What age do they stop growing?

[hillsdown]

.She is the only cow/heifer/bovine I own, she is fed grassy/alfalfa and straight alfalfa. I am trusting the vets advice to "wait to breed her", just simply had a question...please refer to #2. She also has an iodized salt lick, fresh water, sometimes cob w/molasses and any vegetable table scraps I choose to give her. She also gets horse cookies from time to time.

You might want to add some grain in her ration, 3-5 lbs a day should help with her frame score some may suggest even more . Even if she is a pet, and I completely understand as cattle really are special creatures, she needs proper nutrition . You are doing well, but make sure she has free choice minerals each day as well.

Like I said before it sounds like she was not bottle fed properly and has been stunted..Not that it is your fault as bottle feeding is not as simple as it sounds.

BTW I have a smaller framed cow that was stunted as she was weened to early, she has some of the highest weening weights in the herd, always calves on her own and just raised two huge twin calves all by herself. So size does not necessarily mean calving problems. Next time you go to your vets do not be afraid to ask 50 million questions ,that is what they are there for..

Anyways, good luck with your pet, there is nothing wrong with having a pet cow. You should halter train her if you haven't already and maybe teach her to pull ..She might as well be useful as well as having fun working with her.

[Bez+]

It will grow as long as you feed it - unless it is a runt, a dwarf, out of mini genetics even from several generations back, has poor genetics, is stunted for a variety of reasons or it is just a dink - and those do happen - even in the best of families.

Five years is a fair answer but I have seen them go longer and I have seen them stop sooner. Variations are such that an absolute answer is not truly possible - so it will stop growing when it appears to have stopped growing.

You appear to have made some good friends here

Cheers

Bez+

[Kate]

Well, I can tell you from experience that everyone says to breed at 14 months but everyone we did almost all had to have assistance with the calf. I wait till heifer is 18 or 19 months old and have not had to help one time so far. You may loose 4 months but thats better than losing a heifer and calf to me. We have had little heifers calf the easiest. I would just wait till shes 18 or 19 or even older to breed since she is a pet. No need to rush things.

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Well, I can tell you from experience that everyone says to breed at 14 months but everyone we did almost all had to have assistance with the calf. I wait till heifer is 18 or 19 months old and have not had to help one time so far. You may loose 4 months but thats better than losing a heifer and calf to me. We have had little heifers calf the easiest. I would just wait till shes 18 or 19 or even older to breed since she is a pet. No need to rush things.

Kate - if heifers are grown out properly and bred to a moderately easy calving bull, you should not have to assist any of them at calving as a 24 month old. And some people (like Dun) can achieve proper growth with good grazing & hay with only a minimum of time being fed grain. Depends on your location as to how you need to feed to achieve proper growth to breed at 14 months of age. Depending on weather harshness, grass and hay may not meet their growth nutritional needs.

[dun]

Depends on your location as to how you need to feed to achieve proper growth to breed at 14 months of age. Depending on weather harshness, grass and hay may not meet their growth nutritional needs.

Genetics plays a huge part also. You have to all of the pieces in place, lack one and you can have problems.

[Stocker Steve]

[quote="backhoeboogie"]
There are heifers known as a "slow breeder." Most experienced cattemen will not bid on a slow breeder at the sale barn unless they are bidding for a slaughter animal. If you get an old cattle vet to look at her and he tells you, "She's going to be a slow breeder", you might want to wait a few more months. I culled three such heifers a few months back. Some of it has to do with size but more of it has to do with development.
quote]

How do they know "She's going to be a slow breeder" when they run through the sale barn ring?

[Stocker Steve]

Its always safer to wait longer and breeds do vary... but we have had success breeding 6 wt. wf heifers to a low bw bull, and having them spurt to about 1000# before they calve on grass. We don't have 600# weanlings but we do run a high stocking rate and the calves are vigourous.

Pretty hard to end up with a moderate size cow if you don't breed till you have 750 to 1000# heifers.

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Its always safer to wait longer and breeds do vary... but we have had success breeding 6 wt. wf heifers to a low bw bull, and having them spurt to about 1000# before they calve on grass. We don't have 600# weanlings but we do run a high stocking rate and the calves are vigourous.

Pretty hard to end up with a moderate size cow if you don't breed till you have 750 to 1000# heifers.

If you have a "calving season" (like 60 days), you cannot arbitrarily "wait longer". As a breeder, it is your responsibility to raise your own heifers to meet your herd requirements. My herd requirements are to breed within a 60 day period. So, I raise my heifers to weight about 1000# at 14 months of age.
"Moderate size" can be diferent size to different people. To me, moderate size is 1350# - 1600#. Especially since, not too many years ago, I had cows weighing 1700-1900# !!