Now, everyone has their favourite breed, I've always had a fondness for Herefords though our Charolais bull threw some fabulous calves in the years we had him and he had horns and curls to die for!
Knickers calved 6 weeks ago today and I reckon she is doing a Juniper and going to be a silent Buller. Normally she's vocal like younger sister Mary, who was bellowing a few days ago. I use Genus AI and am going to order a couple of straws off the bull I have been using the last few years (Angus), so that these 2 can be seen to and hopefully have sprogs in December/January next year!
However, Jennifer will be 1 in March. Now, she is a silent Buller. Either that, or she's a dud. Might get the vet out to check (though she did try to pounce on me the other day.....)
So, Jennifer, younger half sister to Knickers and Mary (dad side) and half sister to Juniper on the mums side. Jennifer to me, takes after the Jersey in her Jersey X Aryshire mum and is 'delicate' (headstrong - this is the one I was going to murder last year!!) but delicate. Juniper was 17 months old when 1st Ai'd so calved in February, Knickers also 17 months, Mary will be younger at 16 months. Knickers calving beginning of January worked out great for us, the bag wasn't too big and Eddie coped. Mary is off a 3/4 Jersey 1/4 Ayrshire so aiming for the same time next year, again will be best for us.
The problem is Jennifer. If I wait for her to hit 16 months then she's going to be calving when the spring grass is lurking and she'll have a whopping bag like Juniper. I know that there are those of you who will say so what? I DO NOT want a big bag on a maiden suckler cow. She's not milked, not going to be milked. And I don't want to double suckle.
So, thinking of delicate, (and Jersey'ish), do I stick with Angus and look after her, like I do anyway, or do I put something smaller on her. I've read about Waygu but the only 2 with Genus have horns and I'd rather whatever is coming is polled. (Less stress for me and the animals, no need to be dehorned!)
Also, has anyone with a Jersey or jersey x put them in calf at 12 months or 14 months max. If I aim for 14 month then that's February calving. That for us was fine for Juniper, 2 years running, but then she didn't hold for the 3rd year and never told us, which meant 12 weeks of putting weight on, empty at scanning, ai'ing later and May calving and whopping bag. Even worse, me having to feed another mouth through winter! Just because I have room for them, doesn't mean I want to carry them through the winter.
I've already got it in my head how many cattle will be here for December 2020 and I'm still waiting to see pigs fly![/font][/font][/size]