Speaking about Angus sires, Weaber said that bulls in the 7-9 range for calving ease EPD (breed average) matched with heifers will have an expected dystocia rate in the single digits. In other words, the risk for calving difficulty is low.
What is a good calving ease score?
Calving ease is scored on a scale from 1 to 5. A score of 1 represents an unassisted calving, 2 is some assistance, 3 is mechanical assistance, 4 is a C-section, and 5 is an abnormal presentation.
What is a good calving difficulty percentage?
Ideally select a high reliability bull with a beef heifer calving difficulty figure of less than 7.5%. Heifers that calved for the 1st time at 23-26 month had greater survivability.
What is considered a calving ease bull?
Calving Ease Direct (CED), is expressed as a difference in percentage of unassisted births, with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf heifers. It predicts the average difference in ease with which a sire’s calves will be born when he is bred to first-calf heifers. Example: Bull A has CED of 5.
What is the ideal calving interval for beef cattle?
Most producers would consider an interval of 45-60 days ideal as this insures a relatively uniform calf crop. The calving interval is greatly influenced by nutrition and health which if not managed properly, will spread out the calving interval making less efficient use of resources such as labour and capital.
Do you want a high or low calving ease?
The greater the number, the lower the risk for calving difficulty, Weaber said. Calving ease EPDs are expressed in percentage units of unassisted births. For example, a bull with a calving ease EPD of 12 is expected to have 7% more unassisted births from first calf heifers than a bull with a CE EPD of 5.
How do you read Angus bull EPDs?
EPDs are measured in units of traits, such as pounds. For example, a bull with a +70 weaning weight (WW) EPD compared to a bull with a +60 WW EPD is expected to produce calves 10 pounds heavier if mated to the same group of cows and managed under the same conditions.
What is a good birth weight for Angus cattle?
Table 3
| Breed of sire | Calving difficulty | Birth weight |
|---|---|---|
| Hereford and Angus | 2.9 percent | 78.7 pounds |
| Jersey | 2.9 percent | 68.6 pounds |
| Red Poll | 3.7 percent | 78.7 pounds |
| Tarentaise | 6.0 percent | 82.7 pounds |
What is the target 6 week calving rate?
Farms with a 90% six-week calving rate expect half the herd to calve in 16 to 18 days. For a 100-cow herd, this is about three calvings per day; for 300 cows it’s an average of 10 births/day. The number of calvings can spike in any day. It won’t be spread evenly over the period, so you must be prepared for this too.
What is the easiest calving beef breed?
DeBruycker Charolais females are the best beef cattle breed for calving, as they’re easy calvers and boast fine maternal instincts. Since Charolais females’ protective mothering instinct is quite strong, Charolais dams can be interesting to deal with when their offspring is nearby.
What is the best bull to breed to Angus cows?
Breeding Hereford bulls to Angus cows results in the perfect female, and the steers hold their own, too. of choice for many commercial cattlemen. For ranchers in the Northern Plains, Hereford bulls are providing the magic cross on their Angus cows.
How many cows make a bull happy?
General recommendations for bull:cow ratios: The textbook recommendation for bull:cow ratio is typically 1 bull:20-30 females, with mature bulls closer to the 1:30 ratio and yearling bulls at 1 bull:20 cows.
What is the best age to band a bull calf?
The ideal time to band bull calves is at birth. At this time, banding causes very minimal discomfort and carries almost no risk of tetanus because the calf has not had exposure to tetanus causing bacteria in the environment.
How many cows should calve in first cycle?
Aim for 95% of cows to calve in a 9-week period
The start of mating is determined in Module 1: Setting directions. The ideal calving distribution should consist of 65–70% of calves dropped in the first 3 weeks (first cycle), followed by 20% in the second 3 weeks and 10% in the third 3 weeks.
What does a high calving interval mean?
Firstly, increased calving interval means that the average production per cow per day will reduces as cows spend proportionally more time in late lactation when yields are lower; and, secondly, during late lactation the margin between milk income and feed costs is lower and thus the profit margin per litre is less.
How long should the calving interval be?
The term “calving interval” refers to the period from one calv- ing to the next calving. In dairy practice the most common calv- ing interval is in the neighborhood of one year. Two somewhat different considerations may be responsible for this practice.
What breed of cow is the easiest to birth calves?
Salers sired calves are small compared to those from many other breeds, with heifers typically 30-35kg and bulls 35-40kg. These low birth weights in combination with the Salers slender calf conformation are the secret of the Salers effortless easy calving.
How cold is too cold for calving?
Recommendations for preventing frostbite and hypothermia:
House calving cows and calves less than one day of age when wind chills are below 10º F. and calves cannot be kept dry because of snow or rain.
What temperature are cattle most comfortable?
The ideal temperature range for dairy cattle is 25 to 65 F, according to the University of Missouri Extension. Even at temperatures of just 68 F they can start to feel heat stress. When temperatures dip below zero, yes, cows may get cold but Organic Valley farmers take special precautions to keep cows cozy.
What does the accuracy of an EPD tell you?
EPD Accuracy
Accuracy (ACC) reflects the precision of a prediction for a given animal’s EPD and provides us with a level of confidence for that animal’s genetic merit. Bulls with greater accuracy values may be called “proven sires.”
Are cattle EPDs accurate?
Most yearling bulls have accuracies from . 05 to . 35 for growth traits since the calculation of his EPD is based on his own performance record and pedigree information. Older bulls with progeny information records used in the calculation of their EPD will have higher accuracy values.