SAV BISMARK

[WFCC]

Bismarck is supposedly calving ease with .1 BW.  We just had a 95 lb. bull calf out of a first time heifer and pulled very hard. Not to mention she was 11 days early.  Anyone else have problems with him?

 

[Bone2011]

We bred 50 units so I will let you know in about 2 weeks.

 

[C-CROSS]

Just went to a AI meeting.  First off is your heifer a purebred angus, second how much exercise did she get, and what kind of feed was she getting.  then there is a varience in birtth weight wish I could show you the chart, but an big one can show up as a small one can come on a cow bull.

 

[WFCC]

she was a first time heifer with plenty of exercise.  She is probaly a frame 6, and she has had no silage or grain, just a round bale of hay all the time. She is a pb angus(Bando 1961).

 

[Freddy]

Was the hay Alalfa cause to much protein isn't good, also do both them bulls have 5175 in their pedigrees that would worry me if so, sorry I didn't look ....I did look an none on Bismark side ,,,,,

 

[WFCC]

the hay was probably 70:30 grass to alfalfa ratio.

 

[Cattledog]

For the most part Bismark has been in the 70pound range for us.  We did have a 90 pounder out of a Northern Improvement daughter.  That kind of had me scratching my head......

 

[Freddy]

What will his son's average at Schaffs next week , quite a catalog ...

 

[OH Breeder]

What was the heifers birthweight and her dam's history of birth weights? 50 percent of BW is coming from Momma.

 

[harrisonshowgurl]

I bred a chi maine heifer to him and she looks like she could pop any time. She is maybe a frame size 6. She has gotten grain with 4 other heifers almost her whole pregnancy. I am getting ancy now because I dont want to have to pull one. If she has it today it will be 14 days early....Fingers crossed its little

 

[ffangus]

We've had 3 so far.  BW hasn't been an issue. 

 

[cowboybecoachin]

We have pulled 3 calves in the last 13 years, and 2 were not Angus. I think the key is to breed to a moderate or calving ease bull, and keep your heifers in good pasture condition, provide minerals and salt, but little or no grain and no excess weight. Then, pour the feed to them after they calve to help her maintain body condition and improve milk production. We also usually wean these calves from first calf heifers a month or 2 early, so the heifers will not lose condition, and rebound faster for their next calf.

 

[WFCC]

We have pulled 3 calves in the last 13 years, and 2 were not Angus. I think the key is to breed to a moderate or calving ease bull, and keep your heifers in good pasture condition, provide minerals and salt, but little or no grain and no excess weight. Then, pour the feed to them after they calve to help her maintain body condition and improve milk production. We also usually wean these calves from first calf heifers a month or 2 early, so the heifers will not lose condition, and rebound faster for their next calf.

appreciate the help but i am well aware of all the things you posted. im just asking for opinions on people that have had bismarck calves. 

 

[Cattledog]

We have pulled 3 calves in the last 13 years, and 2 were not Angus. I think the key is to breed to a moderate or calving ease bull, and keep your heifers in good pasture condition, provide minerals and salt, but little or no grain and no excess weight. Then, pour the feed to them after they calve to help her maintain body condition and improve milk production. We also usually wean these calves from first calf heifers a month or 2 early, so the heifers will not lose condition, and rebound faster for their next calf.

appreciate the help but i am well aware of all the things you posted. im just asking for opinions on people that have had bismarck calves. 

My opinion....you had a big calf.  I don't believe it is representative of the sire. 1961 is a lower birth weight bull but I had a neighbor that had a 130 pounder out of him(and momma).  The accruracy is pretty high for bismark so somethin must not have jived when the alleles got together(knabe can expand  ) .

 

[DakotaCow]

oh come on now dont you know that your supposed to breed your cattle to have 100 lb calves or bigger and if they dont you need to sell em, dont believe me read the Big calves post on here. (keep in mind this was dripping with sarcasm and im just kidding)  (lol)

 

[aj]

Christ......were back to blaming nutrition again. OH breeder is asking the right questions in his post. Once you have big birth weights in the cow pedigree it will always pop up to bite you. jmo

 

[Bone2011]

What will his son's average at Schaffs next week , quite a catalog ...

I heard it took 103 lots before they sold one under 10K. And Bismark is hot right now. And at the Schaff place,well.... the sky is the limit. What a great program that is turning out some very high quality cattle.

 

[Freddy]

The Angus breeders are all doing that bigbirth X little birth , same way with Frame , I went through ths with the Charolais an it  has took a long time to get it predictable again.    But every one was trying to keep the big growth, an really an I'm using Bismarck to , the Angus are a not very thought out crossbred program any way.... I've decided that if it isn't going to change you might as well join it, but there will be some unexpected things that pop up that we will have to deal with, just like this inconsistency of birth weight , an also THE epd's will fail you quite often ..   Has any one had problems with scurs or horns , especially on horned cows, there out there , some of these potent Angus donors are having problems being flushed to Meyer 734,coming up with horns or scurs ...I even cleaned up with a horn bull on some of my reg. Angus trying to see how much of a problem it is ....

 

[Cattledog]

The Angus breeders are all doing that bigbirth X little birth , same way with Frame , I went through ths with the Charolais an it  has took a long time to get it predictable again.    But every one was trying to keep the big growth, an really an I'm using Bismarck to , the Angus are a not very thought out crossbred program any way.... I've decided that if it isn't going to change you might as well join it, but there will be some unexpected things that pop up that we will have to deal with, just like this inconsistency of birth weight , an also THE epd's will fail you quite often ..   Has any one had problems with scurs or horns , especially on horned cows, there out there , some of these potent Angus donors are having problems being flushed to Meyer 734,coming up with horns or scurs ...I even cleaned up with a horn bull on some of my reg. Angus trying to see how much of a problem it is ....

Ya know....there is alot of truth to the bigbirth x little birth.  I think Bismark is a pretty consistent calving ease sire, but his daddy isn't.  In fact Grid Maker calves could be quite large!

 

[WFCC]

exactly, grid makers are good sized. just because a bull is born 80 lbs doesnt mean he is calving ease. The other thing is when bismarck first came out he was minus on birthweight now he is up to 1.3. schaff has him at .1 though.