Short Gestation Bull

I keep seeing the recommendation of short gestation bulls to get calf size down but to retain growth. Nothing comes without strings attached. What other traits express themselves in cattle when you stack short gestation bulls in a program?

I don't know Eddie, as I never have done it. The mainstream "spread" bulls are using all the short gestation they can find, esp. from the cow side. What they get are calves that weigh 55-65 # and calves that weigh 95-120#. A blend of 60% little calves and 40% big calves gives you a birth EPD of -1.1. Yay calving ease! DV in the vicinity of no miracle bulls.

Eddie M wrote:

Keep seeing the recommendation of short gestation bulls to get calf size down but to retain growth. Nothing comes without strings attached. What other traits express themselves in cattle when you stack short gestation bulls in a program?

Dennis Voss wrote:

I don't know Eddie, as I never have done it. The mainstream "spread" bulls are using all the short gestation they can find, esp. from the cow side. What they get are calves that weigh 55-65 # and calves that weigh 95-120#. A blend of 60% little calves and 40% big calves gives you a birth EPD of -1.1.Yay calving ease!
DV in the vicinity of no miracle bulls.

Thanks Eddie and Dennis for finally getting down to 100% of the nitty gritty fallacies of EPD averages.......THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF DISTRIBUTIONS by HILLY ALBERTA....measure their actions & reactions to see for yourself .....or send your $64.00 question in prepaid Canadian currency to support Hilly's Private Research Center via KC for an extensive private and personal guaranteed fiduciary response, copyrighted and may not be reproduced either publicly or privately.....Credit cards will not be accepted due to the large cutback in US Government funding of duplicated research programs busy rediscovering what is already known in the world of free entrepreneurship and private enterprise.

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I thought it was a Maple Leaf. Maybe that is just a hockey team.

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Hilly in the vicinity of a stack of fiduciary responses looking for one worth $64.00, knowing full well the one I’m looking for is not here and will likely be riddled if I find it

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Bootheel wrote:

I thought it was a Maple Leaf. Maybe that is just a hockey team.

It is the Maple leaf and I am no sappy apologist.....I love Maple Syrup.

Re....the fabled hockey team.....I don't think they exist anymore.

Why do some bulls have shorter gestation lengths than others? I know it happens, but I never could quite understand why. The parturition sequence, as I recall from my college Livestock Repro class, is initiated by a sufficient amount of pressure being applied to the cervix by the calf. I don't get where the sire has anything to do with that - unless it is just the shape of the calf? Or maybe I am remembering wrong.

I always wonder if the bun was done in the oven. Preemies always have a set back to overcome. I wonder if their endocrine system is in full gear if they are too short.

LCP, normal parturition is initiated by a 'spike' release of cortisol from the fetal adrenals (so, yes,WT, a short-gestation calf's endocrine system IS functional) that initiates controlled lysis of the corpus luteum. I've never heard or seen anything in a reproductive physiology text about pressure on the cervix initiating parturition; cervical dilation and effacement, yes, but initiation, no.

WT - the bun IS done, so the timer goes off and the oven door pops open.

Now, as to WHY some bulls sire calves that 'mature' in utero earlier than most, I don't have a clue.

Thanks for the correction, Lucky. Not surprised I got that wrong, as I was lost through much of that class.

Lucky_P wrote:

LCP, normal parturition is initiated by a 'spike' release of cortisol from the fetal adrenals (so, yes,WT, a short-gestation calf's endocrine system IS functional) that initiates controlled lysis of the corpus luteum. I've never heard or seen anything in a reproductive physiology text about pressure on the cervix initiating parturition; cervical dilation and effacement, yes, but initiation, no.

WT - the bun IS done, so the timer goes off and the oven door pops open.

Now, as to WHY some bulls sire calves that 'mature' in utero earlier than most, I don't have a clue.

they`ve less growing to do to full size....maybe Lucky?