Hereford bull calf

[Slugs11]

Born last night. The cow is a Bradford and we used 100% Hereford AI straw. Big calf and dam strong. He is already head butting the cow for more milk. Greedy bugg-r ????

[northsouthdevide]

Congratulations ????

I can't go anywhere in the world without my cuppa tea, so I know what it's like to need some creature comforts now and again. 

I take my hat off to you for keeping English livestock so far away from home. 

It must be both challenging and rewarding in equal measure. 

 

[473geo]

I guess it 3/4 Hereford good looking calf

[ThailandRyan]

Congratulations and I wish you the best in growing your heard.  It takes a lot of patience and demonstrated stubbornness to raise cattle.  I grew up on a dairy ranch in Northern California, and for a while, while I was in College, care took a ranch as well.  Constant doctoring of not only the cows but the horses as well.....Enjoy.

[Relocated]

Where I live now is surrounded by cattle ranches and I can't help but feeling sad whenever I look at that peaceful animal, thinking of their final destination.

[ThailandRyan]

15 minutes ago, Retarded said:

Where I live now is surrounded by cattle ranches and I can't help but feeling sad whenever I look at that peaceful animal, thinking of their final destination.

My kids learned early on that you never gave a name to any of the livestock, because that way you could not become attached to them when they were shipped off.  The 4H animals that were raised for the fair were never named, but the Guide Dogs they raised we knew were going to a person who needed the set of eyes, and came to us as pups already named. It is also why my blue heeler growing up was named Dog, I went through about 6 named dog as they would need to be replaced after they got into it with the livestock and did not survive.

[elliss]

 

 Congratulations on your new arrival .

     I am eager to grow King Edward' spuds , these tatties , we buy in Thailand , are tasteless .

    I am keen to import UK soil ,  salt of the Earth ...

       

Edited May 14, 2020 by elliss

[djayz]

51 minutes ago, elliss said:

soil ,  salt of the Earth

A lot of the land here hasn't been taken care of properly. Very, very little in the way of organic matter is added. 

People see me adding straw, leaves, wigs, etc. to my grow beds and think I'm mad. In just the past 4 months alone I have noticed a slight improvement in the soil texture (with emphasis on slight) and a huge difference in the growth and general well-being of the plants. 

Lots of straw on top to help with mulching. Did a bit of digging yesterday and was amazed at just how moist the soil was, despite very little rain fall here until this afternoon. 

That I think is the main difference. 

 

Sorry Slugs, wasn't trying to derail your thread. Great looking calf. Good luck to you 

Edited May 14, 2020 by djayz

[Heppinger]

Beautiful calf, Did you perform the AI yourself or get a vet to do it? I only get about 40% success with the vet i use with AI.  Thinking of doing an AI course myself when back in Australia, as apparently there is an art to it and no 2 cows/heifers are the same.

[Heppinger]

10 hours ago, djayz said:

A lot of the land here hasn't been taken care of properly. Very, very little in the way of organic matter is added. 

People see me adding straw, leaves, wigs, etc. to my grow beds and think I'm mad. In just the past 4 months alone I have noticed a slight improvement in the soil texture (with emphasis on slight) and a huge difference in the growth and general well-being of the plants. 

Lots of straw on top to help with mulching. Did a bit of digging yesterday and was amazed at just how moist the soil was, despite very little rain fall here until this afternoon. 

That I think is the main difference. 

 

Sorry Slugs, wasn't trying to derail your thread. Great looking calf. Good luck to you 

Very true, the Thais for the most part, haven't embraced modern advances in agriculture, I have a small Aquaponics system using the waste from 1000 tilapia to grow chili's, the Thais can't believe the amount i produce from my plants with a fraction of the amount of water and it's all year round.  For the most part Thais are still using flood irrigation to grow chili's.

[pineapple01]

13 hours ago, Retarded said:

Where I live now is surrounded by cattle ranches and I can't help but feeling sad whenever I look at that peaceful animal, thinking of their final destination.

Retarded seem a fitting name.

[Slugs11]

I am sorry, actually meant to place these pictures in the Official farming Photo’s thread. Somehow I managed to start a new thread. Anyway, appreciate the comments, accept the one about peaceful animals. People seem to forget, if there was no final destination, then most of the animals would not be there in the first place. Very few people keep cows as pets.

 

We use a Thai guy from one of the villages Close by, to do the AI. We use to use the vet, however he was unreliable and his success rate was low. The guy we use now is excellent, and store our AI straws for us. Would say we have a success rate 75/80% with AI.  However have had a couple of cows, where we could not get them in calf using AI (tried numerous times) ran our bull with them, and bingo, in calf straight away. 

[Slugs11]

Our 75% red Angus bull calf, he is 2 months old now. If he and the Hereford grow as we hope, then plan to keep them as our stock bulls. 

[khwaibah]

SJ Doungiai Farm is about 30 km up the road from me. Their shop and restaurant are on the 214 just north of Prasat/Surin. This is strictly a Thai operation.

 

  

https://www.facebook.com/jaleena.lin

Edited May 15, 2020 by khwaibah

[IsaanAussie]

Hey KB, That is a bull with a beef outcome. Not some rib exposed Isaan X-Breed.

This topic makes me smile.

I have never kept cattle but have had pigs and those that were important to our farm all had names. Maybe I am just different but every time I have established any sort of bond with an animal I have found things go better. Ultimately our pigs left us as intended, either achieving market weight, or end of productive life. The objective was all paid their feed bill and our farm prospered. Economically I failed not the pigs with or without names.

 

[kickstart]

10 hours ago, Heppinger said:

Beautiful calf, Did you perform the AI yourself or get a vet to do it? I only get about 40% success with the vet i use with AI.  Thinking of doing an AI course myself when back in Australia, as apparently there is an art to it and no 2 cows/heifers are the same.

A 40% success rate with AI in Thailand is not bad ,most fertility problems are to do with feed, the diet being short of energy  ,and probable some minerals, if any rice straw is feed, that is the main cause of infertility ,and feeding Nappier grass way past its best, being chopped or not  will not help improve fertility ,we do not feed any rice straw, and we have had a 75% success rate with AI

And another big problem is timing of service ,in the UK we used to serve cows just after they come on heat, over here with dairy cows most farmer wait 24 hours, slow ovulation is another problem, semen dies before the cow ovulates ,bad diet ,and I would say the heat as well, this year we  served one of our   beef cows 3 times, she did not show any strong heat symptoms, we still got her in calf.

You could do an AI course ,you will probably fine yourself doing your neighbors cows as well  ,but check you can get hold of liquid nitrogen   your local DLD office could help you out , you will find it a pain having to do say a 80-100 km round trip just to buy some nitrogen. 

Slugs 11.

I like that Red Angus calf ,was the bull a Red Angus ,or did it come out red, this year we are trying Beef Master bulls ,had one last year ,sold him for 48000 baht ,he was only 13 month old ,local cattle dealer brought him ,ask your local DLD office ,they should have some semen.   

[Heppinger]

5 minutes ago, kickstart said:

A 40% success rate with AI in Thailand is not bad ,most fertility problems are to do with feed, the diet being short of energy  ,and probable some minerals, if any rice straw is feed, that is the main cause of infertility ,and feeding Nappier grass way past its best, being chopped or not  will not help improve fertility ,we do not feed any rice straw, and we have had a 75% success rate with AI

And another big problem is timing of service ,in the UK we used to serve cows just after they come on heat, over here with dairy cows most farmer wait 24 hours, slow ovulation is another problem, semen dies before the cow ovulates ,bad diet ,and I would say the heat as well, this year we  served one of our   beef cows 3 times, she did not show any strong heat symptoms, we still got her in calf.

You could do an AI course ,you will probably fine yourself doing your neighbors cows as well  ,but check you can get hold of liquid nitrogen   your local DLD office could help you out , you will find it a pain having to do say a 80-100 km round trip just to buy some nitrogen. 

Slugs 11.

I like that Red Angus calf ,was the bull a Red Angus ,or did it come out red, this year we are trying Beef Master bulls ,had one last year ,sold him for 48000 baht ,he was only 13 month old ,local cattle dealer brought him ,ask your local DLD office ,they should have some semen.   

Thanks for the Info, we do use some rice straw as a small portion of our cattle feed.  Timing of service has always been an issue for me as I'm sure you have experienced the phenomena that is "Thai Time".  Your info is much appreciated. 

[Grumpy John]

23 hours ago, Slugs11 said:

Our 75% red Angus bull calf, he is 2 months old now. If he and the Hereford grow as we hope, then plan to keep them as our stock bulls. 

A fine looking young fellow i

 

23 hours ago, Slugs11 said:

Our 75% red Angus bull calf, he is 2 months old now. If he and the Hereford grow as we hope, then plan to keep them as our stock bulls. 

A fine looking young fellow indeed.  I am assuming the 25% is a local breed...whatever the he11 that maybe. 

[kickstart]

4 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

A fine looking young fellow i

 

A fine looking young fellow indeed.  I am assuming the 25% is a local breed...whatever the he11 that maybe. 

I would say a Brahman, maybe a Thai Native, odds are Brahman . 

[Grumpy John]

13 hours ago, kickstart said:

I would say a Brahman, maybe a Thai Native, odds are Brahman . 

That was my first thought but hard to figure when it's 75% Angus. The neck skin was a clue but I never like to jump to conclusions! 

[Slugs11]

Kickstart, we used a Red Angus straw, have another calf (heifer) from the same bull. She is more reddish/ brown colour. I like buying our AI straws from Porn Chaiinter in Bangkok, as they have pictures of the bulls, which straws you are planing to buy.  Noticed on their web site the other day, they have a lot of AI straws from new bulls (different breeds), including Limousine, which they have never stocked before 

 

I think the other 25% is more Thai native, if you look at the cow, she has no real hump on the shoulders which is a typical Brahman trait, hence my leaning to thinking Thai native ?. We bought her from a local cattle market 3 1/2 yrs ago as a young heifer, the red Angus is her 3rd Calf.

[kickstart]

Slugs 11,trying to work out breeds of cattle in Thailand is not easy ,I can see your point ,but both Brahman and Thai Native are Bos Indicus , and  have humps ,my Thai Native cow certainly has ,the reason I said Brahman is the size that cow has a big body ,that could have come from a Brahman the short statue comes from the Angus ,being 75% Angus the hump would not be present ,my Fresisan x Simmental x Brahman x Indo Brazil, has no hump ,and she is a 50% Bos Indicus and 50% Bos Taurus ,Bos Taurus having no humps.

Also, re size most beef  imported semen in Thailand comes from the USA ,and American bulls tend to be bigger than say UK bulls,and  what I have seen is the case with Angus bulls ,in the UK it was popular to use Angus bulls on heifers ,being small easier  calving with few problems.

As for Limousine a good idea ,not certain how they would stand the heat of Thailand should not be a problem ,the video is a Limousine bull from  Semex a Canadian cattle breeding company , Semex have a lot of dairy bulls here in Thailand ,can not remember were Porn Chaiinter get they semen from, ABS a popular breeding company in Thailand  only have one Limousine bull in  they catalog . 

I would like a few straw's of this bull would be interesting to see how they do over here.  

 

[thoongfoned]

do you check that the "straws" are alive before AI?

[kickstart]

44 minutes ago, thoongfoned said:

do you check that the "straws" are alive before AI?

No, they is no way to check them, semen straws are  stored in a tank of liquid nitrogen, taken out and immersed in warm water for 25-30 seconds, then put in to the breeding gun and the cow is served.

Semen when collected is checked for quality ,the DPO at Mortlec Saraburi, the milk producing arm of the Thai Denmark milk group ,collect the semen  from there  dairy bulls ,I think they still do it at 5 AM, on a Friday, the cool of the day, I looked at one of they chart's once and the fresh semen was 75%  fertile. 

But, by the time it gets to the cow who knows what percent it is having been transferred from semen tank to semen tank the percent of active semen drops ,and the way Thai's handle semen it is a miracle anything gets in calf.

A good few years a go I looked at a DLD paper it said with they figure's, it took 3.5 service's  to get a dairy  cow in calf ,not a good very high conception rate, I would say that it would be  more to do with  the  cow not being  very fertile, mainly due to a poor diet, than the semen being not being very fertile.