Registered Brangus heifers

[Dsteim]

Hey guys I'm in Central Texas (Austin Area). I bought two lots that are both nine to eleven months old for a total of eight heifers and I was wondering if I put a bull on them in the middle of May would that be to early? I had originally planned on putting a bull on them or getting them AI'd in the middle of June but it seems like from what I've gathered so far June-August are bad months to have a cow calve or to try and get them to conceive. Would I be shooting myself in the foot by planning on breeding them a month ahead of time and just figure that I would feed them extra to make up for lost time?

 

[branguscowgirl]

A lot depends on how big they are. My rule of thumb is 800 lbs and 14 months. If they are big heifers a month early shouldn't make much difference. If they are small heifers, I would not be in too big of hurry.

 

[Deepsouth]

That sounds young to me. Some of them will still be less than a year old in May. I agree with BCG I'd wait until the youngest is about 14 months. What kind of bull are you going to put on them?

 

[B&M Farms]

If you get them bred in June they should calve in March. It's late summer calves you want to avoid as they don't grow well without supplementing the cow.
How much do they weigh?

 

[Dsteim]

I would either be putting a registered brangus bull in with them or I'm going to AI them, I don't have the bull I sold my clean up bull while they were still penned so I don't have to have anything penned for a few months. I originally planned to buy a bull in the June to let him settle in before I let him out, with the heifers. I called JLS brangus and they said they had some private treaty bulls 17-18 months for 4000$-6000$ which seems pretty reasonable considering how much bulls go for at auction. I would say they are between 550-600 pounds but I'm not the best judge of weight by the eye.

 

[Rafter S]

If you wait until the youngest group is 14 months old to put a bull on them, as BCG suggested, that would put them calving in early summer, which I wouldn't want. The best way I know to give advice is to say what I'd do in a given situation. I personally like fall calves (starting about November 1) so I'd wait until next year about February 1 to put a bull with them. And then they should be big enough that you won't need to worry about whether or not the bull throws small calves.

 

[TexasBred]

I would either be putting a registered brangus bull in with them or I'm going to AI them, I don't have the bull I sold my clean up bull while they were still penned so I don't have to have anything penned for a few months. I originally planned to buy a bull in the June to let him settle in before I let him out, with the heifers. I called JLS brangus and they said they had some private treaty bulls 17-18 months for 4000$-6000$ which seems pretty reasonable considering how much bulls go for at auction. I would say they are between 550-600 pounds but I'm not the best judge of weight by the eye.

If they're good brangus heifers the size will get there......I'd breed by age. Size, whether large or small for their age, can be deceiving.

 

[1982vett]

If you don't mind stringing out calving them...put the bull out in May or June and let nature show you how fertile they are.

 

[Jessica06]

We have a couple for sale.

I would personally either hold all of them over until the fall, or put the bull out for a short time and try to have him off by mid-July. That late summer heat is hard to get them bred in.