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Breeding / Calving Issues
Dang heifer!
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<blockquote data-quote="farmerjan" data-source="post: 1363582" data-attributes="member: 25884"><p>@kdhansen</p><p>Yes we usually have a spring and fall calving group of heifers; again it depends on how many we kept to raise up. Say there are 10 from the fall born group, they will be bred to calve in the spring @2 1/2 yrs. We do a couple of cullings when we keep heifers. At weaning, we decide who we kinda like; they are kept through and we look them over a little more critically, and maybe sell some. And we will do one final "culling" when it is getting time to put them with the bull. There have been a couple of times where we only really liked 2 or 3 and just held them and so they were nearly 3 when they calved. It also depends on the markets and the prices, I sold several from my cows that my son said I should have kept and I told him that the cows will have more heifers and while they were bringing 2.00 plus per pound someone else could own them as they might only bring .50 next year. He didn't agree and I have fewer to breed now but it was a good move financially. By the way we have his cows, my cows and some joint cows. Since he does the majority of the work and has the majority of the financial outlay as we got bigger, most are his but I guess that you can say I have a herd within the herd. This way my cows, calves etc that get sold are my money. I figure I put in enough unpaid labor to pay for their feed. It works for us. The joint calves go in the general fund for rent payments etc but any cull cows get split and any retained heifers join the herd. </p><p></p><p>So we were only breeding for heifers to calve once a year and mostly kept replacements out of fall calving cows but now have 2 groups of 8-15 in each. We also will keep an occasional heifer and roll her over into the next group if she doesn't catch and definitely will keep a first calf heifer that raises an exceptional calf if she doesn't catch to a bull with the first group. Any heifer that doesn't catch the 2nd chance goes to town. Have only had one 1st calf heifer that didn't catch the second try with the bull and she also left with her calf. NOT keeping problem breeders but sometimes there are circumstances that allow us to keep them over. It also depends on how much grass we have, sometimes get some pastures to rent at last minute and so we will put some out that might have gotten sold just because we have the grass. We don't make a habit of buying feeders but once in awhile we have. Have a 2nd chance heifer now that is doing an excellent job with her calf and will go right in with the cow herd as she has size and all. She was just short of 3 yrs when she calved but was the last calf out of a real good old cow and took a little longer to get her growth as the cow died when she was only about 5 months. I am the "mean" person in our operation, I will say that an open cow goes when my son will want to give some of them another chance. </p><p>We have a spring and fall calving group of both cows and heifers. Try to get down to 60 days but it is usually 90 day interval. Once in awhile if a cow is at the tail end of say the spring group we will hold her over and she will become an early fall calver, but she had better be first in the fall group or she goes on the "out the door" list. I pay attention to the ones that are stragglers and if they don't do what they should then they go. We have kept some old cows that did exceptional for years and they were allowed 18 months between the last couple of calves. I'm talking no teeth kind of cows but as long as they kept on their weight, we gave them a little break and were glad we did. Yes you can have some favourites even when you have as many as we do.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 1363582, member: 25884"] @kdhansen Yes we usually have a spring and fall calving group of heifers; again it depends on how many we kept to raise up. Say there are 10 from the fall born group, they will be bred to calve in the spring @2 1/2 yrs. We do a couple of cullings when we keep heifers. At weaning, we decide who we kinda like; they are kept through and we look them over a little more critically, and maybe sell some. And we will do one final "culling" when it is getting time to put them with the bull. There have been a couple of times where we only really liked 2 or 3 and just held them and so they were nearly 3 when they calved. It also depends on the markets and the prices, I sold several from my cows that my son said I should have kept and I told him that the cows will have more heifers and while they were bringing 2.00 plus per pound someone else could own them as they might only bring .50 next year. He didn't agree and I have fewer to breed now but it was a good move financially. By the way we have his cows, my cows and some joint cows. Since he does the majority of the work and has the majority of the financial outlay as we got bigger, most are his but I guess that you can say I have a herd within the herd. This way my cows, calves etc that get sold are my money. I figure I put in enough unpaid labor to pay for their feed. It works for us. The joint calves go in the general fund for rent payments etc but any cull cows get split and any retained heifers join the herd. So we were only breeding for heifers to calve once a year and mostly kept replacements out of fall calving cows but now have 2 groups of 8-15 in each. We also will keep an occasional heifer and roll her over into the next group if she doesn't catch and definitely will keep a first calf heifer that raises an exceptional calf if she doesn't catch to a bull with the first group. Any heifer that doesn't catch the 2nd chance goes to town. Have only had one 1st calf heifer that didn't catch the second try with the bull and she also left with her calf. NOT keeping problem breeders but sometimes there are circumstances that allow us to keep them over. It also depends on how much grass we have, sometimes get some pastures to rent at last minute and so we will put some out that might have gotten sold just because we have the grass. We don't make a habit of buying feeders but once in awhile we have. Have a 2nd chance heifer now that is doing an excellent job with her calf and will go right in with the cow herd as she has size and all. She was just short of 3 yrs when she calved but was the last calf out of a real good old cow and took a little longer to get her growth as the cow died when she was only about 5 months. I am the "mean" person in our operation, I will say that an open cow goes when my son will want to give some of them another chance. We have a spring and fall calving group of both cows and heifers. Try to get down to 60 days but it is usually 90 day interval. Once in awhile if a cow is at the tail end of say the spring group we will hold her over and she will become an early fall calver, but she had better be first in the fall group or she goes on the "out the door" list. I pay attention to the ones that are stragglers and if they don't do what they should then they go. We have kept some old cows that did exceptional for years and they were allowed 18 months between the last couple of calves. I'm talking no teeth kind of cows but as long as they kept on their weight, we gave them a little break and were glad we did. Yes you can have some favourites even when you have as many as we do. [/QUOTE]
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