Scoring a pedigree Limousin

reilig

Its the first time that I may have a bull good enough to sell at the sales next february or March. I know that he has to be scored between 200 or 300 days. Well he has just been weaned and different people that were on the farm over the last few weeks have commented on how well he looks and how he would make a good bull. he's 7 months old and a few KG short of 440kg.

I know that it is one of the worst times to be breeding a pedigree bull with the country, but I really am only feeding him as a hobby and I hope to have a good day out at the sale and occupy myself a good bit over the winter by training him to walk.

So what's the proceedure for getting him scored??
I can find noting about who to contact in the books or on the website or do i have to contact the head office to have it done???

thanks in advance

Dan

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Its the first time that I may have a bull good enough to sell at the sales next february or March. I know that he has to be scored between 200 or 300 days. Well he has just been weaned and different people that were on the farm over the last few weeks have commented on how well he looks and how he would make a good bull. he's 7 months old and a few KG short of 440kg.

I know that it is one of the worst times to be breeding a pedigree bull with the country, but I really am only feeding him as a hobby and I hope to have a good day out at the sale and occupy myself a good bit over the winter by training him to walk.

So what's the proceedure for getting him scored??
I can find noting about who to contact in the books or on the website or do i have to contact the head office to have it done???

thanks in advance

Dan

think you would need to get onto society, and id say they would only come out and score if you had a few to do, could be wrong now

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

think you would need to get onto society, and id say they would only come out and score if you had a few to do, could be wrong now

I've only one for this year. they make it very clear that I cannot sell him without being scored, but they don't give much info on how to go about getting him scored. Will have to give them a call I suppose

Muckit

Are you sure he needs to be scored? I don't know much about the limousine society sales, but I know that it's not compulsory at the official charolais sales. I wouldn't get too hung up on the scoring part of it if you can get away with selling him without it. A good bull is a good bull at the end of the day and a lad out to buy quality will recognise it when he sees it, blup figures or not. Just my humble opinion:rolleyes: Best of luck with him

p.s. if you have a realistic idea of what he's worth, you might make as much selling him out of the shed altogether unhaltered. I trained and sold a bull last year and was left very disappointed moneywise. I work full time and spent alot of cold wet evenings and weekends walking, washing and generally b*ll*cking with my lad and after I was left asking myself what for! You do learn alot of patience from it though and you'I be proud of your acheivements when you walk into the ring, but don't be tinking he'I leave you alot of money. Again the very best of luck to you.

reilig

Thanks Muckit,

According to the documents that ireceived from the Limousin Soc. he has to be scored. I wouldn't be too hung up on it either, but as i said, its not about making money, its more of a hobby and its something that I enjoy. He could be easily sold from the yard, but I want to show him, just for the thrill of it as I've never done it and the novelty will probably wear off after this year.

I do have a realistic break even figure in my head of €2000. If i feed him until March, that's what it will cost me in feed and registrations alone. It will cost me €500 alone to feed him for the last 6 to 8 weeks on showbiz, so i'll have to have a good look at him before the last 2 months to be sure that he will be good enough, if not he will be sold for bull beef and should make a good price if he is 600kg at 12 months old.

Again, as i said, I'm not in it to make money. I have a few pedigree cows and heifers and this was the first bull that I got so i decided to spend some time and money on him. I pity anyone who is breeding bulls and trying to make a profit out of them as it is a very tight market with a lot of price fluctuations.

Muckit wrote: »

Are you sure he needs to be scored? I don't know much about the limousine society sales, but I know that it's not compulsory at the official charolais sales. I wouldn't get too hung up on the scoring part of it if you can get away with selling him without it. A good bull is a good bull at the end of the day and a lad out to buy quality will recognise it when he sees it, blup figures or not. Just my humble opinion:rolleyes: Best of luck with him

p.s. if you have a realistic idea of what he's worth, you might make as much selling him out of the shed altogether unhaltered. I trained and sold a bull last year and was left very disappointed moneywise. I work full time and spent alot of cold wet evenings and weekends walking, washing and generally b*ll*cking with my lad and after I was left asking myself what for! You do learn alot of patience from it though and you'I be proud of your acheivements when you walk into the ring, but don't be tinking he'I leave you alot of money. Again the very best of luck to you.

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Thanks Muckit,

According to the documents that ireceived from the Limousin Soc. he has to be scored. I wouldn't be too hung up on it either, but as i said, its not about making money, its more of a hobby and its something that I enjoy. He could be easily sold from the yard, but I want to show him, just for the thrill of it as I've never done it and the novelty will probably wear off after this year.

I do have a realistic break even figure in my head of €2000. If i feed him until March, that's what it will cost me in feed and registrations alone. It will cost me €500 alone to feed him for the last 6 to 8 weeks on showbiz, so i'll have to have a good look at him before the last 2 months to be sure that he will be good enough, if not he will be sold for bull beef and should make a good price if he is 600kg at 12 months old.

Again, as i said, I'm not in it to make money. I have a few pedigree cows and heifers and this was the first bull that I got so i decided to spend some time and money on him. I pity anyone who is breeding bulls and trying to make a profit out of them as it is a very tight market with a lot of price fluctuations.

spoke to a blue breeder recently, he mentioned a field of 20 bulls with approx 4 grand price tags for the better ones..he will be selling from his yard..I suppose he had to spend alot of money to get to that situation but its good money

mayo_lad

reilig wrote: »

So what's the proceedure for getting him scored??
I can find noting about who to contact in the books or on the website or do i have to contact the head office to have it done???

thanks in advance

Dan

hi Dan
I'm no expert on the subject but i think if you call your local representative they should be able to help ya here's a link which contains all of the regions and who you should call http://www.irishlimousin.com/html/regional.html

best of luck

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

spoke to a blue breeder recently, he mentioned a field of 20 bulls with approx 4 grand price tags for the better ones..he will be selling from his yard..I suppose he had to spend alot of money to get to that situation but its good money

Its good money allright, but breeding blues is risky and I'm sure you will lose a few - and there can be a lot of cost getting them out too.

The last blue sale in roscrea had them averaging over €5k.

Its all money at the end of the day!!

bogman_bass

contact ICBF to get a scorer out. they are scored in a group so get your 5 worst comercial weanlings to go with him to make him look better

Bitten & Hisses

http://www.icbf.com/services/grow/scorers.php


Dan, give a look here. It's an O'Beirne fella who covers your side of the country. Put in ICBF GROW (genetic recording of weanlings) into google and you'll find out all you need to know.

reilig

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

http://www.icbf.com/services/grow/scorers.php


Dan, give a look here. It's an O'Beirne fella who covers your side of the country. Put in ICBF GROW (genetic recording of weanlings) into google and you'll find out all you need to know.

Thanks, it gives his contact number and everything.
I called the Limousin Soc. and they told be to contact ICBF.

Cheers

tismesoitis

really wish u the best of luck with this bull dan but go to the show/sale with no expectations. we went with a bull to may premier in roscrea in 2009 thought we had a cracker and went kinda hoping/expecting about the 3000 for him. we went through the ring unsold and was happy to get rid after for 2000 was a real eye opener. maybe i'll never learn cos plannin to go to october premier with a heifer think she,s a cracker (might put up a few pics for opinions). anyway as i said i really do wish u all the best with this lad

Muckit

That's some good advice right there. I was the same before bringing my bull to the sale, it's only when you get there that you see what you have:rolleyes:

If the bull your bringing is not up to scratch, he's only going to stand out from the crowd (not saying that your bull isn't a good animal), but just somethin to think about

the very best of luck with the whole thing.

LostCovey

reilig wrote: »

I hope to have a good day out at the sale and occupy myself a good bit over the winter by training him to walk.

LOL

whelan1

would you have any interest in putting him in to tully ?

reilig

LostCovey wrote: »

LOL

totally agree. Excellent post. Use of the capital letters really emphasises the point.

reilig

whelan1 wrote: »

would you have any interest in putting him in to tully ?

I'll see how he does in Tullamore in 2 weeks time. It will be a good opportunity to compare him to animals his own age. :eek:

whelan1

give them a ring in tully , i think they go in around 7-8 months old , we put a few angus through there a few years ago

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

I'll see how he does in Tullamore in 2 weeks time. It will be a good opportunity to compare him to animals his own age. :eek:

travelled to bridgetown co clare to the limousin YMA workshop to day , saw some serious fancy cattle from the clare breeders, one bull in particular caught my eye, went on to win his class and take reserve champion, champion going to a cow with calf at foot from the same herd.

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

travelled to bridgetown co clare to the limousin YMA workshop to day , saw some serious fancy cattle from the clare breeders, one bull in particular caught my eye, went on to win his class and take reserve champion, champion going to a cow with calf at foot from the same herd.

Full sister of my bull with calf at foot won in Balmoral show earlier this year. Its really the only reason why I kept him. I know he won't be as good as her, but I have had a few people interested in him after hearing about the win. Had an offer on him from a well known breeder who had a notion of showing him. As I said, I'm not keeping him for the money.

Any of your family participate in the YMA ??

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

Full sister of my bull with calf at foot won in Balmoral show earlier this year. Its really the only reason why I kept him. I know he won't be as good as her, but I have had a few people interested in him after hearing about the win. Had an offer on him from a well known breeder who had a notion of showing him. As I said, I'm not keeping him for the money.

Any of your family participate in the YMA ??

no

we haven't shown for the last few years it was mostly my eldest daughter who was really interested, however since she started college she hadn't time for halter training etc; so she switched to breeding a couple of commercial calves

also the quality of stock and presentation has upped since we were showing, i went to the premier in roscrea about 4 years on the look out for a good female, i took a fancy to one of the youngest heifers at the sale, as she had failed to raise a rosette I thought she may come worth the money also she was the second last lot of the day. I followed her to €4800 and was only third best she eventually sold for €5100


best of luck in tullamore and further on, as you say it's not all about the money, on the whole the limousin breeders are a good bunch and today youngsters from cork to donegal were mixing together and enjoying themselves,

who knows maybe in 10 or 15 years time you might be on the road to the YMA

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

no

we haven't shown for the last few years it was mostly my eldest daughter who was really interested, however since she started college she hadn't time for halter training etc; so she switched to breeding a couple of commercial calves

also the quality of stock and presentation has upped since we were showing, i went to the premier in roscrea about 4 years on the look out for a good female, i took a fancy to one of the youngest heifers at the sale, as she had failed to raise a rosette I thought she may come worth the money also she was the second last lot of the day. I followed her to €4800 and was only third best she eventually sold for €5100


best of luck in tullamore and further on, as you say it's not all about the money, on the whole the limousin breeders are a good bunch and today youngsters from cork to donegal were mixing together and enjoying themselves,

who knows maybe in 10 or 15 years time you might be on the road to the YMA

Cheers Snowman. I think if it was about the money, there wouldn't be too many people doing it.

Bitten & Hisses

reilig wrote: »

I'll see how he does in Tullamore in 2 weeks time. It will be a good opportunity to compare him to animals his own age. :eek:

Fair play Reilig, I certainly wouldn't have the confidence to take an animal to Tullamore at this stage in my career. Best of luck with him!

reilig

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

Fair play Reilig, I certainly wouldn't have the confidence to take an animal to Tullamore at this stage in my career. Best of luck with him!

Could be an embarrising day out :eek:

But we'll see. He's entered anyway and he's walking properly.

vanderbadger

any pics of him

Bitten & Hisses

reilig wrote: »

Could be an embarrising day out :eek:

But we'll see. He's entered anyway and he's walking properly.

Maybe, but I got some advice and input from one of the leading breeders in the country last year about preparing animals for show. One thing he said was, you will always have the day when you're embarassed, but never let it put you off. He still has those days, according to himself anyway!

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

any pics of him

Hopefully this will work. Photo's aren't that clear from the phone, but it gives you a view of his side and end. He was born on Dec 17th and is 445kg as weighed last week. The other animals with him are October and November calves and all were reared with him getting equal access to meal. Heaviest of the others is 400kg.





EDIT: Bugger. Here's 2 links to imageshack:

http://img684.imageshack.us/i/18072010.jpg/

http://img689.imageshack.us/i/17072010c.jpg/

vanderbadger

hmm dont think they are working reilig

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

hmm dont think they are working reilig

Should be now
Not good with this technical stuff

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Should be now
Not good with this technical stuff

links arent working for me anyway unless its something im doing

reilig

vanderbadger wrote: »

links arent working for me anyway unless its something im doing

Try

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/reilig/

If not, then I'm lost

vanderbadger

reilig wrote: »

Try

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/reilig/

If not, then I'm lost

ya i can see there are 2 images but it wont open them for me, what a ****e site, not to worry anyway

Bitten & Hisses

Nice looking bull. At the risk of being nosy, what breeding is in him? Have you been feeding him meal for long?

Tora Bora

I can open just thumbnail pics. Cannot zoom in to get an idea of his shape etc,.

He don't look all that mighty from the pics:mad: That's the trouble with pics of good stock, they never, ever seem to show the true style of the animal. Obviously yours is a good animal, based on it's breeding genetics, but the picture just does not bring it out.
I always think the pics you see of the stock in the breeding station calalogs are photoshopped:cool:
But the best of luck with him. Hope you bring home a rosette:P

reilig

Bitten & Hisses wrote: »

Nice looking bull. At the risk of being nosy, what breeding is in him? Have you been feeding him meal for long?

The sire was pelletstown upstanding and the cow was off Barnhill Ivan. Bought her from a relation of mine who was getting out. He sold her daughter, and my bull's full sister to Crawford Brothers who won Junior cow of the show (First Calver with calf at foot) in Balmoral earlier this year.

He's been on meal since early march - not the turbo stuff, just the ordinary stuff.

reilig

Just an update guys. My bull was scored this morning. Its a very simple proceedure and took only a couple of minutes. He had to be aged between 200 and 300 days - he's 290 ays today. And he had to be along with 4 other cattle between 200 and 300 days. Cost €55 for the whole lot and scoring results will be sent to me by post.

I was really impressed with the weight, so was the guy that was scoring him - 485KG for a calf that was born mid december 2009. I have him walking (well half walking IYKWIM) at the moment and by Christmas I will put him on to showbiz. I have a nice dry few acres of bog that he will be fed on for the winter which has good shelter - outdoor feeding should ensure that he has a good coat of hair on him when I am selling him in March.

Thanks for the advice above guys. I'll keep ye informed. Hopefully I'll break even anyway.

Tipp Man

reilig wrote: »

Just an update guys. My bull was scored this morning. Its a very simple proceedure and took only a couple of minutes. He had to be aged between 200 and 300 days - he's 290 ays today. And he had to be along with 4 other cattle between 200 and 300 days. Cost €55 for the whole lot and scoring results will be sent to me by post.

I was really impressed with the weight, so was the guy that was scoring him - 485KG for a calf that was born mid december 2009. I have him walking (well half walking IYKWIM) at the moment and by Christmas I will put him on to showbiz. I have a nice dry few acres of bog that he will be fed on for the winter which has good shelter - outdoor feeding should ensure that he has a good coat of hair on him when I am selling him in March.

Thanks for the advice above guys. I'll keep ye informed. Hopefully I'll break even anyway.

sounds like a top quality animal there Relig, well done to you. there is always a great sense of satisfaction in breeding a top quality animal, its a shame that it is rarely rewarded in the price

Give us a bit of info on his background/routine etc. Also is he far and away your best animal weight wise or would you have more similar at that age?

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

I have a nice dry few acres of bog that he will be fed on for the winter which has good shelter - outdoor feeding should ensure that he has a good coat of hair on him when I am selling him in March.

Hi reilig

I've often wondered about this. How do lads practice walking bulls when they are outwintered? Dabbled last winter myself with training a bull, but he was inside on straw and i found that tricky and time consuming enough

reilig

Tipp Man wrote: »

sounds like a top quality animal there Relig, well done to you. there is always a great sense of satisfaction in breeding a top quality animal, its a shame that it is rarely rewarded in the price

Give us a bit of info on his background/routine etc. Also is he far and away your best animal weight wise or would you have more similar at that age?

I had 4 chaorlais bulls that were 2 months older than him (Commercials), I fed them all together. Sold the 4 about 3 weeks ago and was seriously disappointed. They were all between 470kg and 500kg and didn't get €2 per kg for them. Sold lighter weinlings (CHX as well) and got €2.20 per kg for them. In short, my few Autumn calvers from last year practially made a loss for me when I count the meal that they ate. other years, they made a good profit. The majority of my cows are spring calvers - so thankfully I haven't all in the one pot.

The bull is by far the best animal I have or probably ever had. I wrote about his breeding a few posts up.

reilig

Muckit wrote: »

Hi reilig

I've often wondered about this. How do lads practice walking bulls when they are outwintered? Dabbled last winter myself with training a bull, but he was inside on straw and i found that tricky and time consuming enough

I can halter him at the trough already, so its not too bad. I'll just walk him on the road after this - get him used to people and traffic and noise.

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

I can halter him at the trough already, so its not too bad. I'll just walk him on the road after this - get him used to people and traffic and noise.

did you show him at tullamore? or am i off track

Muckit

reilig wrote: »

I can halter him at the trough already, so its not too bad. I'll just walk him on the road after this - get him used to people and traffic and noise.

Very good Sounds like you've the ground work in so. Have you been training him long? When did you wean him? Is he ringed? Did you get him used to a tie inside to get him quiet to the stage he is at now?

Sorry about questions, not being nosey, just trying to educate myself, as I found it a bit daunting last year:rolleyes:

Best of luck with him. I hope he'I be lucky for you when you go to sell him;)

reilig

snowman707 wrote: »

did you show him at tullamore? or am i off track

Yea, that's what has him as quiet as he is. But I haven't done much with him since - its been a busy few months. He's lively enough, but a bit of work with him again will get him back into shape.

snowman707

reilig wrote: »

Yea, that's what has him as quiet as he is. But I haven't done much with him since - its been a busy few months. He's lively enough, but a bit of work with him again will get him back into shape.

best of luck with him, he should be in good shape for the spring sales.