Calf size?

[vbd]

Once again I will show my ignorance...

Background info: We have a hereford heifer that the vet says was at 39 days on the 16th of Dec. She is a sale barn calf I bought on the 23nd of Dec. last year and I guessed she was 3 to 4 months old at that point, which makes her 15 / 16 months old now. She is in great shape. I think she looks very good condition wise. My brother-in-law (dairy guy) thinks she is a bit fat. Her weight on the 16th was 840lbs. She is in the pasture with decent grass with 5 younger (6 mo old) heifers and I give them a little grain daily.

Brother-in-law says if I feed her, it will grow the calf and increase calf size. I think the calf size will be whatever genetics make it...all within reason now and I understand that we do not want her to be fat!

Question::?: Within reason, will the amount of feed change the calf's birth weight?

BTW: What is a second calf heifer? I have seen the term used here but do not understand it.

Thanks all, Van

 

[dun]

Once again I will show my ignorance...

Background info: We have a hereford heifer that the vet says was at 39 days on the 16th of Dec. She is a sale barn calf I bought on the 23nd of Dec. last year and I guessed she was 3 to 4 months old at that point, which makes her 15 / 16 months old now. She is in great shape. I think she looks very good condition wise. My brother-in-law (dairy guy) thinks she is a bit fat. Her weight on the 16th was 840lbs. She is in the pasture with decent grass with 5 younger (6 mo old) heifers and I give them a little grain daily.

Brother-in-law says if I feed her, it will grow the calf and increase calf size. I think the calf size will be whatever genetics make it...all within reason now and I understand that we do not want her to be fat!

Question::?: Within reason, will the amount of feed change the calf's birth weight?

BTW: What is a second calf heifer? I have seen the term used here but do not understand it.

Thanks all, Van

Unless she was AIed or the bull was actaully sen breeding her, the 39 days is an educated SWAG.
The dairymans eye and the beef producers eye for condition are distinctly different. A small amount of fat in the brisket is fine. If you're in a very cold climate you might want a little more fat.
Over feeding concentrates can cause the calf in the third period to get larger then expected. Generally you have to be pounding a pretty good quantity of concentrates to them to get to tthe point where it's a problem.
How much is a "little grain", a half pound, 3, etc.?
Depending on the breed composition, 840 as a yealring weight is just right or kind of light.

dun

 

[vbd]

Thanks Dun. Apparently she is not going to be a big gal. She is short, or at least shorter than the neighbors. I feed them about 3lbs per head per day and they all are growing nicely. She looks like I want her to look...healthy! My brother-in-law can come up with some strange comments at times and I was having difficulties with this one... :shock:

When the sun comes up and I go to feed will post a pic of her.

Van

 

[dun]

I actaully like my heifrs a little fat when they calve, gives them a running start on miling and breeding back. We don;t feed any supplement but I expect the young girls to put on some condsition over the winter.
We've only had a couple heifer calve with heavy calves in the past 10 years or so. One heifer was pretty thin, we bought her a couple of weeks before she calved and we pulled a 100 lb heifer, the other was in the kind of condition I like and she had a 105 lb bull calf unassisted. We did have to pull all but one calf sired by one bull but the calves weren;t particualrly large, just had hige shoulders. But we had to pull his calves out of cows too.

dun

 

[Victoria]

Haven't seen your cow but the majority of dairy people (who only look at dairy cows) think that beef cows are fat. They are raised for beef they should have a bit of weight on them as opposed to a dairy animal.
A second calf heifer is a cow who is on their second calf.

 

[vbd]

Well, the sun came up and I took these pics of the heifer I was asking about.

Van

 

[dun]

Sun is up here too and it's directly on the screen so it's hard to tell. But she doesn;t look too fat to me, just well conditioned. If I remeber tonight I'll look at the pictures again

dun

 

[El_Putzo]

She looks to be in perfect condition as far as what I like to see. I'm like Dun and would like to to see them a little pudgy before they calve.

I've got a heifer in the pasture right now that is due on Valentines day that hasn't seen any supplement since before I AI'd her. She hasn't filled out like I had hoped, of course I can't completely fault her for that as the grass has been pretty scarce here since about July.

I've been pondering bringing her home as well and feeding her a bit in these last 2 months, just to get a little extra condition on her before calving.

 

[ENNOT]

She looks good, I wouldn't want her any thinner than that. I am with Dun, I like my 1st calf heifers in pretty good condition going into calving season. That calf will strip condition pretty fast if you don't keep up with them. You need to remember that the 1st calf heifer is still growing and needs adequate nutrition to meet her needs. She's going to put it all into the calf so they need to be in good condition and on good nutrition.

 

[dun]

Sun is off the screen now. Looks just about right to me. Don;t over feed her between now and calving

dun

 

[Cowdirt]

Pretty good looking heifer to me. I think she's in fine shape to go into winter.

 

[vbd]

Thanks for all the comments and input...

Van

 

[Susie David]

Approxmately 70% of fetal growth takes place during the third trimester and the nutrient requirements of the cow increase along with the calf's size.
Your heifer looks just fine. We like to have good condition on our gals in winter and increase the feed load according to the gestation.
Just my two bits worth.....DMc

 

[Chris H]

BTW: What is a second calf heifer? I have seen the term used here but do not understand it.

Thanks all, Van

I always assumed 'second calf heifer' came into use when guys were beginning to calve heifers as 2 year olds instead of 3 year olds. A heifer would normally be a female up to 3 years old. When a heifer had a calf as a 2 year old she'd be coming with her 2nd calf as a three year old, when most just had calved for the first time, hence 'second calf heifer'.

 

[TripleB]

By the way...what birth weights would be considered small, med. or large? 50-60 small? 60-70 med? 70+ large?
What would be the average birth weight to want for a first calf heifer?

 

[Frankie]

By the way...what birth weights would be considered small, med. or large? 50-60 small? 60-70 med? 70+ large?
What would be the average birth weight to want for a first calf heifer?

The calves out of our first calf heifers will generally weigh in the 70-75 lb range. Occasionally, we'll have an 80 lber, but not often. It's easier for us to do because they have EPDs. I consider 90 lbs as a high BW. That's not because that's too big for the COWS to have, but because commercial Angus bull buyers tend to shy away from bulls with high BWs/BW EPDs.

I'd call 50-60 small, 60-80 medium, and 90+ large. I would think a mature cow could have a 90 lb calf with few or no problems, assuming she's in good condition.

 

[randiliana]

By the way...what birth weights would be considered small, med. or large? 50-60 small? 60-70 med? 70+ large?
What would be the average birth weight to want for a first calf heifer?

Depends on the size of your heifers. We have 75-90 lb calves out of our heifers, mostly with no problems. In an ideal world I would like them in the 80-85 lb range. In my herd anything under 75# is small, 75-90 is Medium and 90-105 is large, and we see a number over 105 too, but out of our cows.

 

[TripleB]

So... an angus x holstien heifer could handle 80?

 

[dun]

So... an angus x holstien heifer could handle 80?

Probably but why bother, unless you're in the frozen north. 65-70 lb calves can wean off and achieve the same yearling size as a heivier born calf. Just use hte proper criteria for your bull selection.

dun

 

[TripleB]

I'm not concerned about weaning weights...just calving complications. I don't want to take the risk of losing my heifer