Open Heifer Bagging Up???

[JoshuaMLewis]

Hello all:

I have a heifer that I bought she is about 1.5 years old. She was supposed to be open. I bought her at one year of age. She appears to be bagging up pretty good. Have you ever seen an open heifer bag up? Would it have anything to do with the heat? I am at a loss but am also new at this.

Thanks!

[dun]

Some (a few) heifers will bag up a little as the get older without calving. A lot more of them bag up that aren;t supposed to be bred because they are in fact carrying a calf.

[Banjo]

Yep, you might have freebie in there.

[Crazy Farmgirl]

Some (a few) heifers will bag up a little as the get older without calving. A lot more of them bag up that aren;t supposed to be bred because they are in fact carrying a calf.

That would be my guess. Not that some bagging can't happen but it's much likelier that she's bred.

[Lucky_P]

Yep. Have her checked; there's a reasonable likelihood that she's bred.
If she is, then you might want to be checking with the seller to find out if they have any idea what bull(s) she was running with. Could be a 'freebie', but could be a disaster in the offing, as well - though most come out just fine.

I have a hard time getting my Angus-sired heifers to cycle by 15 months sothat we can breed 'em - but a bunch of the Simmental-sired heifers, the past couple of years, have been cycling regularly by 8-9 months of age(not what I'd been accustomed to in the past!). I've seen 'unmanaged' Jersey heifers calve out at 14 months.

[Banjo]

This isn't set in stone, but if I had to make a wild guess, I would say she is bred to her father or a half brother, unless there were more than one herd bull. If she can cycle at one year it should be possible for a bull calf to breed at one year.

[KNERSIE]

Yep. Have her checked; there's a reasonable likelihood that she's bred.
If she is, then you might want to be checking with the seller to find out if they have any idea what bull(s) she was running with. Could be a 'freebie', but could be a disaster in the offing, as well - though most come out just fine.

I have a hard time getting my Angus-sired heifers to cycle by 15 months sothat we can breed 'em - but a bunch of the Simmental-sired heifers, the past couple of years, have been cycling regularly by 8-9 months of age(not what I'd been accustomed to in the past!). I've seen 'unmanaged' Jersey heifers calve out at 14 months.

Anyone else having this problem? Does not make sense to me.

[Banjo]

Yep. Have her checked; there's a reasonable likelihood that she's bred.
If she is, then you might want to be checking with the seller to find out if they have any idea what bull(s) she was running with. Could be a 'freebie', but could be a disaster in the offing, as well - though most come out just fine.

I have a hard time getting my Angus-sired heifers to cycle by 15 months sothat we can breed 'em - but a bunch of the Simmental-sired heifers, the past couple of years, have been cycling regularly by 8-9 months of age(not what I'd been accustomed to in the past!). I've seen 'unmanaged' Jersey heifers calve out at 14 months.

Anyone else having this problem? Does not make sense to me.

Yea I have the same situation. When i keep replacement heifers i try to keep the oldest born heifers(born feb and march) so they will be old enough to breed15 months later by the 1st of June. In the past My Dad would keep whatever looked good to him regardless of age and so with some of them being 2 or 3 months younger we have several "late" calvers compared to the rest of the herd. I don't feed grain or creep feed my calves, just grass only or hay and I think that doesn't push them to puberty as fast IMO.

[Taurus]

I hope Lucky_P don't mean to bashing the breeds. All breeds can be bred at six months old and have a calf when she is a 15 months old. My angus sired heifers got bred right away when we turn bull out.

[dun]

Interesting about the puberty thing. We have either straightbred Red Angus or crosses of same. We calve from mid february till occasioanlly late April. Our heifers are given a pelvic and repro tract score late april and anything that isn;t at least a 4 goes down the road. Haven't had to get rid of any in years that didn;t measure up for a 4 RTS. Usually we've already been tracking heats since december or january on most of them. Maybe in a way we've been selecting for earlier puberty and more fertility all a long and didn;t reallize it.

[KNERSIE]

My experience of british heifers is the sameas yours, dun, I have never heard of well managed british heifers struggling to get cycling by 15 months old.

[pdfangus]

angus heifers are usually the most fertile things on the place....now to be clear everything on the place is angus....but the heifers are the most fertile....

[dun]

My experience of british heifers is the sameas yours, dun, I have never heard of well managed british heifers struggling to get cycling by 15 months old.

Or heifers are turned out with the cow herd and make it on stockpiled fescue or fescue hay 45-60 days after weaning. Some of the crosses are as much as 3/4 continental, either Gelbvieh or Simmenthal. Same deal. We had a heifer that the vets daughter showed from may through the beginning of July, she had been bred in May. We brought her home and she palped open so gave her a shot of Gnrh then lute a week later so I could AI her. She settled to that service. She started cycling 2 weeks after calving so I AIed her right on schedule with the others and she was the first to calve the next year. 3/4 Gelbvieh and a 1/4 Red Angus. Oh yeah, she was Grand Champion crossbred heifer at all of the fairs and Supreme Champion Female at 2 of them. Her calves weaned at 62 and 64% of her weight at weaning. This year I'm sure that percentage will go down.
Her calve form last year went to the county fair this year and placed 7th overall in the market steers and was the highest selling steer(dollar per pound wise)

[dun]

That last post was getting to long. I really think the difference is using animals that are acclimated to our particular high endophyte fescue plus the selection for fertility through the years.

[Lucky_P]

Nope, not breed bashing; just stating an observation - made primarily after my wife took over management of the herd - so there's actually some MANAGEMENT going on now ;>).
Not so long ago, the heifers just got bred when they got bred, and calved when they calved. But, since we've gone to restricted breeding/calving seasons, and have started using some AI - and an Angus bull for cleanup - we've had problems getting the Angus-sired heifers, especially in the Spring breeding group, to cycle by 15 months - but, to my surprise, the Simmental-sired heifers have been cycling early and regularly - again, not what I'd expected or experienced in the past, when I was using % Simmental bulls on SimAngus cows.
We are, and will continue to, breed most of our cows/heifers to Angus sires, but are using some Simmental and Shorthorn in the mix, as well.