here, not around enough to catch them bulling, was a pure disaster I went the opposite way to most and bought a 5yr old high star bull with great breeding cheap off done deal so bought off farm, I seen his calfs on the ground and was very happy with what I seen. This will be his 3rd season running with my cows and only reason I'll be getting rid of him is because I've kept all the heifers he produced.
A good electric fence is the only way to stop him heading off to the neighbours bulling heifers but once it's on he won't even sniff over the wall at them. Biggest problem I have is after his job is done trying to find a corner to keep him in.
Got caught the first year where I scanned the cows and once they were in calf put the bull back with them. One broke never spotted it and ended up with 1 calf 6mts after the rest. Not ideal in my own situation. There is not much in the line of stockmanship different to cows other than obviously never trust a bull etc keep an eye out on the likes of done deal and ask for the tag no, then check out his stars breeding etc on icbf bull search it will give you a good idea if the bull on paper at least will suit your herd before you ever go and look at him.

Thanks for that great advice. I agree electric fence is a must alright.
I suppose the 2 biggest dilemmas I'm considering is what to do with him for the winter, will he be ok on slats with the cows or do most lads outwinter their bulls and secondly at what age is there a danger of the heifer weanlings coming bulling and getting caught out with him bulling them later in the year (spring calving) ?

Parishlad

Sami23 wrote: »

Thanks for that great advice. I agree electric fence is a must alright.
I suppose the 2 biggest dilemmas I'm considering is what to do with him for the winter, will he be ok on slats with the cows or do most lads outwinter their bulls and secondly at what age is there a danger of the heifer weanlings coming bulling and getting caught out with him bulling them later in the year (spring calving) ?

Don't put him on the slats with the cows anyway. Too much of a chance that he'll be pucking the cows and cause one of them to lose a calf.

Sami23

Parishlad wrote: »

Don't put him on the slats with the cows anyway. Too much of a chance that he'll be pucking the cows and cause one of them to lose a calf.

I was afraid someone would say that
I wouldn't have a spare pen of slats to put him on and if he's left out he would fairly poach land over winter so what other option would there be

Limestone Cowboy

Sami23 wrote: »

I was afraid someone would say that
I wouldn't have a spare pen of slats to put him on and if he's left out he would fairly poach land over winter so what other option would there be

Buy an agey bull. Let him do your job for the summer and move him on again. You'll come across plenty at cull price.

Sami23

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Buy an agey bull. Let him do your job for the summer and move him on again. You'll come across plenty at cull price.

Was actually thinking of that alright too.
Is it ok for BDGP scheme to have a different stock bull every year once they are genotyped 4 or 5 star ?

Limestone Cowboy

Sami23 wrote: »

Was actually thinking of that alright too.
Is it ok for BDGP scheme to have a different stock bull every year once they are genotyped 4 or 5 star ?

Ya I'd say so.