Belgian Blue A.I. (Munster A.I.)

john8984

What Belgian Blue bull do people think works best on medium size cows, Limousin and saler cross cows.
I use the Munster A.I. company, Had some very good calves from the older Belgian Blue bulls frOm Munster A.I. now no longer available.
What's you experience with the A.I. Blues from Munster AI.

bogman_bass

Legwax, our resident export weanling expert has had great success with STQ.

mahoney_j

Using DBZ on some of my hol freisan cows.easy calving and great heifers at 14/15 months

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Using DBZ on some of my hol freisan cows.easy calving and great heifers at 14/15 months

Are you keeping them as calves?
Would like to use a BB but have heard too many stories of hard calvings

moy83

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Are you keeping them as calves?
Would like to use a BB but have heard too many stories of hard calvings

To be honest we have got as much pulling from limos and even a few aa's as we have had from blues . I'm not a fan of blues but I cant say we got any major pulling trouble unless she is a tight or fat cow and I'm sure ye dairy men would be well ontop of diet precalving .

Greengrass1

moy83 wrote: »

To be honest we have got as much pulling from limos and even a few aa's as we have had from blues . I'm not a fan of blues but I cant say we got any major pulling trouble unless she is a tight or fat cow and I'm sure ye dairy men would be well ontop of diet precalving .

Might give one a go so on the late calving cows to see how I get on

moy83

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Might give one a go so on the late calving cows to see how I get on

One or two wont hurt ( hopefully ):D

bogman_bass

we never had problems with blues when we were dairying. just pick your cows and if you can get your hands on some straws of SRI while they are still going. they just pop out

mahoney_j

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Are you keeping them as calves?
Would like to use a BB but have heard too many stories of hard calvings

Yep keep them to 1.5 years old max.heifers in praticular are in very big demand and usually have a few lads fighting over them in mart..sold 2 a few weeks ago,born early feb 13 405 kg got 1180.never had ann issue calving them

Greengrass1

mahoney_j wrote: »

Yep keep them to 1.5 years old max.heifers in praticular are in very big demand and usually have a few lads fighting over them in mart..sold 2 a few weeks ago,born early feb 13 405 kg got 1180.never had ann issue calving them

Sounds like a good idea. Bit if a money spinner and that's your fert for the first round bought with one sold. I've a a few AA calves kept this year for the same thing

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea. Bit if a money spinner and that's your fert for the first round bought with one sold. I've a a few AA calves kept this year for the same thing

Had a student doing his 3 mths with me this yr, and had around 10 cows incalf to BB, when we were jacking out one of the last ones, he said "if I learn nothing else here, at least I've learned never to use a blue on my own cows"!

Greengrass1

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Had a student doing his 3 mths with me this yr, and had around 10 cows incalf to BB, when we were jacking out one of the last ones, he said "if I learn nothing else here, at least I've learned never to use a blue on my own cows"!

What bull did you use?

Freejin

Used a lot of dbz last year at the end of season on dairy herd. The calves were decent size, nothing too big. However they were pure hardship to get them drinking, twas a pleasure to go back to a few angus calves from the stock bull.

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

What bull did you use?

I'll check and post it tomo, used 3 different bulls, and DBZ was one, got them all out ok, but don't think they'd do much for helping get cows back incalf quickly. Had a nice bunch of calves, sold them all at home for €300 each(bulls and heifers) but still prob more hassle than they were worth

leg wax

stq dbz and ajy the latter a little bit harder on calving but nothing to be afraid of,a great choice of bulls.

onyerbikepat

What about AZL? Is he still around?
I always thought he was a safe option if the weanlings werent good enough for the boat. He produces very tall growthy types, that the farmer at ringside would like.

bogman_bass

He has a bit more size about him alright. straws are startintg to get scarce

slippy wicket

I know its not answering the question, but I would recommend the eurogene bull SZS , or any of the dovea blues.
Top quality calves off friesian cows.

We find blues to be as easy calving as any breed, its all about managing cow condition and nutrition.

Deepsouthwest

Greengrass1 wrote: »

What bull did you use?

Used DBZ, CFU and VSM, DBZ's were ok, CFU was difficult enough to calve, and VSM were def the easiest calved. Only had 10 or so blues in total, so wouldn't put too much weight on my findings!

einn32

We always have used bb in some of our dairy cows. We have had some monsters in the past. The cows were in very good condition so it helped but it still knocked the stuffing out of them. Calves usually got a good price at the mart though. Very hard to feed though at first. Got caught twice with cesarean. One calf took two of us to get him out the side with great difficulty. Since then we toned it down. Pick easy calving. They bulls seem to bring them smaller now. The big ones were relentless when jacking with no let up in pressure. Used DBZ among others. Using CFU this year.

einn32

We always have used bb in some of our dairy cows. We have had some monsters in the past. The cows were in very good condition so it helped but it still knocked the stuffing out of them. Calves usually got a good price at the mart though. Very hard to feed though at first. Got caught twice with cesarean. One calf took two of us to get him out the side with great difficulty. Since then we toned it down. Pick easy calving. They bulls seem to bring them smaller now. The big ones were relentless when jacking with no let up in pressure. Used DBZ among others. Using CFU this year.

onyerbikepat

Ya, Dairy guys seem to handle cows differently before calving. Suckler guys are well used to difficult calving, so know how to restrict feeding and it is never a problem as a cow produces so little milk that there are no side effects from this. It is easy put condition back on her again after she calves. With dairy cows, a thin cow calving is bad news.