Continental cattle from suckler herd

morphy87

Just wondering what kill out percentage should Chx and limousines cattle achieve from suckler cows, these would be getting 5kgs of nuts 7 weeks on the grass before they are sold

also what should there daily live weight gain be from now till next September, on good silage and 2kgs of ration for the winter about 140 days and then grass

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119848017#Comment_119848017

Fairly spot on assessment there I’d say.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119848017#Comment_119848017

I thought they might do close to.9 a day, so do you reckon good limousines out of British fresian cows would do just as well as suckler bred ones?

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119849711#Comment_119849711

In your opinion what is the better of the two to weigh and grade, chx or lm?

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119850839#Comment_119850839

Plenty of average Charolais around too no more than any cattle.

good quality limousine will hold their own with any. Attaching a few returns from this year and all limousine and I’d be more than happy with the grades and weight here

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EB48383F-6E8C-4CC0-963C-24BA6626D5EA.jpeg

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851219#Comment_119851219

very impressive returns, did you breed these cattle yourself or purchase them? What live weight were these cattle do you think? If you bought them when did you buy them and at what weights?

Dunedin

All home bred from limo cows and limo bull. They’d be in around average 800kgs live weight (no scales so weighing by hand!!)

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851323#Comment_119851323

So what weight were they this time last year going into the shed? What was there killout percent do you think?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058270853/continental-cattle-from-suckler-herd

Decent limo or Charlaois would be over 400 kg dead weight at 27 months

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851403#Comment_119851403

It’s impossible to predict how bullocks will perform over the course of a year. Going on stores bought last October/November and killed this October I’ll give a few examples.

550kg ch killed 525kg

535kg black limo killed 450kg

540kg gold ch killed 485kg (in august)

530kg white ch killed 475kg (in august)

475kg o+ grade Simmental killed 430kg

500kg ch killed 465kg

485 kg red limo killed 410kg

Find the limos die lighter here unless they are real good ones.

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851403#Comment_119851403

500-550 going in to shed.

killout would be 57-60% would be my guess.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851693#Comment_119851693

Do you feed yours meal over the winter and on the grass?

if you were buying ones 450 kgs now what weights would you be exspecting next September?

Cavanjack

No meal over the winter. They had a short winter for this part of the country. Housed in the beginning of December and were out just after paddy’s day. They were on good silage and minerals and weighed on average 60-70kg heavier getting out than their purchase weight (mart weight).

Last October and November was dry and those cattle done well before they were housed.

Id be expecting a good r+ 450kg store to kill out close to 400kg dead at most next September. I do try to buy them a bit heavier than that though.

Robson99

IMO an average Charlaois is better than a good Limo. Limo might grade a bit better but Charlaois will put on weight quicker and carry more weight. A lot of Limo are light on bone and dont thrive as well as a Charlaois

Robson99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119851219#Comment_119851219

Some great weights in fairness. Id say they had great lenght and bone

I see you got the 20cent quality assurance in a roundabout way for the ones 30 months....

Dunedin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855109#Comment_119855109

They were good cattle in fairness and on very good grazing ground all in paddocks.

one lad was only 2 days overage and they were supposed to go the week before when he would have been underage but didn’t and agent stood over him and I only noticed the second lad gone overage the day before they were going and chanced it with the agent and he also agreed to stand over him.

about 10 years ago I borrowed Charolais bull off neighbour. He was a quality bull and I’d great stock off him. Was expecting to break all my records at factory time but I was hugely disappointed with both killouts and grades.

obviously I’m not saying Charolais are bad cattle but I would rate good limos on a par. A couple of other things to consider is the vigor of the limo calves when born compared to Charolais coupled with generally easier calving so therefore a much better option for those like myself working off farm.

the other significant advantage is being able to breed my own replacements from the limo (Charolais don’t make good replacements). A neighbour of mine with a Charolais bull would be buying 4 or 5 replacement springers every year and always seems to get the world of hardship wirh them. From hard calvings to one’s that have no milk.

DBK1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119855079#Comment_119855079

I’d have it the other way around, regularly get limo heifers to kill out at 58-60% dead weight at 26-28 months old. It’s only a very rare Charlaois that’ll do it.

I don’t have cows, all bought in as weanlings so maybe lads are keeping the good Charlaois for themselves and the limo men are more generous with the quality they’re selling but give me the limo any day.

tanko

Charolais are great when you’re not the one responsible for getting them out of cows.

morphy87

What would limousines be like from angus cows,very good shapy ones

Who2

I breed both lim and ch here. I mainly put ch onto lm cows or lm with a touch of si. It gives the best all round calf. The Lms on their own are too light of the bone and it’s very hard to get the power into them to feed into big weights and they don’t have the same growth rates.

The ch on ch for me doesn’t really work either but both breeds compliment each other well.

the charolais aren’t all hard calved either but you do concentrate on cow type a bit more when running a ch bull.

Cavanjack

I had a pen of u grade bullocks last winter. 3 Charolais and 3 limousine. All were heading for 3 year old. They were on 10ish kg’s of meal for 70ish days. The limos done not much more than a kg a day. The Charolais closer to 2.

I would have said at the start that the limos were the better bullocks. I like the Charolais with the big thick legs, sure sign that they’ll carry weight. I find you rarely get that with limos.

DukeCaboom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859508#Comment_119859508

That's spot on.

Thing with the charolais is that the bottom 15% of charolais are way better than the bottom 15% of any other breed.

Every bull will throw some good calves but to bring up the bottom a charolais is the only job.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119859508#Comment_119859508

If I was to purchase chx cattle 530 kgs u grade, and I will have them in till around the 10th of April and gave them 2kgs of ration and good silage till then and gave them a good do on some reseeded ground and 4 kgs of ration for 7 weeks prior to sale, I would be hoping to sell around the 10th of September, what type of weights would you be hoping for theses cattle to kill out? I haven’t much experience of these cattle

SuperTortoise

Lot of lads buy on colour of cattle, a mistake.

Good LM's will be every bit as good as good CH cattle.

Unfortunately the LM are behind on price when selling at marts, again because some lads will only buy white or blond cattle.

SuperTortoise

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119858915#Comment_119858915

Kept one heifer this year out of a decent but average AA cow and a master LM bull.

She brought the angus head and belly with a Limo back end and colour.

I have'nt many AA cows so don't really know if the above would be standard, grand heifer and she'll make a grand cow, she is'nt outstanding to look at her though, not in comparison to the LM bred stock anyway.

morphy87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119961873#Comment_119961873

I bought a few Bullocks this year, limousines out of angus, good shapey ones but the man that had them before me gave them a poor do but they are thriving well now

charolais0153

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119961831#Comment_119961831

Lot of people don’t give the aul lads credit. They buy the ch cos they do the best. Yellow ch unbeaten. Not as hard as white ch and bit of shape from limousine cow

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119960945#Comment_119960945

I’d expect Good u grade Charolais like that to kill out round 450kg next September.

Anto_Meath

If you can get the nice gold Charolais from a Saler cow, then you are on a winner, wonderful animal , nice shape, size with mussel and a good hairy coat so neither the wind or rain bothers them.

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119969359#Comment_119969359

Yeah they are out of control at the minute with lower numbers in the marts and with beef price climbing.

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119972139#Comment_119972139

What do you think is a fair price for the farmer who produces a 530 kg U grade Charolais bullock?

Cavanjack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119972436#Comment_119972436

It’s not really a case of what I think is a fair price. I think the factory should be paying us €6 a kg and that would be fair price.

I’ve a good share of them bought in in September and October at €1350 round that weight. Mightn’t all be u’s but majority would be. I think this a fair price if I can get them into 450kg and the price is €5 a kg.

I’d be happier if I could give the store producer €1600 and I was certain of getting €2500 or €2600.