Choosing 4 calves - New Photo's

Baymule

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Here in Texas we also have hot summers and mild winters, although once in awhile we get below freezing, it never stays there very long.

I love the long floppy ears on Brahman calves, they are so cute! There is a big Brahman bull in the pasture across from us right now. He is a fine looking bull.
 

MasAhora

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OK here are the photos, the 4 girls are still flighty and calling for home.
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With the young bull who's on the right.
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This little one one will be my mother's pet. Its mother died so its bottled raised and will arrive in a month or two, the photos is from the farm we bought them from so the others on the left aren't mine.
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Any thoughts on the 5 hiefers from my bad photos?
 

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animalmom

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Sweet looking faces! I am sorry I can't help with any suggestions, but the girls look good to me. I do hope you keep us up to date on your adventures with your new herd.
 

Latestarter

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They look great to me! I need to get a couple (of calves) for my place but just can't get off the fence about what breed and how old I want to start.
 

farmerjan

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Hi and welcome. I had to look up the Nellores breed also as it is not a common one here. And on top of that I am in Virginia and we do not have alot of cattle with much Brahma blood in it in this area. They do not sell well here and it has nothing to do with the breed so much as just what the markets dictate. Any member on here from the south will be more familiar with them. I do know that they are heat tolerant, and also fly and tick resistant and in part it is due to the loose skin. I really like the looks of the cross; and this farmer seems to have picked out some nicely balanced females. I look for a nice straight "topline" meaning no saggy backbone but a straight back. Also, you want to watch how they walk. A cow is only as good as the "foundation" under it. Legs that are set well, like 4 equal posts under her body...not set too close together. A nice chest and rump. And walking like it is comfortable for them; not like their legs are too straight or too angled. They all look pretty good and seem to have pretty good growth for 7 months or so. DISPOSITION is important. I don't know the nellore's, but brahma cattle have a reputation of being somewhat less quiet, and the momma's can get very aggressive when they have new calves. It is good when there are predators, but not so good when you have to work with them. Again, take the advice of this farmer that is helping you if you like his cattle. After you get a little experience under your belt, then you might want to do some things a little different. But, they look to be fairly calm to be able to be that close for the pictures. The bottle calf will be a plus for you as it will not be afraid of people so will hopefully get the others to be more accepting of people being around.
I like the way they look.
 

MasAhora

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Thanks for the replies. The farmer was confident that they'd handle breeding/calving smoothly and told us to stick with this mix as they'd be easier for us to handle. Legs were important to us to, a former neighbour had a cow with poor legs and a huge bull broke her leg when mounting -we don't want that! So we tried to observe them as best we could. The farmer was not 100% on age so I am guessing the white brindle is a bit older.

The 4 are quieter and calmer today, they watched with interest the young bull taking a tree branch treat from me cut from this tree.
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it is an absolute favourite treat that even the donkey's come running for when we chat to them most evenings, so we'll tame the girls soon enough once they discover its taste.
 

Baymule

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Haha, I just walked through a pasture pulling down elm branches for my sheep.
 

WildRoseBeef

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Since these are heifers, regardless of breed the first thing I look at is depth of the ribs and the hindquarters. The one heifer looks good, the others are hard to tell. Any female can't be light or weak in the hind-end otherwise it's a trainwreck waiting for a place to happen with calving. Depth of the heartgirth or rib looks good. And as farmerjan mentioned, the feet and legs are also important, regardless of breed they need to be square under them and not look crooked or joints oddly bent.

One thing is for sure, they still have a bit of growing left to do.
 
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