Age of breeding heifers

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OvertonAngus

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At what age do most of you put a bull with your heifers. I've heard some say that if you wait till your heifers are 18 months or older they can have trouble getting bred and breeding back in the future. Also is it a age or size judgement? If your heifers are larger than normal at a younger age will you go ahead and put a bull with them?
 
I like to breed heifers around 15 months so they calve at 2. Size at breeding is more of a concern to me than their age tho. That being said, I don't like to breed them too much younger than that so I can give them time to grow and develop. I've had yearlings get bred and they turned out ok; that's just not my preference.
 
I think it would be a management nightmare to breed them at 18 months.. and then it would take them 2-3 years to catch up with the rest of the herd, giving you a 120 day calving season, besides the problem that if you wanted to keep heifers that were born late it would throw you off even more.

Size is the biggest concern for me, I had a late born heifer that grew really well, so I bred her at 12 months and she turned out just fine, though I wouldn't breed any earlier. Conversely, if a heifer is too small to breed at 15 months, I don't think she'd make a great cow anyhow.
I try and get my heifers to about 900 lbs by breeding time... I'm in the process of making my cows a little smaller, so I might need to adjust for that a little bit.
 
Makes me wonder when to put them in, I have 2 open heifers that I put with the bull @ 15 months, still not pregnant, All the cows are pregnant. one will be 2 in December. if open do I dispose of her ?
 
I usually breed at 14 to 15 months. They need to be at least 800 lbs by that time. Most of mine will be 850 to 900 by 15 months old.
 
thommoos":2nluhje4 said:
Makes me wonder when to put them in, I have 2 open heifers that I put with the bull @ 15 months, still not pregnant, All the cows are pregnant. one will be 2 in December. if open do I dispose of her ?
From the voice of experience, preg check her and if she is much later then the others or open, haul her to the sale barn. If she's just late to settle sell her as a bred, if she's open sell her as a weigh cow.
 
In Australia some of the stud guys, particularly those that show cattle join them later.
They work on having 2 calving each year so it fits in well.
It means the heifers are really well grown and to some degree look better when buyers come around.
I have also heard some people say they get more years from their cows, I think that's a whole other discussion.
 
We bred our heifers at 2 years old for about 8 years.. we didn't notice any longevity differences, if they were going to screw up it just meant you were out 3 years of feed instead of 2. both of cows I've had that had 16 calves were both bred at 1 year old... What I did notice is they'll have a larger mature size when bred at 2 years compared to 1 year. We are back to breeding at 15 months now, it was just impossible to grow the herd at a reasonable rate with breeding at 2. If it was an ideal world I think I wouldn't mind breeding at 18-20 months, but that would mean 2 calving seasons and it's not worth the hassle... If a heifer is good, she'll do well regardless, but they do need good food for all of their first 3 years.
 
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