B.C. Marathon on Heifers?

[cowboybecoachin]

Has anyone used B.C. Marathon on heifers? What were you results? I have a Marathon son that is outstanding and have used him on cows, but I am short a heifer bull. Would he be relatively safe?

 

[Freddy]

NEVER

 

[wrc]

I wouldn't do it. His sire OCC Kirby is a sure fire calving ease bull.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

I used a Marathon x Shurtopp Supreme bull on heifers for two years and never touched a calf. They were crossbred shorthorn angus . Guess I was lucky. I loved those calves and if he had not gotten hurt, he would still be here. I don't feed any replacement female grain, so that may have helped.

 

[husker1]

Saw Marathon before he hit it big and there is alot of bull there....might be too much for heifers.  But he is a specimen!

 

[oakie]

We had an 80lbs raven calf out of a simmental cross cow a few years ago. Unless I wanted to throw money away (and cows), I would not take that risk with marathon. G13 Structure is awesome on heifers though.

 

[midway6376]

We had an 80lbs raven calf out of a simmental cross cow a few years ago. Unless I wanted to throw money away (and cows), I would not take that risk with marathon. G13 Structure is awesome on heifers though.

I wouldn't breed a heifer to G13 Structure. We had a first calf heifer have a 120lb dead calf out of him.

 

[oakie]

wow, I have had three (out of simmy cross cows) and I doubt any of them were over 60 lbs. My dad asked if the cow farted and the calves came out. These were cows that have never seen anything other than green pasture and grass hay though, so they weren't overly fat (not saying yours are) and were moderate framed. What breeding was the cow that threw a 120lbs'er? The heifer on the left of the avatar photo is the structure heifer that maybe weighed 60lbs.

 

[midway6376]

wow, I have had three (out of simmy cross cows) and I doubt any of them were over 60 lbs. My dad asked if the cow farted and the calves came out. These were cows that have never seen anything other than green pasture and grass hay though, so they weren't overly fat (not saying yours are) and were moderate framed. What breeding was the cow that threw a 120lbs'er? The heifer on the left of the avatar photo is the structure heifer that maybe weighed 60lbs.

The heifer's pedigee was all herd bulls and I bought her so I don't know what her bw was. But she was a very big heifer and she had it with no problems. But after that I know that I will never breed a heifer to him.

 

[oakie]

wow, I have had three (out of simmy cross cows) and I doubt any of them were over 60 lbs. My dad asked if the cow farted and the calves came out. These were cows that have never seen anything other than green pasture and grass hay though, so they weren't overly fat (not saying yours are) and were moderate framed. What breeding was the cow that threw a 120lbs'er? The heifer on the left of the avatar photo is the structure heifer that maybe weighed 60lbs.

The heifer's pedigee was all herd bulls and I bought her so I don't know what her bw was. But she was a very big heifer and she had it with no problems. But after that I know that I will never breed a heifer to him.

That would spook you away from using a bull. The distributor sent the seman I had ordered to the wrong Technician and the cow was in heat, so I had to pick a bull on the spot, and using what the tech said, we used structure. Really small calves out of heifers though.

 

[bobjr]

Mike:  I've used Marathon and our Marathon x Midland/Saugahatchee son on both first calf heifers and cows with no calving issues.

 

[Cattledog]

We've had some real big ones out of Marathon and I won't ever use on heifers if I ever use him again.  I don't mean any disrespect but there's a reason his BW epd is so high.  It's not just because of the cow that he gets bred to.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

When I was using a son of him nobody had really heard of him yet. My bull's bw epd was +2.5 and he had some lower bw cattle on his dams side. Looking back now and reading theses posts, I was lucky. I still love the bull Marathon tho. Those calves I had were awful good but I sold them so I could play the registered game : That was smart. (argue)

 

[Cattledog]

When I was using a son of him nobody had really heard of him yet. My bull's bw epd was +2.5 and he had some lower bw cattle on his dams side. Looking back now and reading theses posts, I was lucky. I still love the bull Marathon tho. Those calves I had were awful good but I sold them so I could play the registered game : That was smart. (argue)

I liked the good marathon calves too.  My problem was finding the consistency.  They were either really good or terrible.  I have one bred heifer out of him right now and I just love her!  Can't wait for her to calve.  The problem is that I had some 3/4 and 7/8 sibs to her and they sure didn't look like her.