OT repalcement Heifers

Doversix · Apr 28, 2011

Just wondering, at what age other people bred there replacement heifers? I put bull out when they are 12 months old.

IaGary · Apr 28, 2011

Mine were always 15-16 months old when I turned the bull with them.

Heifers would have been born in March and would be bred to have calves in March 2 years later.

Gary

billonthefarm · Apr 28, 2011

Garys got it. They should be two years old when they calve really.
bill

Buckeye · Apr 28, 2011

Mine have calves right at two years old. I had one bred early once and she could not have the calf at about 18 months old. Pelvic area was to small for the calf to pass. Had to cut a leg off to get the calf out and the heifer was paralyzed and could not stand for about 3 weeks. She finally was able to stand with a lot of help, but never did get over her paralyasis completely.

thurlow · Apr 28, 2011

Breed 'em to calve at 24 months. 2 year-old mamas require extra care and without it may have trouble re-breeding; we got "smart" about 30 years ago and bred about 25 replacements to calve at 3 years old. TOTAL disaster; they were fat; had to pull more than half the calves and lost many of them. Our herds were Angus/Polled Hereford that had been crossed and recrossed various ways.

M Nut · Apr 28, 2011

Well, I'm in the minority I'm sure, but I have started waiting until they are about 26month old to breed them. What I consistently find is that I get much larger cows when they are down growing, and I rarely, if ever, have trouble with a 1st calfer accepting her calf. I fought with 2 year olds dropping calves and then not wanting anything to do with them. No licking, and kick the crap out of me and the calf trying to get the calf to nurse. Now that they are 3 year olds when calfing, I just watch the heifer lick the calf and then the calf jumps up and starts nursing. I like it a whole lot better that way.

1936 · Apr 28, 2011

Saw a few chains hooked on the birthing yearing breed. Might wait for a few months. For some reason the first calf is big.

Sparktrician · Apr 28, 2011

We shoot for 1st calf heifers to calve at 24 mos....whole lot less trouble that way.....although.....I have a heifer that accidently got mistaged, and put into the feedlot last fall......we have been wintering our bull in with the feeders last couple of years....so I am pretty sure I have trouble coming on that one!

LAA · Apr 28, 2011

I always try for calving at 24 months like most of the others, but, I think some of it has to do with the breed of heifer. I have noticed several times over the years that when a heifer breeds extra early, like 7-9 months old they are black heifers or heavily angus influenced. There is a fair amount of research showing Braham cattle being late to enter puberty but as a rule, Brangus breed earlier than Braford.

mkirsch · Apr 28, 2011

Nobody bases it on weight?

We always "taped" the heifers to get an idea of their weight. If they came in heat and they were at least as large as "minimum breeding size" on the weight tape, they got their number, a pin on the breeding wheel, and a visit from the AI.

Age is/was irrelevant, but they are usually more than a year old.

IIRC the weight on the tape was between 700 and 800lbs for most breeds.

kyhayman · Apr 28, 2011

I like them calving at 20-26 months of age. If I wait the just get too big. My preference is to have an angus charolais cross cow calving at 24-26 months and having a mature size of not more than 1200 pounds. A lot of my more heavily charolais influenced cattle end up being too big. I prefer the cow to be stunted just a tad. Get them too big and the eat too much for what they are bringing in the front door. 4 1600 pound cows will eat as much or more than 5 1200 pound cows. Even if they wean a slightly larger calf its not enough more to replace that extra calf.

Jerry/MT · Apr 28, 2011

I"ve calved them at 24 months and I"ve calved them at three year olds. I had less problem with calving them as three year olds, but I still shoot for calving around 24 months. The bigest problem is not calving them young. It"s getting them to rebreed for the 2nd calf within the next year.
They are "teenage mothers" so you have to feed them really well to be successful at calving 2 year olds AND then rebreeding to produce another calf within the next 12 months..

rrlund · Apr 28, 2011

Generally breed April/May calves the next July.

LMD · Apr 28, 2011

Breed around 15 months like others have said. I also look at the size of the animal for breeding. A little bigger animal may get bred sooner, smaller one later. I do AI so i always go for a small calving bull on heifers which helps calving ease.

billonthefarm · Apr 28, 2011

If they arent big enough to breed for a calf at 24 months we will ship them to the feedlot. So yes, for us they must pass the size test first.
bill

tom-ky · Apr 28, 2011

(quoted from post at 12:34:47 04/28/11) Generally breed April/May calves the next July.

ust be taking them a while to breed. May breeding should be calving earlier than July.

730 virgil · Apr 28, 2011

bred of animal has a lot to do with it.
bred a highland at that age and you have nothing but trouble.
i have bred some highlands to calve at 26 months they were big enough but not mayure enough and set them back big time. best to wait for them to be 30 to 36 months.
but it is not unusual for highlands to still be having calves at 15 years.

JDseller · Apr 29, 2011

I never breed them to calve before two years old. I usually shoot for 27-30 months. I fall calve all of my heifers. I breed them in Dec. of their second year, 18 months old. A lot easier to keep an eye on them in September. Then I hold the bull back until the next summer. They then are in step with their spring calving sisters. So when they are 4 years they are dropping their second calf. I know that this is against all of the smart people but it has worked for me for over forty years now. I like it as they are mature so I have very little calving problems. I usually get fifteen to twenty years out of my own replacements. I think that my letting them mature is part of the reason my cows last so well.
I have one old cow that is the boss in my herd. She will be twenty-five next month. She raises one of the biggest calves in the herd. I have three of her daughters that are in their late teens. She really makes handling the cows easy. She knows before I do that they need the pastures switched. LOL Open the gates and she will lead them to the next one.

OT repalcement Heifers

Doversix

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IaGary

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billonthefarm

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Buckeye

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thurlow

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M Nut

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1936

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Sparktrician

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LAA

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mkirsch

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kyhayman

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Jerry/MT

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rrlund

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LMD

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billonthefarm

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tom-ky

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730 virgil

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JDseller

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