boondocks
Well-known member
Hi Folks! We have a few cows that have given birth to their first calves the past few weeks, and we also have a few yearlings. So, we are thinking we will have about 6-7 or so cows ready to be bred by maybe first of Sept. (Most of them are registered black angus; one is red angus and one is Hereford). We'd been leaning toward AI, as we're newbies and the whole "bull" thing is quite daunting. (We also figured that with AI, we could select for small birth weight for the yearlings, who will be about 15-16mos old). However, we have been offered a good quality registered Angus bull in Sept, if we are willing to keep him over the winter.
Putting aside the fear factor and the fence factor, my concern is that by late winter/early spring (we would keep him til April), our calves born the past couple weeks could possibly be cycling. I've read enough of the horror stories to know that sometimes they can come into heat early and catch you off guard. How likely is a May 2013 heifer to get "knocked up" if left with a bull until April 2014? Seems like it would be very possible? If we could pull the bull out in March, would that greatly help? We don't have a lot of separate pastures set up yet, to try to separate out the young heifers later on, but if we did, how early would that need done, and would the bull just break down the fence getting to the fresh blood once the mamas are bred? Also, not sure the young 'uns would stay warm enough away from rest of the herd in, say, Feb... Does it matter that this crop of calves is probably headed for freezer in the spring (won't become part of our breeding stock)?
Any thoughts welcome!
Putting aside the fear factor and the fence factor, my concern is that by late winter/early spring (we would keep him til April), our calves born the past couple weeks could possibly be cycling. I've read enough of the horror stories to know that sometimes they can come into heat early and catch you off guard. How likely is a May 2013 heifer to get "knocked up" if left with a bull until April 2014? Seems like it would be very possible? If we could pull the bull out in March, would that greatly help? We don't have a lot of separate pastures set up yet, to try to separate out the young heifers later on, but if we did, how early would that need done, and would the bull just break down the fence getting to the fresh blood once the mamas are bred? Also, not sure the young 'uns would stay warm enough away from rest of the herd in, say, Feb... Does it matter that this crop of calves is probably headed for freezer in the spring (won't become part of our breeding stock)?
Any thoughts welcome!
