Belgian blue on heifers

Feckthis

Hi folks, met a fella during the week that said BB"s were grand for heifers. Have used BB but never on heifers what ye think?

dh1985

Feckthis wrote: »

Hi folks, met a fella during the week that said BB"s were grand for heifers. Have used BB but never on heifers what ye think?

I think your looking for trouble. We made this mistake aboutb15 years ago. Had a few caesarians and numerous hard calvings. Have been using our charlaois stock bull on all heifers the last four years and never an ounce of difficulty. And people would warn against charlaois on heifers so I think blues is pure lunacy. Maybe someone will have something different to say but I would be reluctant to put blues on anything after that year. I don't think its worth the hardship

Madden171

I wouldn't agree with not using a blue on a heifer, I put BBQ from dovea on a angus heifer. Calf slipped out got €1000 for her heifer calf at 8 months with not one grain of feed, a lot depends on the heifer your putting the blue on , go for a blue used on dairy cows, but as I said a lot depend on your heifer aswel

Kovu

I think a lot depends on your heifer and how her breeding line is with calving difficulty. We've a heifer calving a blue in the next couple of days. But then again her mother could calve a bus and the heifer is a powerful animal to look at. But I'm glad she doesn't look too heavy!

Farrell

Some BB such as SFL have very good calving difficulty.
As pointed out above depends on heifer

ferger1

Farrell wrote: »

Some BB such as SFL have very good calving difficulty.
As pointed out above depends on heifer

Used SFL on heifers calving at 24 mths and the calves just slipped out. One charolais heifer didn't even realise she was after calving!! Check out calving difficulty and go with a high reliability.

J.O. Farmer

dh1985 wrote: »

I think your looking for trouble. We made this mistake aboutb15 years ago. Had a few caesarians and numerous hard calvings. Have been using our charlaois stock bull on all heifers the last four years and never an ounce of difficulty. And people would warn against charlaois on heifers so I think blues is pure lunacy. Maybe someone will have something different to say but I would be reluctant to put blues on anything after that year. I don't think its worth the hardship

I would prefer a blue over charolaois on a heifer. Blues tend to have a finer bone and shorter gestation but as others said pick your heifers and bulls carefully. We've never used blues on heifers but have on cows and never had to pull one yet.

Bullocks

We have had blues on heifers and there only a pull with a few of them . I think the trouble is mainly if the heifers aren't fit enough or over fed .
I wouldn't bother with it now though I'd prefer a lim or decent aa . There is no point in having a big blue calf taking too much out of the heifer the first time when you want her still growing and come bulling easily again

bogman_bass

A middling live calf beats a good dead one any day of the week

jimini0

My brother put CEQ blue bull on one of his cows a Friesian/angus. This will be her second calf. She threw out a big Angus this year so he thinks she is fit for a blue. I have my doubts. We will find out in April.

ferger1

jimini0 wrote: »

My brother put CEQ blue bull on one of his cows a Friesian/angus. This will be her second calf. She threw out a big Angus this year so he thinks she is fit for a blue. I have my doubts. We will find out in April.

That bull has serious conformation, your brother might be ok though with friesian in the back breeding. I wouldn't like to try him on a shapy cow :eek:

Farrell

ferger1 wrote: »

That bull has serious conformation, your brother might be ok though with friesian in the back breeding. I wouldn't like to try him on a shapy cow :eek:

Had him on a muscly LM off a CH, no bother to her & serious muscled calves (2 years in a row).
Only thing 1 was taller & the other taller

893bet

On a heifer no.

No point. You learn alot about the temperament of an animal during their first calving. Given that a BB calf is more likely to need assistance during calving then the easier the first time the better.

jimini0

I'm hoping she will calf no bother this time. More than likely my brother will be away working and up to me to be the mid wife.
As I said last time she threw the calf out. I noticed in the morning that she was sick for calving checked an hour later she was close. So I went back home to get the wellies and bits, gone 5mins, walked into the field watching her I would swear she pushed 3 times and out the calf flew. A big Angus he was too.hopefully she will do the same with the blue. Fingers crossed