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goat
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Fescue grass and ears
10/31/04 08:44 AM
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My pastures have a lot of fescue grass. I have been told I need cattle with "ears" .
I have been watching every sale and it looks like a lot of brahman influence will get your calves discounted. I realize a live calf ,heavily discounted, is worth more than a dead one.
How do I correctly determine how much "ear" I need?
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ThistleKop
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: goat]
10/31/04 07:42 PM
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How do I correctly determine how much "ear" I need?
Goat, you've asked a good question. I'm still trying to figure that one out. The Brahman influence offers several advantages, ie, grazing in hot weather, calving ease, etc. Are they less susceptible to affects of endofyte in fescue? Most of my cows are angus cross but some have moderate "ear" and sheath. Certainly will get docked at the commercial auctions in my area if ear or sheath gets too pronounced. I would like to hear other comments on this and other characteristics.
TK
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cowboydoc
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: goat]
11/01/04 07:59 AM
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You have three choices:
1. yes you need alot of ear on those cows and even then they are still going to abort if you let the grass get too high and go to seed before they eat it. You are going to get docked because the meat is not what you get with an angus or hereford.
2. You can control the endophyte that causes abortion, NOT DEATH, in cows. You do this by making sure that your fescue NEVER goes to seed. As long as the cows eat it before the stalk part of the grass gets high and starts to seed you can control the endophyte. AS SOON as you see a seed head start to form you are usually too late.
3. If it was my pastures I would plow it all up and plant some good grass. If you like fescue they make some good endophyte free fescue that will not cause abortion in cattle.
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goat
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: cowboydoc]
11/01/04 02:00 PM
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What stage of pregancy is most at risk to loss due to endophyte?
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goat
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: ThistleKop]
11/01/04 02:05 PM
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My understanding is that brahman are better able to withstand heat and in theory should do better on endophyte infected fescue. Endophyte causes restriction of the blood vessels making it harder for cattle to shed heat. I think
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ThistleKop
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: cowboydoc]
11/01/04 03:19 PM
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Cowboydoc, In earlier yrs. hereford cattle were the predominant breed in my region but for many years now they are mainly used to cross with angus to get a much sought after black baldie calf. One really takes a beating if you take a hereford calf to our local auctions. Just doesn't seem right but that's the way it is. BTW, my pastures are a mix of fescue, orchard grass and ladino clover. This fall I have had two cows that have good histories with their calves but this year one is giving just enough milk to keep the new baby alive and the other starved her baby to death before I saw what was going on. I couldn't save it with a bottle. Possibly result of endofyte??? One of the cows calved in 10 mos. from previous calf. Possibly didn't get enough dry time??.
TK
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cowboydoc
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: goat]
11/01/04 05:13 PM
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They are at risk at whatever stage they are in. I've had cows abort from one month to eight months pregnant.
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cowboydoc
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: ThistleKop]
11/01/04 05:14 PM
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Yea you very well could have had endophyte problems. It will cause milk problems as well when they are infected. It's a bad deal. Just nothing good about endophyte infected animals. It's bad on horses too. It's ok to raise feeders on but cows and mares it's hard on.
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goat
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: cowboydoc]
11/01/04 08:13 PM
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My plan is four fold:
1st buy brahman influence cows
2nd cut the grass regulary
3rd use ivormectin wormer(some evidence that this helps for unknown reason)
4th encourage clover growth.
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cowboydoc
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: goat]
11/02/04 03:23 PM
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Look into brangus cattle. They usually sell pretty good. If I had a pasture full of fescue like you do that I wasn't going to tear up I would probably just buy feeder cattle and forget the cow/calf operation for now.
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RikBallard
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: cowboydoc]
11/02/04 10:38 PM
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This is probably a stupid thing to ask, but they say that there are no stupid questions, just stupid people  .
I have read the posts about ‘short in the mouth’ and have learned a lot. Now we have this information about the size of the ears. My question: is this a physical attribute question or is it some cattleman slang like the ‘short in the mouth’?
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cowboydoc
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Re: Fescue grass and ears
[re: RikBallard]
11/03/04 08:46 AM
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It's a physical attribute. Look up on the web angus and brahma cattle. Look at the pictures and you will see why they are called short eared and long eared cattle.
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