Twins/Bigger calves

[simmi1133]

we have had two set of twin this year so far and we have about 30 more head to calf yet and a majority of the calves we have had are a tick on the bigger side. was wondering if anyone else if having anything like this going on this year whether it be twins this year or bigger calves. Thanks.

 

[RankeCattleCo]

3 calves, all overdue by 5, 7, and 7 days. All considerably bigger than usual, ~8 to 10 pounds. Are you in the North? What do you feed your cows over winter?

 

[FriedgesCharolais]

2 calves so far. One 2 weeks early and 49# and one 5 days early and 76#. We have our commercial cows starting in 5 days so I will have a little better idea than two. But I live in NE IA so we feed corn silage and corn stalks all winter with a little hay.

 

[RankeCattleCo]

Hidden Creek-
The chances of yours being high is fairly likely since what is fed here is very similar.. Corn silage and quality hay.. 3 is a small sample size and I should know more by the end of this week.

 

[FriedgesCharolais]

Yup I'm thinking with the winter we had they will be a little larger than normal and the two I had were pb angus heifers bred to SAV Bismarck the ce bull. Most of our commercial cows are sim/angus bred to pb simmi bulls and are generally that 75-85# but I do have the chains ready for calving this year!

 

[simmi1133]

we feed corn silage and good hay all winter and due to the rough winter they have been eating the hell out of it

 

[FriedgesCharolais]

well we have now had 4 more calves born in the last couple days. We had a first calf heifer have a 80ish pound bull calf which it looked pretty good sized for the cow. Today we had to give a first calf heifer a c section because the calf was so big (115 pounds!) both of these heifers were bred to a bull we have had for 3 years now and has never thrown a calf over 75 pounds. We also had a set of twins today both were dead on arrival (got tangled up with each other inside the cow) but were pushing 80 pounds a piece! Needless to say not really looking forward to calving out the other 80 head this year!  (lol)

 

[Warrior10]

Had four AI calves so far, all out of clubby bulls and mature cows and all unassisted. They went:
Calf 1: Heifer 2 days early. Not bigger then usual from the dam.
Calf 2: Heifer on due date. 75-80lbs which is smaller then usual for the dam.
Calf 3: Heifer 2 days late. 80-85lbs which is right about or little smaller then usual.
Calf 4: Heifer 4 days late. 90ish lbs ....first calf we've had out of here.

Hope you guys having trouble have better luck from here on out!

 

[BTDT]

26 calves so far.
Average of 79 pounds - High of 90; low of 60
Average of 5 days late - Range of 9 days late; 3 months early (Something wrong there!!  (clapping))

Also had 2 late term abortions.

Feeding wheatlage, alfalfa mixed hay (1st cutting)

 

[Till-Hill]

2/6 so far on twins on heifers. Hired man's cows 1/3 twins. In laws 1/2. (Small numbers but handled pretty much same free choice mineral and hay cattle) Mine were on a 1000# heifer TMR diet till Feb 1st but nothing extreme. That's alot in my opinion but after a meeting I was at last fall makes a little sense. These 2 yr olds were in there momma in the drought of 2011 and developed in wet spring of 2012....I don't know what else to blame it on.........

 

[Bar QH]

Calving out 90 heifers. Have had a lot of pulls. No extremely big calves just bigger than usual. Lots of 80 and 85's. Usually get high 70's. I normally calve 30 purebred Simmys and only help on twins. This year commercial angus cross heifers and Simmy bulls. I don't know what to blame it on. Both bulls have thrown so 70's and some 85's. Judging by how they get hung up I blame it on pelvic to some extent. Heifer calves come out fine the bulls are just big enough to help one out of 5 I'd say would be a good average.

 

[CAB]

It would be nice if you could post whether or not your genetics include the typical WMW,HS, HW, genetics. I guess it doesn't really matter as the question is asked, but it does bare weight as to what would you normally expect IMO.

 

[FriedgesCharolais]

pulled another bull calf tonight, came backwards but was not overly big maybe 75 pounds out of a 7 or 8 year old cow. All of the cows we are calving out have been PB Angus, bred angus. PB Simmi bred simmi or simangus cows bred simmi. All of our heifers are bred to a calving ease angus bull. No clubby genetics in the herd!

 

[BroncoFan]

We just got a set of twins.  A bull and a heifer.  Another cow lost her calf so that cow graciously took the bull off the other cow's hands.  Its good in the long run so the cow doesn't get run down by trying to produce enough milk for both calves and both calves won't have to compete for the milk.