Belgium Blues

KatyMac

I want to know a little bit about them! I know they produce serious weanlings, but are they hard to calve, etc? Also, are they polled? I've a couple of Angus cows not yet bulled and was thinking of trying BB. They are big mature cows. If I got them in calf within the next couple of weeks they would be calving around mid/late March. I don't know much about this breed, but have heard something about them being hard to calve if the cow goes over, is this right? Any info appreciated!

leg wax

KatyMac wrote: »

I want to know a little bit about them! I know they produce serious weanlings, but are they hard to calve, etc? Also, are they polled? I've a couple of Angus cows not yet bulled and was thinking of trying BB. They are big mature cows. If I got them in calf within the next couple of weeks they would be calving around mid/late March. I don't know much about this breed, but have heard something about them being hard to calve if the cow goes over, is this right? Any info appreciated!

i breed bb cattle and as far as i am concerned if you have angus cows forget it,blues should only and repeat only be used if you are going for the export market, angus will not get you there.

yellow50HX

BB are serious cattle but yes they can be iffy to calf but there are easy calving bulls.

I crossed an AA bull with BBX cows a few year ago fine calves.
AA cows espically those from a dairy herd tend to be great mothers and should calf most breeds. We cross ours with LIM bulls throw nice calves.

The BB has a double muscle gene which can be an issue is the cow goes over time. This is mostly an issue with BB cows as they can breed a massive calf in the womb but have a narrow pelvis so if the calf gets too big a section might be needed.

Ideally if I was going with BB's again I would have them with a big Sim cow.

Tipp Man

leg wax wrote: »

i breed bb cattle and as far as i am concerned if you have angus cows forget it,blues should only and repeat only be used if you are going for the export market, angus will not get you there.

Isn't the BB from Angus cows very popular with UK sucklers? I was under the impression that they saw this as a great cross

Could be completely wrong though

Juniorhurler

Tipp Man wrote: »

Isn't the BB from Angus cows very popular with UK sucklers? I was under the impression that they saw this as a great cross

Could be completely wrong though

They are popular over there alright. They see them as easily finished at young ages. The biggest benefit of the blue over here is the export market and the price premium that this brings. The Irish finishers have a dislike for them as they see them as soft and think their feet can be an issue up on slats.

With an angus cow you won't reach the export market and with our finishers not liking them you will not achieve the prices with blues. I would go limousin with angus cows myself. The heifer calves will sell well as replacements and the bulls will do well for finishing.

mf240

I would use an easy calving charlaois on them.

RaggyDays

Not to mention that a third of the BBs are very very small

Juniorhurler

RaggyDays wrote: »

Not to mention that a third of the BBs are very very small

Where do you get that from? From the wrong type of dam maybe. The biggest problem with blues in this country is that lads see the muscle on the bulls, think they'll have some of that, put any type of a screw of a cow in calf to them expecting e grade cattle and then bad mouth the blues when they don't get them. You need continental cows to get the best from a blue bull. Blonde d'acquitaine, limousin and parthenaise all cross very well with them.

High bike

Crossed a limousine cow with ai b/blue and got a cracking heifer calf last February,cow called on her own no prob

yellow50HX

We still have 1 cow with BB in her, she is a bb/fr/AA cross have crossed her a lim over the last 4 years and she throws great calves. She is the only one we kept as all the other BBX cows we had were problematic calving.

Interesting article, any BB's need easy calving bulls.

http://www.teagasc.ie/research/reports/beef/4528/eopr-4528.pdf

RaggyDays

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Where do you get that from?

Go into the mart and have alook at the BBs. 1 in 3 are small fat crabs

Juniorhurler

RaggyDays wrote: »

Go into the mart and have alook at the BBs. 1 in 3 are small fat crabs

Breeding them here for years. From the right type of cow they do not come small. And definitely not one in three.

mf240

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Breeding them here for years. From the right type of cow they do not come small. And definitely not one in three.

EDJ and a couple more were like terriers out of even big cows.

yellow50HX

Juniorhurler wrote: »

Breeding them here for years. From the right type of cow they do not come small. And definitely not one in three.

I think thats the key point on BB's you need to be able to match the right cow to the right bull. While there are easy calving BB's the calves tend to be small and stocky so the cow needs to bigger to be able to transfer the size to the calf. If you went with a small cow and big bull you could get problems.

hugo29

ran a BB bull with the cows last 2 years, he was breeding out of DEP

all cows calved ok, some jack assistance but you have that with all breeds

hardy calves when born, quick to get up and suckle, need watching at turn out as it takes them a while to adjust especially if weather is anyway cold

dont cross with the angus, IMO its not a good cross, one of my best cows was a angusx and she had 2 poor BB calves, also shorthorn can be dodgy,

limx and simx and even charx will bring a good BB calf to the table

quiet animals, yes they are mostly polled but that depends on the dam

i went back to charolais this year because as leg wax says unless you can breed a calf good enough for the export market its a waste of time, and to do that you need the time and resources to drive the calf on, the dam can only do so much (something i did not have as part time farmer)

bogman_bass

hugo29 wrote: »

yes they are mostly polled but that depends on the dam

what sort of blues are you using? I have never come across a polled blue

hugo29

bogman_bass wrote: »

what sort of blues are you using? I have never come across a polled blue

sorry folks, my mistake typing while at work here and not concentrating, what i meant to say most have horns but i have had a few calves off shorthornx and angusx which been polled

KatyMac

hugo29 wrote: »

ran a BB bull with the cows last 2 years, he was breeding out of DEP

all cows calved ok, some jack assistance but you have that with all breeds

hardy calves when born, quick to get up and suckle, need watching at turn out as it takes them a while to adjust especially if weather is anyway cold

dont cross with the angus, IMO its not a good cross, one of my best cows was a angusx and she had 2 poor BB calves, also shorthorn can be dodgy,

limx and simx and even charx will bring a good BB calf to the table

quiet animals, yes they are mostly polled but that depends on the dam

i went back to charolais this year because as leg wax says unless you can breed a calf good enough for the export market its a waste of time, and to do that you need the time and resources to drive the calf on, the dam can only do so much (something i did not have as part time farmer)

Thanks for this, it's exactly the kind of info I wanted. I think I'll probably go with a CH as one of them has given me a good bull calf in the past - she crossed a high fence to the neighbour's bull to do it though - I'm hoping to have a little more input to the type of calf she has next!