Opinions on heifer

[SKF]

This is a heifer that my daughter is thinking about buying. She is a Sept heifer. Just wanted some opinions on her. Its such a big decision buying a new calf. Thank You! ;D

 

[SKF]

Some how I messed up and posted 2 of the same picture :-\

 

[renegade]

She looks good to me. First she looks like a teddy bear . She seems nice and thick from the pic you have but also ( i think) kept her femininity through her face

 

[BCCC]

she looks good, have any rear pictures??

 

[SKF]

Here's another picture.

 

[AAOK]

Mighty attractive, but she could use a little length of body.  As a Sept. heifer, I also would see her as early maturing.  Just from the picture, I wonder if she will get tall enough to compete in the Big Leagues.  I would sure like to see her Dam, and know about the sire.

 

[SKF]

She is out of Heatwave and an Angus cow

 

[BCCC]

she looks very nice, good hair, toes out some, she could use a more lady like head, but other then that she look nice, th status?? If you don't mind me asking how much $ ??

 

[OH Breeder]

SKF,
Really like her. She looks thick with good depth of body. Obviously hairy. Being heatwave, she might be on the smaller side. I too would want to see momma. Pretty flashy little gal.

 

[AAOK]

Sired by Heatwave, and out of an angus cow; she was supposed to have been a bull calf!

 

[shortyjock89]

Sired by Heatwave, and out of an angus cow; she was supposed to have been a bull calf!

Isn't most everything out of Heatwave supposed to be a bull calf?

 

[AAOK]

10/4 Good Buddy

 

[Telos]

I think she is pretty nice. Heat Wave's get a bad rap as not being very maternal and perhaps that may be a good generalization. Fawley who bred HW tells me his momma was a good producing cow. So maybe this heifer being out of an Angus might in fact be OK... as far as eventually making a productive cow for you.

If you have any concerns about this heifer making a good cow you probably should be more concerned about her structure as opposed to how long bodied or how balanced she is, etc.. She maybe looks a little tight wound in the picture and I would be critical when you make a decision and really analyze how she travels and see if she is loose enough in her structure and travels freely. HW's can get pretty tight sometimes in regards to this issue.

Just be aware that HW is used primarily for show steer production and that he does not have a reputation for making good cows yet.

 

[Jill]

I doubt your buying this heifer for a cow, that being said, if you are showing her in a market heifer class you should be fine, if you are looking for a breeding heifer I wouldn't go with a heat wave, they just don't get enough frame to compete.

 

[SKF]

We have very few breed classes almost all of our show are done by weight instead of age. We would be keeping her after she is done showing. One of my daughters first heifers was a Heatseeker Angus and she is one of our best cows.  Our maine goal with our cows after they are done showing is to breed for show steers because it is alot easier around here to sell steers than heifers.

 

[Jill]

You should do great showing by weight, she is a really nice heifer, just looks to be more of the steery side.  I don't have any experience with them as cows, we have been showing a couple and have some due in the next month or so, but don't know how the Heat Waves do as cows. 
One of the problems in my mind on ours is what to breed them to.  We have found that breeding for steers, we have a lot better luck starting out with a bigger framed cow that you have unlimited options of what to use on the bull side, when you start with the small framed cow, there isn't much room for most of the clubby genetics that are out there at this point.  After the first calf, what are you planning to breed her to?

 

[SKF]

First breeding would to our new Ali son we bought recently. After that I don't know because we have not had much luck with AIing. We are looking at buying a new shorthorn bull at the K-Kim sale next month so that would be our other bull. I hoping that my daughter will go learn to AI that way we can get our cows AIed. My biggest concern on this heifer is her size but some of our smaller framed cows in the long run do better in the pasture. We live in south Florida and we do not have good grass.

 

[kanshow]

I like the heifer but like the others, have some concerns about how she will grow on out.  I think you will do well in most areas showing this heifer either as a market or in breeding by weight. 

AI.. my thoughts on better AI have more to do with better heat detection.  My thoughts in this area would be to try to bring her in with Lutalyse and then you have a narrower window of when to watch.  Is there anyone in your area who does AI?  I know around here, there are several who can come help when we get in a bind.

 

[showgoer]

Like you stated earlier, this heifer was bred to be a bull/steer and she looks the part.  To get critical of her ~ she is way too straight off both ends.  I know it's hard to tell by a couple pictures but she's got a lot of shoulder that needs more angulation to it which causes her to toe out on the front.  I would also like to see a lot more set to her rear wheels ~ I have a feeling that when she gets out on the move, there isn't much flex in her pasterns and she doesn't fill her tracks.  I'd like to soften her up in the middle giving her some depth and volume which would give her a more maternal look.  I'd stretch that front end out a little too but that is really getting picky.  Don't forget she is a HW, not known for getting real big and as far as breeding heifers go in the show ring ~ they need to be big.  You have to have the performance on the maternal side because so many of today's clubby bulls are little teddy bears!  I love Heatwave (steers/bulls) but we kept seven daughters two years ago and will never do it again.  Four c sections and one dead first calf heifer, none of the calves were huge and the heifers weren't fat, all ai'ed to a low birthweight angus bull.  They  just weren't big enough and have enough pelvic capacity to have a calf, plus none of them milked that well either.  You know she isn't going to get that big and look at her shoulder~ she's going to pass some of that on to her offspring which could mean trouble come calving time.  With all of this said, there are a lot worse animals out there.  She has a cool look, with nice hair, some muscularity, and I bet when set up ~ looks pretty nice.  Just trying to give you my opinion, take it for what it's worth!