STUFF that makes you go hmmmm!

[sjcattleco]

(lol)

A.M.  is Amercian Muscle...

 

[aj]

Am came up positive pha?

 

[red]

No, SJ Cattle hasn't had the test back yet but he feels he'll be clen based on his perdigree.

The PHAC bull is one I was talking about, it's a Maine-Anjou.
That's the trouble w/ the internet sometimes, you get pronouns & topics mixed in the threads.

Red

 

[aj]

I only missed being class validvictorian by 6 people. Course there was only 15 in my class.

 

[DA]

Conrats... Try having a 3.8512 and being 61 out of 121 because the girl on top has a 5.0 GPA . Number 1 last year had 4.0 !!!My class is too smart for there on go.

 

[aj]

I noticed little shells being dug out of the ground by prarie dogs. It was along a dry creek in kansas. This creek hadn't had running water in it in historical times. An archeologist from k.u. told me there was probably running water(spring fed) in the creek in the 1500's. Fish turtles and my little shell friends apparently thrived in this country along this now dry creek. Ants have been known to bring indian beads out of the ground marking indian gravesites. Dig it? ;D

 

[aj]

I also have noticed(black cows on one side of the road and red cows on the other side). The black cows will bunch up and be fighting flys like 2 hours before the red cows on the other side of the fence will be bunched up. I think the black color absorbs heat better than the red color. I have heard people claim that red cattle do better down south because of this reasoning. After seeing this I wonder if colors may be a factor in heat.

 

[farmboy]

INTERESTING

 

[sjcattleco]

I have said for years that Black cattle do not really belong much below Michigan.... They are best suited for the northern 25 % of the country... Red cows in the middle 50% and eared and longhorns in the most southern 25%... Gearld Fry said that if you take a laser thermometer a black cow's back will be 15 to 20 degrees hotter in the summer... and no warmer in the winter.....

AJ that was really cool about the prarie dogs!!!!  Really interesting....

 

[sjcattleco]

Here is another little piece of interesting info...

If you are looking at cows and a cow's teats are wider at the base of the teat where it is hooked on to the body of the udder that cow has aborted sometime in her life.. and the more times she has aborted the worse it gets...its really common here in fescue country.. Early embryonic death occurs and the cow gets rebred.. Really tells you alot about a herd of beef cows with flawless udders...

 

[shorthorns r us]

that is fascinating. but just like the crusty tails my inner nerd must know your source\evidence.  who is gerald fry? he sounds interesting.

 

[sjcattleco]

www.bovineengineering.com

I think the most interesting parts of his website is the linear measurement......

Gearld is a cattle consultant from Arkansas... He ran a bull stud for years... now he just fixes cattle problems and is working very heavily in the grass based and grass fed cattle market.

 

[Telos]

SJCC, I have always wondered why you don't see much on heart girth measurements?  Seems like it would be a relatively easy measurement to obtain and have some practical merit, especially in relation to age of cattle being measured. I've viewed this site before and found  it interesting.

 

[knabe]

One of the biggest things that can influence the sex of offspring is the pH of the female reproductive tract... years ago if you wanted a stud colt the mare was washed and cleaned with a special vinegar (acidic)  solution... if you wanted a filly the mare was washed with a
bicarb solution(basic)...

This works relatively easy in mice, but is not necessarily transferable to other species with the same effectiveness.  numbers i saw in school from roomate who was doing this was percentages from 70-90% the sex you wanted.
__________________


SJCC, I have always wondered why you don't see much on heart girth measurements?  Seems like it would be a relatively easy measurement to obtain and have some practical merit, especially in relation to age of cattle being measured. I've viewed this site before and found  it interesting.

girth as well as length and the ratio and other measurements.  even though one may not agree with the measurements or the ultimate frame score of Fry's "type", it would be interesting to see what one likes with their eyes to a set of measurements. 

I wonder if there is any "heterosis like" qualities which are measurable in body type that can predictably yield a particular phenotype that are unrelated to typical heterosis.  it seems impossible to get cattle to breed true.  if you line breed them to fix type, they seem to drift smaller, then you outcross another inbred line to get size back and start over.  so it's a circle, not an end.

 

[sjcattleco]

One of the biggest things that can influence the sex of offspring is the pH of the female reproductive tract... years ago if you wanted a stud colt the mare was washed and cleaned with a special vinegar (acidic)  solution... if you wanted a filly the mare was washed with a
bicarb solution(basic)...

This works relatively easy in mice, but is not necessarily transferable to other species with the same effectiveness.  numbers i saw in school from roomate who was doing this was percentages from 70-90% the sex you wanted.
__________________


SJCC, I have always wondered why you don't see much on heart girth measurements?  Seems like it would be a relatively easy measurement to obtain and have some practical merit, especially in relation to age of cattle being measured. I've viewed this site before and found  it interesting.

girth as well as length and the ratio and other measurements.  even though one may not agree with the measurements or the ultimate frame score of Fry's "type", it would be interesting to see what one likes with their eyes to a set of measurements. 

I wonder if there is any "heterosis like" qualities which are measurable in body type that can predictably yield a particular phenotype that are unrelated to typical heterosis.  it seems impossible to get cattle to breed true.  if you line breed them to fix type, they seem to drift smaller, then you outcross another inbred line to get size back and start over.  so it's a circle, not an end.

The pH thing is neat.. sounds like a better deal than sexed semen.... mix solution... one acid one base... Cow in heat... flush cow with desired solution ......breed cow.. 283 days later better than average chance you get desired calf!!! HMMMMMM Priceless .... well maybe not.. smart cowboy is mass marketing magic water for $3.29 a gallon!!!  naaa its worth more than gasoline..... better make it $5.99 (lol) (clapping)


Ok  Fry's type is ultimately the type that is the most profitable and eats the best... simple as that!!! Frame score is a result of function if it was possible for frame 7 cattle to be as profitable and eat as well as a frame 4 Gearld would be all for it... and if you look hard enough once you get much over a high 5 or 6 frame beast it too becomes impossible.. The ratios do not descriminate they just become unrealistic.. so what you need to do is start incorporating some linear measurement into your selection program then evaluate what you see and what your measurable results are!  And make sure you make it fun!!!!!  I know so many people / families just bicker like the devil when they are working stock together... Don't get in a hurry and have fun with it.. Turn it into a judging game... see who has the best eye and the worst and which cow / heifer / bull fools you the most..... Infact when I do it I prefer to do it alone sometimes it takes all day but soo what....

AS far as your breeding questions. this really only applies to purebred operations or closed herds........ You hit the nail on the head!!!! you are there my friend... you get the whole picture!!! But its not a circle its a figure 8!!! you start in the middle and you breed and they go one direction then you end up at a point where you know you have gone far enough then you  start back the other direction and you go that way until you get to where you want to be then you start back! and you meet yourself back in the middle! all the while your average cow is getting better and better and better...If you think that your cowherd is getting too small do to linebreeding depression keep the biggest ones...or keep a bigger than average son out of your own herd and use him.. if he is bigger in your enviroment then his calves should be as well....

Now if you are a strictly commercial producer in a perfect world  you buy females from one guy that linebreeds and you buy bulls of a totally different breed  from another guy that  linebreeds and you just sit back and count  your money!!!  LOL but the trick is to find them!!!! very hard to do!!!!

 

[shorthorns r us]

eats better?  please elaborate.

 

[sjcattleco]

tastes better...... finer texture... more marbleing..... tender.... juicey....

 

[shorthorns r us]

just to further prove that misunderstandings can happen over the internet  i thought you meant that those cattle were better at the physical act of eating.

 

[knabe]

just to further prove that misunderstandings can happen over the internet  i thought you meant that those cattle were better at the physical act of eating.


I can attest to that as well.  I have a draft pick steer who eats like his momma, and another steer who is healthy, just doesen't eat as much, seeks out the hay while the other is still eating grain.  the eater eats so fast he is constantly burping while he eats, is a deep inhaler as he sniffs the food, the other just seems like a disinterested high schooler, (ok insert whatever age group is appropriate from personal observation)