This beef cow was purchased as a calf for $80 at a cattle auction in October 2004. She wasn't weaned from her mother and weighed 150 pounds. Most likely the calf was born sometime during the summer of 2004.
Raised With Other Hard Calves
The beef calf was raised with other calves that had been taken away from their mothers way before they were big enough and at the proper age to be weaned. When she arrived at her new home, she was bawling and upset at not being able to suck her mother's milk.
The first thing the heifer calf did was to tear a gate at the back of the shed she was being held in. It didn't matter that a small amount of commercial calf feed was in the trough and good quality, grass hay was in the hay rack, she wasn't staying in that pen.
A herd of beef cattle and calves is where she went and where she stayed. The next morning, the calf was deemed wild and put into a pen that would hold her until she settled down.
The Beef Calf Began to Grow
After a short period of time the beef calf and the other hard calves were let in with the herd of beef cattle. During the first winter every head of cattle were called to the barn and fed commercial cattle feed. The calves that were on cows, as well as the hard calves without mothers were brought into a shed for feeding by themselves.
This was done each day of the first winter after the beef calf was brought to her new home. Routinely fed a small amount of calf feed and hay, the calf didn't look the same when spring arrived.
The Beef Heifer Mismanaged
During the summer of 2005, all of the other beef calves in her group were sold except for, what was now a beef heifer. The mismanagement came in when she wasn't taken out of the pasture with the other beef cattle, that had a black Angus bull in the herd.
Waiting to place the beef heifer in with a bull for a few more months would have given her more time for growth and maturity, but that didn't happen. The heifer was bred near the end of March 2006 and had her first calf on Dec. 27, 2006. Her first calf weighed 590 pounds at six months old and was sold on June 28, 2007.
The beef heifer wasn't a heifer any longer, she had turned into a mama cow. She has spent every day of her life in the beef herd, and always breeding when nature called. The beef cow's second calf came on Jan. 26, 2008 and was sold on the 16th of July weighing 710 pounds. Not bad for a six month old calf on a very young cow.
The beef cow had her third calf on Nov. 21, 2009 and it went to market weighing 845 pounds on July 9, 2010. The calf was 230 days old when it was sold and any way you figure it, that is a tremendous spurt of growth. For a cow to raise a calf with that kind of growth seems almost unheard of, but it is all documented.
The beef cow in this article looks like a Charlois-Angus cross-bred cow, but may have some of another breed in her also. She is six years old, and weighs approximately 1300 pounds. The cow is taller than a full-stock Angus cow and also slimmer made. She has a gentle disposition and can even be patted on the head when she doesn't have a new-born calf by her side.
What Makes a Good Beef Cow
One of the best traits of a good beef cow is a good udder and this cow has that. Her udder is sound and square, with all four teats hanging down evenly and their fullness all the same. The udder has dropped very little even though she has had three calves and is currently in the process of raising her fourth calf.
The beef cow eats fescue/orchard grass hay in the winter and is always supplemented with a small ration of 12 per cent commercial feed during that time of the year. During the growing season she runs on a pasture that has a mix of fescue, orchard grass, and clover, that is never overgrazed. At all times of the year, she has access to mineral. She is a wonderful beef cow that consistently produces enough milk to raise a calf that will set the scales down.
Sources:
Beef Cattle Information And Resources (Beef Cow Udder Selection)
David Keith - David Keith
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