Page 48 - American Aberdeen Angus 2024-2025 Breeders Directory

Real World Solutions With Aberdeen Genetics

John Olson, a rancher in eastern Montana, has
been using fullblood American Aberdeen bulls
on his commercial first-calf heifers with great
success.

John began using Aberdeen bulls on his first-calf
heifers to reduce calving problems. John says,
“We went from 20% to 1% pulled calves out of
first-calf heifers.”

Often, commercial cattlemen express concern that morning and tag the calves. No labor – that’s the
the smaller Aberdeen bulls won’t be able to breed only way we can do it.”
their bigger framed heifers. John states, “They’ll
reach my heifers, no problem. Had the bull in Jordyn Schaal, Gillett, Wisconsin, is a dairy
with a bunch of heifers and he bred all but six producer who uses fullblood American Aberdeen
head in the first heat cycle.” Another advantage bulls on his first-calf Holstein heifers. They raise
he has discovered is the longevity of the bulls. about 100 or more halfblood Aberdeen calves
“These bulls last up to six breeding seasons. They per year. Jonathon said, “We got started when the
stay sound. We sold one when he was 11 years Aberdeen breeder guaranteed we’d never pull a
old and he was still sound and really gentle.” calf – and you know what? They were right.”

Marketing the resulting halfblood Aberdeen Jordyn appreciates the ease of calving and em-
calves has been successful as well. “There’s a phasizes the economics of calving ease.
market for these halfblood heifers. People are “People don’t realize how much it costs when you
beginning to realize they take a lot less feed – have calving difficulty on your first-calf heifers,
low-input cattle. They want them,” according to and they end up with a uterine infection and
John. don’t breed back. The heifers have no problem
breeding back – it went great. The best of both
There is a growing group of commercial worlds, it’s worth a ton.”
cattlemen in northwest North Dakota who use
Aberdeen bulls on their first calf heifers. One says, He added, “We are all bull bred on concrete.”
“We calve heifers out back. We check them in the
As for marketing the resulting calves, according
to Jordyn, “The halfblood calves finish at 18-20
months at 1,150-1,250 pounds with only about
three-and-a-half to four months of corn – that’s
the ticket.” He added, “Right now, the calf market
is so good, they bring $750-1,150 each as day
olds.”

Two real-world ways to capitalize on fullblood
Aberdeen genetics.
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