Easy calving Breeds

[cswilson]

Every calf has a mother as far as I know-I've A'I'ed literally 1,000's of heifers and there isn't a bull alive of any breed any where that will calve unassisted to every heifer every time. Some herds have got so much birthweight bred into them that their heifers would have trouble calving to a narrow goat. In the last ten years we've calved probably 600 heifers on our own place we help less than one percent of them. Alot of people say birthweight isn't very indicative of calving ease all I know I've seen alot more big dead calves laying by peoples barn doors than smaller ones. Were using our new Horned Hereford bull on heifers again this year-he calved great last year on my weedy little females and left some pretty sweet baldie calves.

[cowman]

Allfarmer: Go with a Red Angus. Pick for a low birthweight and proper conformation.
If you just want easy calving and never care about what kind of calf you get go with a Longhorn...of course the calf will be basically worthless! Obviously you aren't interested in getting into niche marketing or anything like that...which is probably a neccessity if you go with some of these "easy calving types"? The cattle buyers want "Angus" genetics...pure and simple? Don't ever think an old order buyer is fooled by this black Limo or black Simmental stuff!
I would think you want to sell your calves into the "commodity market"...the local auction mart or to the local feedlot? Go with a proven winner for this market...Angus! Either Red or Black!

[coppertop]

All angus aren't easy calving either cowman. As I said before, there are easy calving genetics in each breed, and as cswilson says the female has a lot to do with it.

Pretty tough to blame a bull for being a hard calver if you breed him to heifers that had a 125 pound birth weight.

Over the years here my average birthweights have been :

Heifer calves: 78 pounds

Bull Calves: 85 pounds.

That is from both red fullblood and black purebred limo bulls, off predominately purebred and fullblood limo cows but a smattering of commercial cows as well.


Selecting a bull for calving ease should not be a crap shoot, there are reputable breeders that can be very helpful in choosing the proper bull, and also AI folks such as cswilson have valuable information on various genetics.

Each cattle breed association also has a herd sire reference book that provides information on EPD's etc., or at least the breeds I am familiar with do.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman, I really like the red Angus breed, there are some great cattle in it but it's a shame in my opinion that so many of them are getting away from their original purpose. Getting too big, losing their fertility, ease of calving and AAA marbling reputation in the pursuit of extra size and growth.

I don't know about order buyers not being fooled by black mongrels - it seems the red angus is the poor relative of the black one when it comes to Angus marketing schemes which are largely based on hide colour. Hence the interest in black crossbreeds.
Tony Saretsky was judging our local 4H show last year and was giving great praise to the "red angus" steer leading the class - well he was 25% red angus but the other 75% was Luing so they don't always know what they are looking at!

Picking for low birthweight isn't always a guarantee of easy calving in a breed with great variability. It's possible that the yearling bull sold as being a "heifer" bull due to his 60lb birthweight was just a small calf by chance - his mother may be solidly 120lb birthweights in her makeup yet throw a small calf occasionally.
A friend of mine with purebred red angus is now using a Luing bull instead. His last two red angus bulls both resulted in 40% assisted calvings and birthweights ranging from under 60lbs to over 140lbs. He has had two years of Luing calves now with no assists and calf birth weights are now consistently within the 70lb to 95lb range. They also calve in the first cycle now with the exception of one or two whereas they used to be spread over three cycles. He hasn't changed his management - only his bull.

I also wonder what you call "proper conformation" in relation to easy calving? I was flabbergasted to read the advice in the Alberta Beef magazine by a prominent SK auctioneer that to achieve easy calving you needed a bull with a long narrow neck and narrow shoulders. These "she bulls" have no place in my breeding plans as they will be low fertility, plain cattle that breed high maintanence females. I have always selected thick, short bulls with plenty of power and weight on the neck and shoulder and I don't have calving problems. Anyone that says these type of bulls won't be easy calving should look to the bison - natural selection has given them big front ends and I don't think anybody is assisting them to calve.

[coppertop]

I don't keep females with wide heads and thick necks because I have found over time that they tend not to be as fertile as I like.

I look for a bull with a fairly long narrow head and smooth shoulders, regardless of whether I intend to use hin on cows or heifers.

Show judges are hard pressed to know what breed of calves kids are showing in 4-H these days. Many of the kids register their calf as representative of the breed that offers the best 'gifts' for showing that particular breed..

I would hesitate to label cross breds as mongrels, by doing so one is likely taking aim at a lot of good commercial herds that use black genetics both on the bull and cow side. I have never been a fan of Red Angus, but have seen some great RA cross steers at shows over the years. Red AngusxSimi cross heifers were the buzz word for years. In fact I sold quite a few red limo bulls to be used on that cross and the result was some pretty fancy calves that topped sales around here quite often.

[cowman]

Grassfarmer: I too like my bulls thick! But for a heifer bull... I like them thin on the shoulders and hips...not that I pick them that way any more...what the cows get...the heifers get!
I figure if a heifer can't have a decent sized calf then ...to hell with her? We had a ceasarian here five years ago...can barely remember the one before that...probably twenty years ago! Not too say there weren't a few ugly pulls over the years! I don't think the vet has been out for several years for a calving. Twenty heifers this year, one pull(backwards)...although still three to go!
I sometimes think if you do this enough you get a "sixth sense" about who is going to cause you problems and who isn't?
I like big calves. If a calf is under 90 pounds, I consider him a scrub. My cows would probably average around 1400 lbs. in there working clothes. Too big? I don't know, they seem to work for me.

[coppertop]

The debate will go on forever on the attributes of each breed. I have watched new breeds come and go, some of them just haven't caught on although they have many desirable traits.
Marketing has a lot to do with the popularity of a breed, and Angus has done a fantastic job over the years of spreading the word about their breed.

I have seen representatives of breed associations turn people away from their breed because they tend to be far too vocal and derisive about other breeds rather than marketing the good points of their own breed in a way that will get the attention of commercial producers.In my years in the cattle business I have never felt the need to knock another mans cattle to promote my own.

[smcgrath76]

Just a technical note here. Nothing earth shattering.
Many breeds offer tools to evaluate calving ease/birthweight. For breeds with Calving Ease EPD - these are a better indication of calving problems than birth weight or birthweight EPD.
If you are using a bull from a breed without these tools (which is fine), try to select for light birthweight within herd rather than just an absolute low birthweight. A lot of things can influence birthweight, so looking for outliers within a herd, helps to ensure fewer surprises when you get a bull home and potentially into a different management system.
Another thing to keep in mind is that low birthweights are associated with calving ease, but negatively associated with maternal calving ease. In other words, a heifer with a low birth weight will be born easily, but is slightly more likely to have calving problems when she becomes a mature cow. That said, there are genetics out there that can bend this curve as well.

[cswilson]

smc that is one of the worst things about epd's the assumptions that are made-we've had easy calving cattle forever on this place-i for one would rather calve a bunch of heifers with low birthweight genetics than vice versa-mce e.p.d's aren't worth the paper they are printed on in my opinion. E.P.D's have left the rwalm of breed improvement and are becoming strictly marketing tools for most breeders-where's it going to end plus 50 milk-plus 150 yearling wights-marbling dripping through the hide-and cows that can't function in a commercial enviroment-the Angus breed is well on it's way to becoming black Jersey's but without the pretty eyes. My kids have an old Jersey nurse cow-she winters better than some purebred Angus cows. Best bet for calving ease is stacked selection for it-not breeding a plus 5 bull to a -4 BW cow than calling their calves calving ease bulls.

[grassfarmer]

Sean, the concept of low birthweight calves having a negative correlation with calving as adults interests me. Could you give me a pointer to the source of research on this?
I used to wonder about that with Salers that were marketed in the UK as easy calving due to being narrow at the front but extra wide at the pelvis. I always wondered if that were the case wouldn't the wide pelvis in the calves lead to difficult calvings in itself.
Cowman, do you actually still weigh your calves when they are born? I know a lot of guys that talk about their calf weights yet haven't weighed a calf in ten years.(not implying you are one of those, just curious)
I've never been a fan of fat, heavy cows with bull like front ends as they obviously lack the maternal characteristics and fertility traits we need. Buying a bull with a long narrow face reminds me of the saying about the swaledale sheep breed - they were meant to stand with both front feet on a twopenny bit and suck peas out of a bottle. Not my type at all!