NonTypicalCPA
Well-known member
I'm a small breeder with 5 girls, two of which calved in the past two weeks. In considering whether or not to keep replacement heifers, at what age do you feel you can get a good feel on their conformation?
The operative word is "promising". You can usually pick out the poor ones at a younger age. Weaning the should be starting to show what they are made of. But some don;t really blossom till yearling or beyond. We have one cow that is raising her first calf and looked like a real winner until she calved. Her and her daughter will both be crawling on the trailer at weaning time. And this is from a family of cows that have always excelled.Nesikep":1gta5ceb said:The more cows and calves you look at and watch grow, the earlier you can start to see which ones are promising... This year I had one that I thought looked really good at birth, and now at 3 months she's just an average calf that I've decided against keeping... I think by about 2 months you start to see how they develop and can get reasonable reliability.. You can always speculate right from birth, but until they're eating grass, there are just some that will do better or worse.. the longer you wait, the more accurate you'll be.
I've also had some that looked great at weaning time, but once they were off milk they just fell apart
I have one of them too.. though she never looked as good as her two sisters, she absolutely got totally ugly about 3 months before calving, and is getting worse every day.. skinny, swayback, no chest, no butt.. she's not getting a 2nd strike!dun":3hhf4uzx said:The operative word is "promising". You can usually pick out the poor ones at a younger age. Weaning the should be starting to show what they are made of. But some don;t really blossom till yearling or beyond. We have one cow that is raising her first calf and looked like a real winner until she calved. Her and her daughter will both be crawling on the trailer at weaning time. And this is from a family of cows that have always excelled.Nesikep":3hhf4uzx said:The more cows and calves you look at and watch grow, the earlier you can start to see which ones are promising... This year I had one that I thought looked really good at birth, and now at 3 months she's just an average calf that I've decided against keeping... I think by about 2 months you start to see how they develop and can get reasonable reliability.. You can always speculate right from birth, but until they're eating grass, there are just some that will do better or worse.. the longer you wait, the more accurate you'll be.
I've also had some that looked great at weaning time, but once they were off milk they just fell apart
yes, I was thinking there may be something wrong with her. Even, possible Johnes?? IF she has received deworming with all your other cattle, and it's just the fact that she is a hard do-er, she definitely needs to grow wheels.Rafter S":208m9obp said:Nesi,
I assume she's been wormed, but I wonder if there's something else wrong with that heifer? Maybe a belly full of hardware?
Gee thanks :lol2:WalnutCrest":ftmljvo5 said:Not everyone is meant to contribute their genes to the next generation.
Nesikep":1f0n8xms said:Gee thanks :lol2:WalnutCrest":1f0n8xms said:Not everyone is meant to contribute their genes to the next generation.
WalnutCrest":kxxw4m7e said:Do you have a rough proportion of what you cut at each interval?