Post by bluebar23 on Jun 26, 2018 22:06:52 GMT -5
Junebug just turned a year old. I bought her as a bottle calf because a lady I was buying goats from offered her to me, and it was too good a deal to pass up. The thing is, I don't really know what she is. (Except very sweet and well behaved!)
The seller's husband ran a (very large) herd of black beef cows. He bought a group of black cows at auction, and one of them was Junebug's mom. She was a black whiteface with a 100% dairy-cow udder. (I didn't see the dam in person, but I did see photos of her bag.) So, the seller assumed she was part holstein. They couldn't handle the volume of milk (nor could her single baby), so they sent her down the road and bottle-fed her calf, our Junebug.
Junebug herself is mostly black with a small spot of white on her belly. She looks fully Angus--I don't see any holstein in her at all. She eats and puts on weight like a beef cow. However, now that she's got her summer coat, I'm seeing a LOT of brown. I'm not familiar with Angus; is that common?
I long ago assumed the seller was mistaken about the supposed holstein mix... but the other day I was looking at her in the yard, and it occurred to me: Could she maybe be part (like 1/8 or so) Jersey??
But, the real question is what to do with her. Our neighbors are young folks like us, and his parents run a small beef herd a few miles away, about 40 head of angus/simmental crosses. They have a really nice heifer bull, and they've offered to bring Junebug over and get her bred for an April/May calf. I don't have any beef-breeding experience, so I have no idea whether this is a good idea. They think she's big enough and old enough, but I know dairy breeds usually breed at 15 months, not 12mo. I haven't seen any clear signs of heat yet. However, they are planning to keep her and the bull separate from the rest of the herd so that she doesn't get bullied by the other cows, which sounds promising. They are selling the bull soon to keep him from breeding his own daughters, so the offer is somewhat limited.
We are thinking this would give us a chance to see what her bag is like, and how she does as a milker, and give us a nice beefy calf. If we don't want to keep/sell her as a milk cow, we could still send her to freezer camp at the end of next summer (our default plan for her). What do you think?? And what should I offer to pay as a per diem for her keep? (Although they likely won't take anything.)
The seller's husband ran a (very large) herd of black beef cows. He bought a group of black cows at auction, and one of them was Junebug's mom. She was a black whiteface with a 100% dairy-cow udder. (I didn't see the dam in person, but I did see photos of her bag.) So, the seller assumed she was part holstein. They couldn't handle the volume of milk (nor could her single baby), so they sent her down the road and bottle-fed her calf, our Junebug.
Junebug herself is mostly black with a small spot of white on her belly. She looks fully Angus--I don't see any holstein in her at all. She eats and puts on weight like a beef cow. However, now that she's got her summer coat, I'm seeing a LOT of brown. I'm not familiar with Angus; is that common?
I long ago assumed the seller was mistaken about the supposed holstein mix... but the other day I was looking at her in the yard, and it occurred to me: Could she maybe be part (like 1/8 or so) Jersey??
But, the real question is what to do with her. Our neighbors are young folks like us, and his parents run a small beef herd a few miles away, about 40 head of angus/simmental crosses. They have a really nice heifer bull, and they've offered to bring Junebug over and get her bred for an April/May calf. I don't have any beef-breeding experience, so I have no idea whether this is a good idea. They think she's big enough and old enough, but I know dairy breeds usually breed at 15 months, not 12mo. I haven't seen any clear signs of heat yet. However, they are planning to keep her and the bull separate from the rest of the herd so that she doesn't get bullied by the other cows, which sounds promising. They are selling the bull soon to keep him from breeding his own daughters, so the offer is somewhat limited.
We are thinking this would give us a chance to see what her bag is like, and how she does as a milker, and give us a nice beefy calf. If we don't want to keep/sell her as a milk cow, we could still send her to freezer camp at the end of next summer (our default plan for her). What do you think?? And what should I offer to pay as a per diem for her keep? (Although they likely won't take anything.)