I was walking among my cows and calves this afternoon before heading back to my office and noticed one of my cows nursing her spring calf in the middle of a hot afternoon. This is just a normal commercial Hereford cow but one that usually weighs in at about 1250 lb. What caught my eye was the amount of calf I could see from the other side! The calf is getting very big relative to his dam's size. This cow (#39) isn't anything special to look at but she ALWAYS raises a calf with a 205 day weaning weight more than 50% of her own weight. By the looks of it, this 115 day old (born 4/4/10) heifer calf may reach close to 60% (over 700 lb) by early November weaning. Maybe the good grass and rain are helping this year. just thought this was a pretty sight, especially still in July. I am hoping to get my average cow size for the herd down to around this level but keep the milking ability... we'll see.
Jim at Dawn
Edited by Jim 7/29/2010 00:10
 (IMG_1555_The time of year When calves start getting big_#39_072810.jpg)
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 IMG_1555_The time of year When calves start getting big_#39_072810.jpg (92KB - 127 downloads)
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That time of year when the calves start really growing (pic)
