which bull

PANADOL

keep a small herd of cows ,(angus lim, herford x) need to get a bull choices are between , lim , angus, saller. The fact that i dont be there much the bull needs to be easy calfing , the system of farming is to calf down in sep oct ,sell in june july as weanlings, i feel an angus calf would not be worth much at that stage so , possibly between lim and saller both bulls can be bought at the same price, but which would suit my circumstances . i have heard saller cattle can be hard to handle ?any advice greatly appreciated

vanderbadger

would you not go for a charolais? plenty of easy calving char bulls available

pakalasa

You'd want to add frame and growth to increase value to the weanlings.
Easy calving Charolais or Limousin would do this.

If you go for Limousin get one with a high docility index. When crossed with the AA and whitehead cows, calves should be very quiet.

Exporters want lean muscly types, might be hard to get that though with the traditional type cows you have.

reilig

or Limousin.

A lot of autumn calves will go for export - export buyers want LM, CH or BB calves. Any other breed and you limit the buyers that you will have when you sell them.


EDIT: You beat me to this one Pakalasa

BOND747

i have lim x and her x cows and i use an easy calving lim bull, iv sold the bull calves at 7months of age the last few yrs and iv always been happy enough with price.
if you choose a lim bull make sure his docile or else its just not worth the hassle

PANADOL

BOND747 wrote: »

i have lim x and her x cows and i use an easy calving lim bull, iv sold the bull calves at 7months of age the last few yrs and iv always been happy enough with price.
if you choose a lim bull make sure his docile or else its just not worth the hassle

if you dont mind me asking what was your average price? any knowledge of saler bulls/cattle. and how do you make sure that abull is docile "not worth the hassile" you mean bull hard to control or weanlings or both

BOND747

PANADOL wrote: »

if you dont mind me asking what was your average price? any knowledge of saler bulls/cattle. and how do you make sure that abull is docile "not worth the hassile" you mean bull hard to control or weanlings or both

I don't have any experience of saler cattle, average price for bull weanlings was €380 over and average for heifers was €350 over there weight, its not an amazing price but my cows are not the biggest so iv lower maintenance costs and they calve with little or no problems so im happy enough with the balance of easy calving docile animals and still produce a decent quality weanling. when ever im buying a bull i always see the animal out in the field if he stays quite while a stranger is walking around him its a decent sign, the first lim bull i had was a little wild but his calves were nuts which made simple jobs like dosing and testing a real nightmare

dasheriff

Saler are a very easy calving breed,they bring good form but dont have quite the same muscling of a Lim..id be more for running a lim bull on saler cows than using a saler bull..But my advice to you out of your 3 choices is the limousin or else consider an easy calving charlaois..

PANADOL

vanderbadger wrote: »

would you not go for a charolais? plenty of easy calving char bulls available

how do you determine the easy calfing strain in a bull ? everybody selling a char bull is claiming there bull is easy calfing

5live

PANADOL wrote: »

how do you determine the easy calfing strain in a bull ? everybody selling a char bull is claiming there bull is easy calfing

A lot of the easy calving of the cow is tied up with how she is managed prior to calving. A fit cow in right condition will calve easier than an over fed cow thats not getting much exercise. Also her intake of minerals prior to calving can have an effect on her and on the calf eg low iodine can lead to prolonged calvings and weak calves. And nobody sells a hard calving bull:rolleyes:. You might get an idea of the bulls calving difficulty by checking his fathers calving difficulty on AI books or on ICBF site. Best of luck with your purchase

farmer1

PANADOL wrote: »

how do you determine the easy calfing strain in a bull ? everybody selling a char bull is claiming there bull is easy calfing

Brfore you call to see a bull get the tag number off the seller and type it into the ICBF site. This will give you the bulls SBV and all his ancestry. Best of luck

pakalasa

farmer1 wrote: »

Brfore you call to see a bull get the tag number off the seller and type it into the NCBF herdplus site. This will give you the bulls SBV and all his ancestry. Best of luck

ICBF site, I think you mean.

www.icbf.com

farmer1

pakalasa wrote: »

ICBF site, I think you mean.

www.icbf.com

Yes thats the one. thanks Pakalasa