finally a girl

[Deleted]

unfortunately is was out of my polled cow but after so many bulls I will take it.

[Blessings Farms]

Congrats Mike . Hope for girls the rest of the year .

[lakeportfarms]

You have a polled cow Mike?   Or just out of polled genetics?  Congratulations anyway...

[Deleted]

yep Hans 2 polled cows well make that 3 now. My first Dexter was polled and now I have got mother 2 daughters and grand daughter. I have mostly gotten bulls from them all were steered. I am no where near capacity and I need the beef so it works out.

[wvdexters]

Hoping she's the first of many! Congratulations

[Deleted]

another bull born last night. I got home and found him on the wrong side of the high tensile fence still wet and mama not happy on the other side. I carried the greased pig over to the gate and put him back in with mom. She got him all dried off and feed right before the storms rolled through. He didnt seem overly cold this morning after spending his first night in the cold rain.

[genebo]

I'm glad he's happy this morning.

I had a calf that was 9 days old before it saw sunshine and she turned out fine. Dried out nicely.

[jamshundred]

I jokingly told Mike he should check the PH in his water. .  .. .  .but still.........when everything that is born from a variety of bulls is male.  ..  ..  . .there has to be an answer.  Doesn't there?

Judy

[Deleted]

well I suspect there is an answer but I dont know what that is. The Jury is still out for this year not enough have been born yet to get any kind of accurate % of bulls. Including the bulls I used for this years breeding it will be 5 different bulls used over the years. I suspected minerals last year an changed that up but that does not seem to be it. I did look last year and found that cows in better condition tended toward bulls and cows that were not in as good of condition tended toward females. With the rotational grazing my cows are always in good condition.
I also found that one uterine horn will tend to produce one sex or the other and that cows are more likely to get pregnant in the same horn as the last pregnancy. meaning it is hard to break a trend.

  

[genebo]

I've had streaks of both sexes. I can't find a pattern.

[wvdexters]

I like to whisper in each one's ear and tell them what we are wanting. "Think ______ & the color too. Works about half the time. LOL

I read a theory last yr that it has to do with the age of the bull. Young sire = males; Older sire = heifers. Alot of people thought there was something to it, but it hasn't held true here.

Some say it's timing. Early matings get females, later give males.

Kate seemed to be a bull maker. Three calvings, different sire for each, and all 3 shorty bulls. We'll have to see what she has for Keith with his bull.

[genebo]

I've read that Judy may be right, about the PH. It has been proven that the PH of the female reproductive tract at the time of mating can have a lot of influence on the sex of the offspring.

Lots of people say to put Apple Cider Vinegar in their drinking water to get heifers. Of course they say ACD is good for everything else, too. Like Duct tape, baling wire, WD-40 and Windex. It fixes everything.

[lonecowhand]

I love your method, Karie! LOL Sounds like it's got better ratios than Mikes!

Bill

[Donlin Stud]

Apr 7, 2016 17:35:27 GMT wvdexters said:

I read a theory last yr that it has to do with the age of the bull. Young sire = males; Older sire = heifers. Alot of people thought there was something to it, but it hasn't held true here.

Some say it's timing. Early matings get females, later give males. 

Nah: have a young bull Hank who throws that theory out the window: 10 calves to date:  9 females / 1 bull calf (who came because we held mum back to the third day hoping for one with 'dangly-bits')

But then we do have another young bull: Bear. He is 2 weeks older than Hank- and he has sired only 3 females to goodness knows how many bull calves (he was out on lease to a commercial production - thank goodness with that ratio)

 

And the oldest and most used boy Bundy sits nearly 50/50 - always has. I think he is one female up from last years calves.

We do tend towards timing, only because it has proven itself time and time again to work for us.

And watching we can see how it could be working:

Hank has no gentleman manners at all. And wont ask. And wont smooch nor does he guard afterwards either. Cocky little buggar or just plain rude.

Bear is a romantic. He coaxes and smooches. Wines and dines them all.

Bundy quietly checks everyone out and then when he thinks the timing may be good he guards, and waits, and guards a little more. asking all the time but waits until she says yes. And then he guards her for a day or two afterwards.

Hank is the only sire this year: and we held one girl back for a 2016 late arrival in hope of a bull calf from her (half brother and sister joining) Will let you know

[lonecowhand]

So Donna, what do you think the optimal timing is for better female ratio?

[genebo]

I like Bear's approach.

Brenn was like that. He would court the first day, court and pursue the second day, get down to business on the third day, then hang around smoking a cigarette the day after.

He was a true romantic. I tried to write it so it sounded funny, but in fact, Brenn took the business of being a bull to heart. McBrenn took over with the same gentlemanly behavior.

I love it.

This is a series of photos of Brenn courting Wee Gaelic Ms Fermoy.

s270.photobucket.com/user/genebo16/library/Brenn%20and%20Ms%20Fermoy?sort=3&page=1

[Donlin Stud]

Hi to you Lonecowhand

Timing for optimal female/heifer drop is early in the cycle – before ovulation may have taken place.

Eager bull (or one that thinks he may miss out is great) and promiscuous females just seem to further seal the deal on heifers arriving when a bull just wont wait for optimum timing.

Indiana only ever had daughters until we held her back in 2014 – Chase arrived in the traditional Dexter manner. 2015 however saw yet another daughter when we didn’t interfere.

An Indiana daughter; Savannah – held her back for her first calf so we could have a Bundy son from her, and we did. But its been 2 daughters since then.

Ash. Sister to Sav with 2 daughters to date. She is the one we have held back this year in hope of a line bred son.

Sahara however broke with family tradition. She is nowhere as promiscuous as her sisters. Had a daughter first up followed by 2 sons – but her only daughter is as promiscuous as the rest of the family. Bindy is due to have her first calf this year.

Braea also a daughter of Indiana, will have her first calf this year. But she is not as promiscuous either but the sire is Hank – so we will see.

Midori: (no relation to INdiana) has four sons to date

She thinks she is boss of all. She is also the mother of Bundy and Hank.

Last year she must have felt her young grandson was far to below her standards as she kept fighting him right through her cycle. Only her not coming into season 3 weeks later did we realise the boy was successful at some stage. The ‘bloke’ reckons Bailey waited until she was asleep……………..

For this year, she didn’t have much choice in the matter.
Hank her beloved son wasn’t going to take no even from his mother. Yes, we are hoping for a mother son heifer to arrive for 2016.

The timing method does have some scientific backing: its called the Shettles method.

And humans have always studied cows to learn more about human reproduction so maybe there is more substance to it than most may think

Gene - Brenn still makes us smile.

[lakeportfarms]

Mike I wish we had an idea what happened around here last year, because our last 9 Dexter calves have now been heifers...not that I'm complaining. Not only that but they've mostly been chondro carriers, except for the ones that we actually wanted to be long legged, like the one out of Josie that is going to a girl named Mallory, that was praying for a long leg girl out of Josie, her favorite cow. Looks like I may actually have some carriers to sell this year.

Oh, and I have a theory about bulls vs. heifers...older bulls are more likely to throw bulls, because they are a bit behind on getting to the job at hand and the faster stronger swimmers are more likely to reach the egg in time to fertilize it before it becomes non viable.  Perhaps it's nature's way of insuring the strongest and longest lived males of the species are able to continue their genetics by producing bulls that are capable of many more progeny over their lifetime than the females are.

[Deleted]

had a girl born this morning to the cow in my avatar. After milking I was doing my morning rounds in the dark. I seen cairy getting restless going up and down. I took my milk back to the house and told my wife if she wanted to see it she better get over there soon. She called me as soon as she got over there and said there were feet so I headed back over but was to late she already calved. 

So far this year 50/50 on bulls. But that is not the end of the story. We used 3 bulls this year. Our Colorado bull is 50/50. The other 2 bulls were used when just yearlings and one of them 2 girls so far and the other one 2 bulls. It is still early not many calve s yet so we will see if the trend continues.

I wonder how much the bulls testosterone level has to do with it. the one who has had bulls is much more bullish. He is noise and much more interested in playing bull games with the others. He also has a bigger bull neck. the one that has thrown to girls never says a peep and is really laid back. Unless a girl is in heat then he gets down to business. Both have a really nice large pair as my vet pointed out when they went for there health check.


Family line may have something to do with it. They are both closely related however The heifer bull clearly takes after the Colorado side while the bull bull takes after the Woodmagic side.

Another variable they were young when breeding last year and the heifer bull was in with the group that had a boss cow that was determined to play the bull role and did her best to keep him away from the cows in heat to the point that I pulled her out after a few of them returned to heat. It wasn't for his lack of trying but she had a lot of size on him at that time and she was able to push him off most of the times.  

[lonecowhand]

Well Congrats on a girl, Mike!

[Deleted]

Another girl today. I think it is the same bull that produced the other 2 girls. However There were some issues that day and she ended up with 3 different bulls in 2 days. We will know for sure when we see the results of the paternity on Springer cow edition . The bull I believe it is got to her a first so it likely is him.

[Blessings Farms]

Doing good there Mike Congrats . How many are Legacy ?

[Deleted]

2 girls and 2 boys are Legacy. including the one with the questionable sire. All 3 possibles are Legacy. I dont keep any non legacy bulls intact.

[wvdexters]

As for promiscuous females having heifers -- lol -- all 3 of our ladies had little girls this yr. Hmm -- those Paradise girls

On a scientific note though - I do remember reading once that X chromosomes are larger and heavier than Y chromosomes and that Y carrying sperm are much faster off the mark and can reach the goal much faster (sprinter).  But with the smaller size they were not able to survive as long as the larger Xs.  So in earlier matings the X's have the advantage in that they have time to arrive and are there "waiting" at ovulation while their smaller Y counterparts are already dead or dying. 

[Donlin Stud]

Apr 15, 2016 17:34:18 GMT @dexterfarm said:

We will know for sure when we see the results of the paternity on Springer cow edition .

OM Goodness - that is so funny !

Darn it - laughed a little out loud here at work and now I have to explain...........

[Deleted]

would have never guessed that you had Springer down there.