@M. Johnson . Thank you for replying to my questions. Since you are new, and we all had to learn somewhere... I appreciate your being candid. Most cattle are weaned off the momma cows in the 6-8 month range... 205 days is what they base the "average weaning weight" on in any of the bull stud catalogs and such. There is no good reason to wean a calf off when it can be growing and gaining weight on it's momma's milk for 6-8 months. That is her job... reason's for weaning early could be drought to reduce the cow's nutritional needs on poor pastures, but then the calves need to be fed for months instead of the momma cow feeding them. They cannot go from momma's milk, weaned at 3 months and then fed for a month or 2 and turned out. It just doesn't work.
Besides... if the cow carries a calf for 9 months... and say, you want to calve in March... the bull goes in with them in June... if you pull the calf at 3 months... you are basically feeding that cow with no job to do for 9 months... makes NO SENSE.... in most circumstances.
The general idea is for them to calve... they get 60-90 days to come into peak milk production and their reproductive tract to get back in good shape... then she gets bred back by the bull. The calf nurses for another 4-5 months... gets weaned off and she gets 60-90 days average, "off"; she dries up, and the fetus does the greatest amount of growth in the womb the last several months. They also will have the "best" colostrum that is developed after they go dry, and their body prepares for the next calf.
This is strictly my opinion... I have not seen them.... If they were mine, I would not retain them for breeding as they have been shortchanged... or at least, do not keep the smaller ones. They will possibly have trouble conceiving, or trouble calving if the bone structure is not well developed as they were growing.
Prices are very high right now for cattle/calves/feeders. You did not say how many you have... BUT.... at 500 lbs a heifer is worth $1200-1500; $2.50-3.25/ pound....... different areas, different markets. You could sell 2 and buy a bred, ready to calve cow for about the same money... You would be over a year ahead and a bred cow, or better yet, a cow with a calf by her side, would be more of a sure thing. I am assuming that you want to increase your herd... and we keep some heifers to do that... BUT... we do not keep any that have not had a very good start on their momma's, have grown good and are ready to breed to calve between 24 and 30 months. Your heifers will be 6-12 months behind and feed... even grass.... is not cheap to keep them.... and one more thing... even if they start to grow out some, if they have any issues from being small... all you have to do is lose one trying to calve and you are burying a BIG chunk of money in the current cattle market. And even if money is no object... it is not fair to a heifer that is not well grown out, to try to calf and die trying... or even to lose the calf... The more they have going for them, the better. And we all still will lose one on occasion... too big a calf, bad presentation, you name it... it happens to every single one of us... You need the odds stacked in your favor as much as you can do it... Having heifers that are not as well grown and getting older is just not an ideal situation.
We bought some bred heifers years ago, when prices were alot cheaper... "they needed some feed"..... bred a little small.... supposedly to an easy calving bull... out of 9 (or 10), one died calving, 1 had a dead calf, and we had 3 that did an adequate job of raising their calves, and they were fed good to try to improve their condition and all... not alot until they calved so the feed would not all go to the developing calf and make it too big in the last trimester... but after they calved they were fed really good... and they did put on some weight and size... but the damage was done already. We kept 7 that did breed back, but of them only 3 made enough milk the 2nd calf to justify keeping them.
Just relating to you what happened to us...