Heifer Calving Troubles

[kempb]

I might comment that just because a bull has a low birth weight himself doesn't necessarily mean that his genetic merit for birth weight is low as well. Just as in the cases mentioned numerous times already there can be many reasons for a low birth weight. However what was the bull's EPD for birth weight? That is a much better reflection of his genetic contribution to the birth weight of his calves. You may have bought a bull with a low birth weight, say 75 pounds which sounds great but what if there were four more bull calves by the same sire that all had 100 plus pound birthweights. Maybe that one birthweight record on that bull doesn't do a good job of reflecting his genetics for birth weight, perhaps he was out of a heifer himself. Birthweight is a major contributor to calving difficulty and should be considered in bull selection especially for bulls intended for use on heifers.

[bob]

we used red angus and herford bulls on our heifers and every year we had to help some of them calve till 18 years ago we got a reg.longhorn bull and our problems were solved. we calve out 50 hiefers every year and i dare say we have only helped 3 or 4 in all those years. i know the calves do not sell as high as other breeds but they still bring more then a dead one or the cost of a vet bill. also our hiefer are not hurt and they will come back into cycle alot sooner and make better cows.