Nesikep":acbyyog4 said:
I recently kept 2 calves from the same cow (1 year apart)... excellent cow, raises great calves... but her heifers just don't cut it,one had her first calf this spring and it may well have died without additional milk for the first couple weeks, and the other will calf this spring, and i'm not optimistic... the only reason I didn't ship both of them is that I have enough feed for them and we got an outrageous price for the tiny guys, so despite the fact that this steer was 340 lbs rather than the average of 600, we got 1.70 /lb for him, which makes up for the weight difference to an extent.. as soon as I have nice heifers to replace them they're going in the freezer, and I'm not keeping any more calves from that cow
What you say (outlined in red) makes sense. However, best laid plans and all....prices rise and fall at the drop of a hat these days. Experience has taught all Canadian farmers this since 2003. As well, one year of great feed is good but the next could very well be in the dumps due to drought or flooding. Keeping poor doers might seem great for the short term, but in the long run they cost us more money. The illusion that the selling price is good is just that, and illusion. What about the additional costs of feed supplementing. That comes off the top, adds to the cost of upkeep. Right now heifer and good quality cow prices are up and a good price. Instead of feeding all winter, might be a good idea to sell these heifers and buy some good quality genetics, or add the $ to the farm allowing a couple more replacements more quickly.
Now to the second point, outlined in green. Two reasons (could be more) but two that i know of, as to why a heifer fails from a good quality cow is
1. Throw back to previous genetics...a grandma or great grandma and for that matter even the papa.
2. Over feeding the heifers after weaning. This is a big one which we can overlook. Good condition heifers pre breeding is good. Over conditioned heifers can be bad and costly to a farm or ranch. Calves which get over conditioned will put the $ into themselves rather than the calf. They will maintain a good BCS at the expense of her calf. Milk production will go down right from the get go. They will in time have difficulty calving due to the over conditioning...to much fat. These cows will not be able to maintain a scheduled breeding cycle either. The will get later and later each year. They will consume more hay and grass and that in itself costs $ because they will not be good feed converters.
On the opposite end is a heifer who can not maintain her body condition no matter what you do. She eats mamoth amounts, her body structure is lean and thin. Her second and third breeding seasons are showing up consectively later, and inorder to produce a healthy, chunky calf, this momma has to get extra groceries to get her up to par pre calving and possibly some more extra groceries post calving in hopes she can maintain that calf and not loose any more weight.
The calf in both senarios needs extra nourishment. The calf will either get the nourishment in the form of a bottle or from another cow who can not afford to give it up (stealing).
and this brings me to the third point which just thought of now as writing the last sentence.
3. It migh not be the heifer who could not produce the milk. It could be she lets either other calves steal from her or there was a cow in the herd who likes milk later on in life. Both not good senarios since if the heifer is letting the milk get stollen, good chances the animals stole the colostrum too.
To wrap up this book of a post, poor doers are never ok to keep just because. There are so many variables which we can not see that hit us along the way. It is in the good times we need to save for that rainy day which WILL come. It is just a matter of time. Put the time and $ into good quality and kick out the ones who eat the costly hay and grass and give little in return. That $ amount at sale day is just an illusion of making money. Add up the costs of those poor keepers and you will find that hole was alittle bigger than you thought.
...voice of experience...
