Beef AI/Bulls MEGATHREAD

Joskins is a Vantastic son, sons of Vantastic are notorious for breeding heifers/cows with poor milk, kept a couple of Milbrook Dartagnan heifers here once, they were a disaster for milk. Looking at Joskins breeding/figures you’d think he’d be one of the last bulls you’d keep heifers off, then again i’ve seen lads on Facebook etc saying his heifers have enough milk so who knows.

Had the first Gamin ZGM heifers calved here this year, not much udders on them but their calves did very well, they’re off milky Saler and Sim cross cows tho. Have a few more Gamin weanling heifers this year which i’ll keep on for cows

Having tried a lot of breeds nothing beats the Saler or Saler cross cow and Charolais bull on poor land imo. The fertility, longevity, hardiness, good milk and feet and calving ability of them is out in its own.

Docility wise i don’t find them any different to anything else around the place, i wouldn’t have the quietest cattle but when my vet is doing the TB test he reckons they’re quiet compared to a lot of cattle he deals with. The heifers were grand the day they calved anyway. I’ve been using Gamin for years but only started keeping heifers off him in recent years, they’re all young so haven’t noticed any feet problems yet anyway. He’s very easy calved and the muscle they have helps them sell well i find. I’d imagine you’d have a fair idea what her feet will be like at this stage, long toes etc.

If you want to see how bad the changes are for LM bulls check out the revised catalogue for Athenry LM sale. Loads of bulls dropped below 4/5 stars which would have qualified on Monday. Feel sorry for breeders.

Can anyone tell me if the bulls I have used for ai in the last few weeks that were 4/5star and now are 3 star. Will they be counted as 45 star or 3 star.

Was anyone in athenry for the limousin sale? Just wondering how'd it go.

I was thinking that but it's hard to know when your not there. Some really nice bulls sold for handy money I thought. I was wondering did the latest icbf thing upset the sale.

That's demented.

He’s a decent bull, easy calved (put him on heifers) calves are good quality and the daughters make good cows

IF the Limousin society and all the other breed societies had a pair of balls between them at the beginning of all this they wouldn’t be in the mess they’re in now, they blindly adopted the Eurostar system at the start without knowing what they were getting themselves into. The biggest culprits in all this are the IFA as usual, a pile of IFA lads sitting on the ICBF board fast asleep but farmers will keep throwing millions at them every year, you couldn’t make it up, has to be the best example of Stockholm Syndrome i’ve ever seen. I wonder how many pedigree breeders and commercial suckler farmers who are unhappy with their stars are IFA members. NCBC have been an embarrassment in all this also. It’s funny to see their new star bull Powerful Propers figures go through the floor.

There is good enough money in the current SCEP scheme because you only have to calve 50% of the cows you get paid on but this might be the last of these schemes worth joining. There are only 17000 farmers in SCEP. I have my doubts if the next scheme will be worth joining but sure that’s what they’re aiming for.

The minutes of the ICBF meetings where the decisions to make these changes were made should be published so that farmers can see who is fighting their corner and who isn’t, no danger of that happening of course. Why haven’t the IFA board members spoken publicly about what has gone on and why. Whatever credibility ICBF had is gone now, they’re just a bunch of well paid puppets for the anti farming nutters. ICBF are just fiddling the figures to suit the we have to get rid of Sucklers agenda, watching Sean Coughlan trying to defend the new figures was laughable stuff, it’s obvious he doesn’t believe a word of what he’s saying. Saying that farmers would be better to breed replacements off Dexter bulls rather than Charolais bulls is the last straw, they’ve lost the plot completely now.

Bova still have Gamin (ZGM) by the way, for those interested. Only talked to them during the week.

Have one cow in calf to him but nothing yet. The AI guy had the straws so I said I'd try one anyway.

Have you used Montesquieu much, what do you think of him?

Are straws off him available yet? Looking at his breeding he shouldn’t be hard calving but better play it safe with heifers imo. I’d put Knottown Roy or Manclaux on them, a 3/4 bred Saler is a grand animal especially if you get a heifer, plenty of time for the Lim bull the second time and the Charolais after that.

But harsh on him I think. I wouldn’t put any major weighting personally on gestation.

I value docility, easy calving, daughter milk, and confirmation. Hard to get a bull that can tick all boxes but he looks a jack of all trades.

Two straws in last week anyway and 4 more ordered.

i wouldn’t be bothered using a new bull. Every year the same thing. The new expensive bull comes in. Not many of them take off Id b using something that u could keep a heifer off Sexed Ivor. Cwi. Maybe knell Etc.

Isn’t his calving difficulty gone a way up?

Sure isn’t it always the way, if you don’t put them in calf at 15 months they thrive and grow well piling on the weight and you regret not putting them in calf. If you put them in calf at fifteen months they stop growing straight away and you end up with a stunted wee yoke, then you regret putting them in calf. Calving them at 30 months is generally ideal but i only calve in Spring here so heifers calve at 34-36 months, only a small number of cows here might as well have something nice to look at.

I had a cow calf to ARDLEA RIGBY ET (LM8622) there earlier. Average to large size heifer calf. A new bull but breeding looks good, Kingbulll X Vantastic X Ramses.

Funny thing though is she was half out but the bag never burst, so her head was still in a full bag of fluid. I burst it straight away when I spotted it. Could she have been in trouble if I never intervened? Cow tends to have small calves normally and never had trouble calving.