badaxemoo":1jzbnjpf said:msscamp":1jzbnjpf said:badaxemoo":1jzbnjpf said:Syd Sydney":1jzbnjpf said:By the way if she's late this year she will be late next year,the most you can gain is a couple of months unless you sit her out next breeding season.
Really? You mean she can't calve and have another in a few months?
I'm not saving any heifers out of her.
Can I ask why you have made this decision?
Well, maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought fertility was heritable. She's settled late twice now. She's a decent looking cow, but I am only retaining heifers out of my cows that are breeding on time.
Fertility does tend to be inheritable, but since you specifically stated that this was a cow - as opposed to a first time heifer - I'm thinking she has already delivered a calf on time at least once. That leads me to think that perhaps the problem is not inherently with her fertility. There are a lot of things that can cause a cow to 'settle' late - improper feed, lack of mineral, possible health issues, early term abortion, disease, the list goes on and on. I would take a good hard look at this cows track record, and the kind of calf/calves she produced previously before I decided to not keep her daughters. I don't know how long you have had this animal, but you specifically stated that this is the first year she settled late. That tells me that she did her job at least one previous year, and that is further reason to not automatically discount her daughters as possible breeders.