madbeancounter1
Well-known member
if you've been reading all my posts tonight one thing is leading me to another and I just have to get to the right board.
I feel about as green as a blade of spring grass. Here goes...
I have always understood that you want to breed a first calf heifer so that she calves as near to 24 mos as possible.
If you have two heifer calves born at the same time. One gets bottle fed and hand raised and the other stays on mama. It stands to reason that the one being bottle fed will grow faster. Now, the heart of my question... Just because she grew faster doesn't necessarily mean that she reached sexual maturity faster. In other words, my question is, physical size doesn't necessarily determine ability to breed, does it?
I have read where some of you have posted that you had calved either bought or raised that were bred too soon and I think that I understand the possible outcomes. I just "saw" another conversation where someone told another that he could breed his heifer earlier because she was larger. I just wondered if there was any truth to the matter.
I feel about as green as a blade of spring grass. Here goes...
I have always understood that you want to breed a first calf heifer so that she calves as near to 24 mos as possible.
If you have two heifer calves born at the same time. One gets bottle fed and hand raised and the other stays on mama. It stands to reason that the one being bottle fed will grow faster. Now, the heart of my question... Just because she grew faster doesn't necessarily mean that she reached sexual maturity faster. In other words, my question is, physical size doesn't necessarily determine ability to breed, does it?
I have read where some of you have posted that you had calved either bought or raised that were bred too soon and I think that I understand the possible outcomes. I just "saw" another conversation where someone told another that he could breed his heifer earlier because she was larger. I just wondered if there was any truth to the matter.