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breeding heifers
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<blockquote data-quote="Anonymous" data-source="post: 14877"><p>I'm curious about the age you breed heifers for the first time. Somebody on this board suggested 13-15 months and/or 80% of their growth rate. I had 6 yearling+ heifers I tried to keep away from the bull. Needless to say 2 got bred, they fulfilled all the requirements to get bred, size, age, weight and etc. I compared the 2 that got bred with the 4 I held back and what a major difference! My husband had told me that they usually don't grow much once they're bred and boy was he right. Every heifer we've got that's got bred early doesn't have the quality of the heifers that get bred as 2 year olds. In summary we've found that for the most part, heifers bred as 2 year olds are: bigger, better milk producers, calve easier the first calf, seem to have less health problems, have bigger calves at weaning time and the cows seem to last a lot longer. We try to calve when our grass is at it's best(March-April) our cows are in their best condition and well up in flesh. By doing this we won't get a calf at the beginning but we end up with more calves per cow in the long run. We only run 50 pair and it makes it easier to manage our cattle unlike the larger commercial herds. Our cows right now average 7-8 calves per cow. I was just curious if anyone else had noticed this in their cattle operation?</p><p></p><p> <a href="mailto:RibbonSo@aol.com">RibbonSo@aol.com</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anonymous, post: 14877"] I'm curious about the age you breed heifers for the first time. Somebody on this board suggested 13-15 months and/or 80% of their growth rate. I had 6 yearling+ heifers I tried to keep away from the bull. Needless to say 2 got bred, they fulfilled all the requirements to get bred, size, age, weight and etc. I compared the 2 that got bred with the 4 I held back and what a major difference! My husband had told me that they usually don't grow much once they're bred and boy was he right. Every heifer we've got that's got bred early doesn't have the quality of the heifers that get bred as 2 year olds. In summary we've found that for the most part, heifers bred as 2 year olds are: bigger, better milk producers, calve easier the first calf, seem to have less health problems, have bigger calves at weaning time and the cows seem to last a lot longer. We try to calve when our grass is at it's best(March-April) our cows are in their best condition and well up in flesh. By doing this we won't get a calf at the beginning but we end up with more calves per cow in the long run. We only run 50 pair and it makes it easier to manage our cattle unlike the larger commercial herds. Our cows right now average 7-8 calves per cow. I was just curious if anyone else had noticed this in their cattle operation? [email=RibbonSo@aol.com]RibbonSo@aol.com[/email] [/QUOTE]
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