Raising a Cow-calf pair?

[Annoth]

I've recently gotten an interest in exploring cattle. Normally I raise just market show animals as an FFA member because I didnt really want to mess with all that fancy hair and such since my first animal was a market barrow. Feed, shear, show, sell, done. Well now I'm getting close to moving onto my own ranch and want to get some experience with breeding.

There's a family friend with loads of cattle. I'm sure most have bred within the last 3 months but I'm going to see about a favor: I pick a cow, have it bred to a bull and leave it until march (got a show steer who needs to go before she can come). That's really all I have planned. I've looked but there's no guides on cattle breeding like there are sheep. She'll be anywhere from 3-7 months along by the time I get her and I want to know about stress when we move her (she's currently about 100 mi away from our barn and most of the road is highway), special feeding, post birth feeding, care of the new calf and weaning. I also hear alot about milk fever but I dont quite understand it. I've also seen stuff on semen sales like BW +2.3 WW +53 YW +100 MEPD +21, TH and PHA tested negative. What is this? Finally (hopefully) my steer was sorta broken when I got him. Could walk close but was a pain to halter and even worse to lead except when he's at a show and scared. The person with the cows will break the female for me but probably wont adjust her to having her legs brushed, being blow-dried, switch fluffed or having her led into scary situations (my vet uses the table that flips cattle to trim hooves and this is an adult who has never been to a show nor been in a noisy place)

I plan to utilize my vet for castration of a bull, advice, vaccines, dehorning and all that "fun" stuff but I'm excited about this so I need the information. The more I know, the calmer I get

[MO_cows]

I'm assuming you really mean, pick a heifer, not a cow? This is a younger animal?

3-7 months bred shouldn't be a problem to move. Lots of bred females change their address at that stage. It's the first 30 days, when the embryo is trying to attach, and late gestation when calving is imminent, when trucking them is ill advised.

Regarding this "stuff" BW +2.3 WW +53 YW +100 MEPD +21, TH and PHA tested negative.

The numbers are Expected Progeny Differences or EPD. It is a prediction about the progeny of the bull whose semen is advertised. BW +2.3 means the progeny of that bull is expected to weigh 2.3 pounds more, at birth, than the bull with a BW EPD of zero. (Or, 3 pounds less than the bull with BW +5.3). Birthweight is an indicator for calving ease, although there should be another EPD just for calving ease also, CED (Calving Ease Direct). EPD are breed specific. BW +2.3 in Angus isn't the same as BW +2.3 in Charlolais or whatever other breed. There is a conversion chart for comparing EPD across breeds, but as an EPD beginner it will give you a migraine! There is an accuracy stat that goes along with each EPD. The higher the accuracy, the more faith to put in those EPD numbers. Look at the breed average for each EPD and you will see where that bull ranks within his breed. If the breed average is WW 25 and he is at 53, well then he is above average for growth. The YW 100 would also indicate growth and probably a larger frame.

TH and PHA negative means the animal doesn't carry those genetic defects. TH=Tibial Hemimelia. PHA=Pulmonary Hypoplasia with Anasarca. You can google more info about them. There are other defects, so research the breed you are using to know which ones to look out for. There are more breeds with defects known in at least some lines than without, so this is where you want to educate yourself or else commit to a "clean" breed.

Even if the cow is halter broke and used to handling, when she first has that calf, be extremely cautious around her! Sometimes they get over-protective, especially right after birth.

You are walking a fine line with feeding her up into show condition while she is pregnant. Do some research on Body Condition Scoring or BCS for beef cattle.

Good luck!

[Annoth]

Thanks for that "stuff"! It's some pretty advanced "stuff" there. But I literally mean a cow. They've had calves and are around 2 to 9 years old. Will try for a younger one but how they run they're sales, heifers are literally just young calves and their cows are complete adults.

Just took a look at BCS and it's nothing I'm not familiar with due to my market steer. Most of these cows seem to be BCS 3 and the occasional 2 depending when you look at them. For show I'm going to try to bring her inbetween 3 and 4. I start all my projects completly lean and give hard workouts to build as much product as possible and even without fat, plenty of bones are well hidden and even more so once "finished & fitted"

Now with that technological detail gone how about just the basic general care for them? I recall reading that a calf needs 10% of their body weight in milk the first month 7% during the 2nd and decreasing 1% per month until weaned at 3% of feed (~ 4 months old). Nothing about the cow or much after that.

[opportunity]

I have not shown cows but have found that a cow from a big herd that has not been handled is not going to be a great fit for showing they are very hard to train to a lead as an adult I have done it but it only works with some animals no matter how hard you try. It takes me about 4 weeks to get an adult to let me put the halter on. Usually you start working with show cows as calfs. A 9 year old cow is old for most herds a cow usually has it's first baby at about 2 years those are heifers. Your best bet is going to be getting a heifer that is somewhat used to people. As for being 4-7 months along most people will have a shorter period that they had their cows with the bull although it might not be there plan.