Birthdates

[wmw2014]

Am I the only one who gets a real good chuckkle when Im looking at online sales and see so many calves either born Jan 1st, Feb 1st, MARCH 1ST, April 1st, or even May 1st. I bet if you look through 1000 head, 200 are born on those 5 days out of 150. If this is true a breeder should just take those 5 days off from work, those are the only days the cows are going to calve RIGHT?? I guess my question is, who do these people think they are fooling????? I apologize to the small fraction of people who actually do have their calves born on one of these 5 days..

 

[Shallene]

I wonder if that has anything to do with why some heifers at shows are one and a half feet taller and 300 lbs heavier than other heifers in the class?

 

[cowman 52]

It ain't the month, it's the YEAR.

 

[aj]

I was told in the Shorthorn big boy heifer shows......you needed to lie by 3 months.

 

[RyanChandler]

Solutions/measures/steps to take on how to prevent it?

 

[Gargan]

Solutions/measures/steps to take on how to prevent it?

Stop showing prospects, wait til they are bred 2 yr olds, then the puds are easily defined no matter the d.o.b.

 

[BlkAngus]

It's rather frustrating when you try to teach your kids right from wrong.  They get tired of getting beat by heifers that are several month older.  At one show I asked an exhibitor when their rather large heifer would calve and if it was truly the age it was supposed to be it would have been calving around 18ish months old, bred about 9-10 months old?.  So I think the heifer was at least a few month older then her "birthdate" or they just don't care if the heifer lives or not.

 

[Steve123]

I like the ones that have "tipped" ears and a May birthdate.  When you point it out they say "She was born like that".  Time to head for the pickup.

 

[OLD WORLD SHORTIE]

I really like 1300lb 8 month old calves... So she was born at 85lbs and you had her gaining 5 lbs a day. Sure I believe your awesome feed program. Louisville is the worst. Last time I was there I saw some crazy daily gains.

 

[GoWyo]

I like the ones that have "tipped" ears and a May birthdate.  When you point it out they say "She was born like that".  Time to head for the pickup.

Unfortunately we had a blizzard on May 10-12 here last year and did frost tip an ear on a late born calf.  Pretty rare though.

 

[husker1]

This has always been a pet peeve of mine...and I'm gonna stick my neck out and guess that an alarming number of calves are "aged". 

And why does it have to happen?  If a simple ribbon in a show ring is more important to someone then integrity, that is sad.  A few more pounds on the 205 day weight...will it make that critter sell that much better? 

There is no way to police it, however.  Has happened in the past, is happening now, and will continue in the future. 

Kudos to those breeders with calves born 12/31 that show up as 12/31 calves in their sale catalogs!

 

[ZNT]

The day we see judges stop rewarding people for changing birthdates, then people will stop changing the birthdates.

It is hard explaining to young exhibitors who buy our real birthdate show heifers why their heifers are so small at the early show and get buried in class.  I just tell them that things aren't always what they seem, and to have patience as the show season goes on.  So far it has held true, and our heifers continue to move up in their classes as they mature.  By the later shows, our heifers are beating the same heifers that outsized them early on.

 

[Bradenh]

The Brahman breed does a very good job of policing this issue (no not 100% but a lot) they do a weights and measures system for cattle that show at the open shows and if they aren't under a certain height/weight they are disqualified from showing until they are in one of the older "divisions" so it prevents issues in the calf classes. All those cattle are weighed and measured and those that pass breed standards for their age are stamped on their papers and eligible to show

 

[Cabanha Santa Isabel - BR]

Fake pedigrees....fake birth dates.....and some people yet believe blindly on DEP's!
Summarizing, cattle industry is an Oz land!

 

[cbcr]

As has been said, in the end changing the dates on these cattle makes very little difference in the end when they are mature animals.

I remember showing some ???? years ago in 4-H and FFA it seemed like all the judges placed a class from the tallest to the shortest animal.  Then when they gave the reasons it seemed like that many times the 3 to 5th place animal was always the animal that they liked the best and the only reason they didn't place higher and if they could change one thing about them it would be that they had more frame.

While frame is important, other qualities have to be there as well.

Are breeding dates, due dates, etc. not checked.  Are dates of birth within a valid range?  If one animal is turned in with a younger date of birth, then the next calf would need to be as well.  It looks to me like that something would possibly show up, maybe not.  I know that in submitting records to the USDA on dairy cattle that if a birth date is out of range I get a report.  The report looks at the age of the bull, the age of the cow and also if any siblings have been reported.  If a calve is in a herd and getting a genetic evaluation, they can't have one if there are not enough contemporaries or if they are not in a birth range within 60 - 90 days.

Whole herd reporting could help on some of this, but also many with club calves do not register their animals either.  They just say what the pedigree is and who it goes back to.  Do they???

 

[sizzler14]

I went to a show in October once. I had a little heifer that was just sweet. She was a ledgit April 28th. She weighed 485 for the October show and we had been pounding it to her. We stood 2nd in our class out of 11. The heifer that beat us weighed 760 and was shown as an april 2nd. In all my life, I have never seen nor heard a judge do this but It happened this time. The judge was giving his reasons, saying how good the class winner was. In fairness, she was dang good. At the conclusion of his reasons on her he said " Lastly, If you're going to lie about a birthdate, atleast make it believable". I dont think I have ever smiled so big in my life. That judge had balls the size of coconuts. See, from 4-H up we're taught, "Judge all animals as if they're the same age" and I think especially in prospect shows thats the biggest bunch of crap. One day when I judge a show, Trust me I will have no problem  calling someone out for False Hair or lying about birthdates. A lot of judges are worried about their reputation. My thoughts are; Hey if I never judge again, at least what I did was right. I wasn't bought off or a liar or supported cheating.