Breed or sell ?

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Anonymous

I have a black white face that is a 2yr old and she did not breed she is ungodly fat will she breed being this fat or not and should I sell her for a fat cow?She is only on pasture,no grain.
 
At today's prices, sell her and buy a replacement. We had a group of black baldie heifers ready to sell as replacements and one turned up open. We were going to breed her and take her to the sale barn in a couple of months as a bred heifer. But looking at the prices for cattle the last few weeks, we took her to the sale yesterday. There's always the chance that she might not be a breeder, be a sorry mother, or raise a sorry calf. Good luck...

> I have a black white face that is
> a 2yr old and she did not breed
> she is ungodly fat will she breed
> being this fat or not and should I
> sell her for a fat cow?She is only
> on pasture,no grain.
 
If you love her don't give her time. We had a huge hereford heifer, that was really fat. We thought she would never have a calf she was about 3 now she is 4. We really loved her though cause she had such good confirmation & is so gentle. Well one day she got in with her father needless to say even though we got her out the next day was bred & had a calf well the calf died. But then we put her in with one of our ugly angus bulls, well later on here comes the prettiest black baldie you ever did see.
So yeah if you like the heifer I wouldn't sell her just give her time. But if your in a rush & need calves fast then sell her.
Hope this helped.
Ellie May


:cboy:
 
If your in the business for the long haul you can't afford to keep a nonproducing cow/ heifer around that long. By two or three years old at the max they should have a calf. My first cow was a little pampered and was allowed to skip a breeding season do to bull problems. She had a calf get crushed and the next time she was sold due to mastidus.
Jake
 
Howdy,
We don't breed our heifers till they are at least 2 or older. We had so many calving problems before we started breeding them at a later age it wasn't funny.
Bye,
Ellie May


;-)
 
Ellie May, perhaps you should not be quite so fond of the breed or bloodline you are using if you have that many calving problems. Most first heifers should be able to deliver without problems at 24 months, with proper nutrition.
 
You must just be in it for the love of animals or you have enough money just to have your own petting zoo. If your in the industry for money you need to have you heifers calf at 20-26 months of age they shouldn't have to be three to have calves. That's three years of a nonprodictive animal eating you out of house and home. It would take you forever to make that lost money out of her...
 
That's why, unless you want them as pets buy them older. Although most of ours we've had sicne they were itty bitty. We noramally go by size at 1 yr. & half we see if they are big enough. Most of the time they are still kinda small so we wait till 2 & so on. That's just how my family does it, maybe were wrong for doing that I dunno????
Ellie May


:cboy:
 
With good genetics and nutrition, when selecting the proper bull a heifer is plenty big enough at 2 to calve, raise her calf breed back and not have to pull the calf. A neighbor breeds his heifers when they are 3 so they are almost 4 by the time the calve. We pull calves for him every year. We haven't pulled a calf from our heifers in many years. If a heifer is 550-650 when she is weaned, she will be at least 65% of her mature weight at breeding time. Keeping them longer is like having your 30 year old kid living at home without a job.

dun



Ellie May":14qezl5b said:
That's why, unless you want them as pets buy them older. Although most of ours we've had sicne they were itty bitty. We noramally go by size at 1 yr. & half we see if they are big enough. Most of the time they are still kinda small so we wait till 2 & so on. That's just how my family does it, maybe were wrong for doing that I dunno????
Ellie May


:cboy:
Click to expand...
 
For the last two years with my heifers I have tried this, see if any one agrees. At 13 months I give a lutallace(sorry for the spelling) shot. Keep them away from a bull until 2 months later at 15 or sometimes 16 months, and then let nature do its thing. The reson behind this: My vet told me they need to cycle a few times and they will breed better. Since I could not say when the first cycle started I use 13 months as a reference. Different breeds reach maturity at different times was also a factor. My results have been great. The latest one to calf was 10 months after being exposed.

Scotty
 
sell the fat baldy heifer. To the response before, we lutalayze the heifers at 10 months and start A.I. by 12 month of age. by 14 months of age everything must be settled or they hit the feedlot. "We don't put up with no breeders or late calvers.
 
With good genetics and nutrition, when selecting the proper bull a heifer is plenty big enough at 2 to calve, raise her calf breed back and not have to pull the calf. A neighbor breeds his heifers when they are 3 so they are almost 4 by the time the calve. We pull calves for him every year. We haven't pulled a calf from our heifers in many years. If a heifer is 550-650 when she is weaned, she will be at least 65% of her mature weight at breeding time. Keeping them longer is like having your 30 year old kid living at home without a job.

dun

Good sound advice,Dun, tell your neighbor to get himself a good Murray Grey Bull so he won't have to pull calves. :cboy:
Click to expand...
 
A. delaGarza":eznem6sc said:
it's my personal opinion I would wait till spring, if the cow continue empty I will sell it and replace it
Click to expand...

This sheds a little more insight on how you run your operation.
 
I'm not sure why wait til spring... If she's been with a bull and hasn't settled it's time for her to go. This is the chance to get rid of an animal that won't be producing and get another possibly bred animal for the same price. I'm just wondering why you wait until spring?? why feed a nonproductive mouth?
 
tagger":3c3b2pop said:
sell the fat baldy heifer. To the response before, we lutalayze the heifers at 10 months and start A.I. by 12 month of age. by 14 months of age everything must be settled or they hit the feedlot. "We don't put up with no breeders or late calvers.
Click to expand...

Totally agree breed heifers at 12 months if she doesn't calf by two look out Jack in the Box. I have no room for a nonproductve cow. It's about $$$.
 

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