# Ugh... I'm definitley going to choose my own bull from now on...



## Spamela (Nov 23, 2013)

So last year when I had the breeder come out to breed my angus cow to have her second calf I told him I wanted sexed semen. He only had one and at the time I didn't know which bull it was. I looked him up. He's First-N-Goal and his EPD's stink! He is ranked at the bottom of all the angus they have for CED, BW, and CEM grrrrr. His CED is -13!

She is due in July and hopefully everything goes ok. This is her second calf and she didn't seem to have any trouble the first time so fingers crossed but I will definitely keep my eye on her at calving time. Apparently he's a big show bull which is not something I was looking for, I just want a cow that's going to be able to pop out calves! Lesson learned I guess! I just hope it's not an expensive lesson learned.

http://www.selectsiresbeef.com/index.php/bull-database-view-page/page?bid=271

I forgot I had some questions too... to make things a little more complicated she is on the fat side, moderately framed. I just weaned her bull calf off of her who was 8 months old. I had cut her off from grain a while ago because I noted she had a pretty good pudge around her tail head even tho she wasn't getting much grain to begin with. Should I feed her low quality hay so she doesn't gain anymore weight or will that jeopardize the health of the calf? Is it not a good idea for her to lose weight at this stage of her pregnancy? I have some low quality grass hay that was rained on that I've been using as bedding, or would that be too bad of hay to feed her with?


----------



## chronic66 (Feb 19, 2005)

I am no expert, but, I do a lot of reading and I have gathered that a lot of people, maybe especially homesteading types, overfeed their cattle and make them overly fat. I am reading that this is not good. I have a 19 month old heifer that was bred in Jan or Feb. I have been feeding her weedy grass hay. It has been tested at 13 percent protein and is just good cow hay. That is all I give her at this time. The small pasture is greening up so she has that. I will read up on in again, but, I think that I will supplement her as needed beginning with or just prior to the last trimester.


----------



## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Fat around the tailhead can mean not pregnant. Are you sure she took? If you look at bison, gnus, and things like that, they usually calve after a low point in their nutritional plane, usually right before an upward swing. If you are making her tailhead fat, and she is pregnant, you are growing that calf plenty big, too. I wouldn't give her anything moldy, but cutting back a little wouldn't hurt.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I'd give the cow a shot of Bo-SE a few weeks prior to calving. Gives the calf a lot more "get up and go" and might be the difference in getting a live calf out of a difficult birth.


----------



## Spamela (Nov 23, 2013)

Thanks haypoint! I will do that.


----------



## CIW (Oct 2, 2007)

Slender on the gain at calving time, then start pouring the feed to her about 3 days after giving birth.
I agree with Haypoint about the selenium shot. We don't do it here because of the amount of SE in the soil so white muscle is all but unheard of locally. And also give a scours shot about three weeks before birthing. An A D shot would be good when you are calving in the winter due to lack of green and sun.


----------



## brittlois (Feb 15, 2016)

Be careful of cutting her nutrition in the last few months of calving. They can get pregnancy toxemia. From what I understand, she won't lose any body condition, but can be close to death. My BF bought some very healthy 6 month bred cows and inadvertently put them on low quality hay in the winter for the rest of their pregnancy. They never lost body condition, yet one of them died while calving. Pregnancy toxemia was the reason.

Look into the correlation between when you feed and when cows calve. Maybe you adjust your feeding time to increase the odds of her going into labor while you're able to keep a close eye on her.


----------



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

I wonder why they would go to the expense of sexing semen for their lowest rated bull? Unless they sex all the bulls and his was the only one left over?

I would not cut quality of nutrition for a pregnant cow. You can cut back the calories but not the quality.


----------



## Spamela (Nov 23, 2013)

He is a good bull to use if you want to show apparently, he just has bad EPD's for birthweight.

How do you reduce calories without reducing quality? Just feed less? She is on pasture right now, with free choice hay of ok quality since I don't have much pasture. No grain.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Free choice loose minerals?


----------



## barnbilder (Jul 1, 2005)

Very common for the square blocky look with heavy muscling, preferred in the showring, to be antagonistic to easy calving, and sometimes milk production. Welcome to the world of cattle breeding.


----------

