bulls for heifers

cows123

what are the best bulls to use on heifers. i would like to use a belgian blue as im not too keen on limousins.

blue5000

How old/heavy are the heifers, and what breed are they?

vanderbadger

cows123 wrote: »

what are the best bulls to use on heifers. i would like to use a belgian blue as im not too keen on limousins.

used belgian blue on 2 first calvers , ballyfin borat (BBQ) from dovea, one of the heifers was a nice all white charolais and the other was a purebred unregistered simm, both were good big heifers, as i said in a earlier post the simm heifer went a good bit over time and she had a biggish bull calf eventually and a good pull, the other heifer calved easier and she had a nice heifer, both calves are mostly white with a bit of blue color and are nice shapey calves. I think this bull bbq is ok for heifers but they would want to be good heifers i reckon, not sure its worth the gamble to be honest

leg wax

cows123 wrote: »

what are the best bulls to use on heifers. i would like to use a belgian blue as im not too keen on limousins.

sfl for heifers and they will spit them out and if the mother has a bit of shape you will have a nice weanling.

cows123

the heifers are mostly limousin and simmmental. theyre a year and a half old and around 400kg.

Bizzum

Outside of Blues you could use the Lim FL22 or Oderim or REQ.
Part -Sirex. Blonde- indiana.
Does it have to be Blue?
Or you could completly mad and try a Speckled Park, or Salers or Red Devon!

Just looking at your heifer age/weights, you really need easy calved. I'd be slow to go Blue, Buts thats just me!

cows123

id prefer to go blue. ive used ross alo on one and im very pleased with him. i like the idea of pathenaise though. does anyone know much about them?

pakalasa

From NCBC, you could try the BB CGG at 6.5% calving (96% Rel).

Surprised you used Ross Alo RZL. He's 10.6% calving (94% Rel). So he's hard calving for a heifer.

Bizzum

cows123 wrote: »

i like the idea of pathenaise though. does anyone know much about them?

I don't know much about them but I used Sirex on a Sim X Lim heifer last year and she calved unassisted in Dec, her calf is a smashing heifer calf, not extra big but very thick, and a great hind quarter.

Having said that, I'd be disappointed if it was any other way giving the quality of the heifer because she is out of a very good breeding cow herself!

So, all things being equal, I wouldn't be one bit afraid to try Sirex on a heifer, particurarly one that didn't have much muscle.

cows123

did anyone see the new parthenaise bull in dovea, Bolide.
http://www.dovea.ie/DOVEA_beef_catalogue_2011.pdf
i might be tempted to use him on a heifer.

Bizzum

cows123 wrote: »

did anyone see the new parthenaise bull in dovea, Bolide.
http://www.dovea.ie/DOVEA_beef_catalogue_2011.pdf
i might be tempted to use him on a heifer.

For me Sirex would be my first choice, because of his better Euro-Star rating, and higher reliability.
BUT if my AI man was Dovea and carrying Bolide, well why not give him a go!
Whats wrong with an easy calving Lim?

Madden171

I have recently used ballyfin borat BBQ on a Angus x limousin heifer she is 2 year old should the cross be ok or could there be calving difficulties ??

yellow50HX

given the chioce i'd always put a heifer in calf to an angus. two reasons ease of calving and also calf size. had a few heifers that got bulled from a neighbours bull (CHX we reckoned), managed to bring the calves but they were a bit of a pull. Fine CHX calves but they were too big for thier mothers. Heifers were not able to supply enough milk for the calves and they didnt really trive compared to the others. the other heifers calved AA calves that started off smaller but filled out over the summer and were easy sold. The CHX's needed to be feed extra after weaning to make up the condition.

that said our stock bull is an easy calving limo and we left the heifers with him last year. have no issues with any of the cows yet this year but the heifers arent due for another while yet so we'll see how they go.

Madden171

So should they Belgian blue bull BBQ be ok on the angus heifer as I'm worried it might be too big for her now my ai technician said she should be fine but as she is a good tall heifer

KatyMac

Belgium Blue calves are usually small when born and then they grow like mad! Unlike Charolais that are pure muscle with no give on the way out of the cow!! of the two I'd prefer the BB

Madden171

Thanks for they advice I also have a Charolais x Angus heifer which I was going to used for a embryo I purchased last year is there any thing that she needs before implanting I have given minerals and have her on silage for the past 5 months or would I be better putting a straw on her and using a Angus heifer for my embryo any advice appreciated

Buncha Fives

Used a few Parthenaise straws (Bolide - BZB) on heifers and they worked out quite well, small calves that have developed muscle...have one smashing calf out of a cow that had quite a bit of milk unfortunately some of the other cows arent hectic for milk and the calves havent fullfilled their potential.