Developing heifers?

[skcatlman]

A friend of mine up here develops and markets dairy heifers and had an idea that seems to make alot of sense to me for beef heifers. He makes his living selling replacement dairy heifers and we were talking about feeding one day. What he does is feed alot of hay and straw and minimal amounts of grain. The reasoning is that the rumen is forced to grow as large as the heifer's body will allow and the heifers milk better in their life because they have a bigger rumen when mature because of more capacity to use the feed and thus produce more milk. I have been doing it with my beef heifers but it is hard to see the results of increased milk flow. But since cutting back drastically on the grain my hfrs aren't as fleshy but it got rid of other problems associated with high grain diets. What do other dairy producers have to say about this theroy?

 

[milkmaid]

Depends on the age of the heifers. You'll have a bunch of unhealthy, unthrifty, prone-to-illness, underweight, poor quality heifers if you feed them that way below about 600-800lbs. There's a reason that hobby farmers have a lot of potbellied bottle calves -- it's because they don't feed enough protein and they don't get adequate nutrition.

There's nothing wrong with cutting back on a heifer's grain -- unless it causes poor development and she gets stunted. Beef heifers are fed differently than dairy heifers, period. Most of the time when I encounter stunted bottle calves, it's because the owner was used to feeding beef cow/calf pairs and didn't know how to feed a dairy bottle calf.

Feeding a lot of grain can cause a heifer to grow in excess of 1.8lb ADG, and while IMO it's not a bad thing, it can cause decreased milk production in the first lacation. Subsequent lactations are not affected.

FWIW, someone selling dairy heifers does not need to be concerned with how well they milk after they're sold, and it's to their advantage to get the heifers resold as quickly as possible. If you cut the grain but feed them for 3 1/2 years, you'll end up putting more into them than if you feed them for 20 months, and you can raise more animals in the same period of time and sell more animals in the same period of time.

 

[skcatlman]

I should have made my self more clear the ration is balanced. And no they are not pot bellied heifers that get sold at an advanced age. He does it because he gets premium prices. And from what i understand from talking to his clients there is a waiting list for the heifers and he has a reputation of producing quality and not being a wheeler dealer. My real question is would feeding such a ration really increase the surface area of the digestive tract. Thus maximizing milk production.

 

[milkmaid]

Dun claims it raises easier keepers, and I've heard others say it does too. As far as milk production, I've seen dairy heifers raised that way and I wouldn't say they milk any better than any others when you compare milk production.

 

[AnnBledsoe]

Currently I am raising 2 Jersey heifers (3-1/2 & 4 months), they have not yet had a bite of grain -- but they are still on milk, graze with the cow, get 2 lbs of alflalfa pellets daily, and free access to grass hay.

Over the years that I have raised both beef and dairy calves, what I have found is that early weaned calves need grain/supplementation to grow properly and not become potbellied, later weaned calves do just fine on forage alone.
But the biggest problem that I have found in raising heifers is that over feeding of grain causes them to deposit fat into the udder, which displaces mammary tissue, resulting in lowered milk yields over the animal's life (once that fat is in the udder, it's there forever). There is also some evidence that overfeeding grain also causes them to deposit fat around the reproductive tract, making it harder for them to conceive.
Dairy cattle deposit fat internally before they deposit fat externally.

Animals that are raised on grain tend to need grain just to maintain condition, while animals that are raised on a forage based diet tend to be much more efficient at maintaining condition on just forage, and only need grain when milking heavily.
Of course, genetics plays a large role in milk production -- you can't take a heifer with poor milk genetics and turn her into a powerhouse milker by raising her on forage. What you can do is maximize her milking potential by feeding her as Nature intended a cow to be fed (forage based).

Dairy cow and dairy goats are quite similar in their needs and performance -- during the years when grain was rationed during WWII and growing does weren't getting grain, milk production increased dramatically. Some of those WWII milk records still to this day, haven't been broken.

Ann B

 

[milkmaid]

But the biggest problem that I have found in raising heifers is that over feeding of grain causes them to deposit fat into the udder, which displaces mammary tissue, resulting in lowered milk yields over the animal's life (once that fat is in the udder, it's there forever). There is also some evidence that overfeeding grain also causes them to deposit fat around the reproductive tract, making it harder for them to conceive.
Dairy cattle deposit fat internally before they deposit fat externally.

Actually, research has proved that ADGs in excess of 1.8lbs/day (between 300 and 700lbs of weight) do result in reduced milk production because of fat deposits - but ONLY for the 1st lactation. There's been several articles on that in the Hoards Dairyman magazine. It doesn't affect the cow after the first lactation.

 

[AnnBledsoe]

But the biggest problem that I have found in raising heifers is that over feeding of grain causes them to deposit fat into the udder, which displaces mammary tissue, resulting in lowered milk yields over the animal's life (once that fat is in the udder, it's there forever). There is also some evidence that overfeeding grain also causes them to deposit fat around the reproductive tract, making it harder for them to conceive.
Dairy cattle deposit fat internally before they deposit fat externally.

Actually, research has proved that ADGs in excess of 1.8lbs/day (between 300 and 700lbs of weight) do result in reduced milk production because of fat deposits - but ONLY for the 1st lactation. There's been several articles on that in the Hoards Dairyman magazine. It doesn't affect the cow after the first lactation.

I have a cow right now, 7 years old, that was allowed to get fat as a heifer, has been down to a BCS of 1 (when I purchased her as a 4 year old), and she still has fat in her udder. This cow gives 5 gallons a day, but her sisters all give in excess of 7 gallons a day. She's an Old World Jersey (AMJA&R mid-Miniature).

 

[Toro Muco]

I have a question relative to this subject, and as I'm very new here, and this is my first time using a forum, please forgive my ignorance.

We have two show heifers (the first two born to our ranch) who were fed grain, and lots of it, for show. Their ADG's were under the 1.8 ppd (one was 1.1, and the other was 1.2) and they both just calved for the second time. And for the second time, niether had a drop of milk. I was under the impression that this here was the case.

Feeding a lot of grain can cause a heifer to grow in excess of 1.8lb ADG, and while IMO it's not a bad thing, it can cause decreased milk production in the first lacation. Subsequent lactations are not affected.

What can be done so they can raise a calf?

They are both Brahmans out of different lines, so I don't believe it's a genetic thing. Before we discovered the problem, we were feeding our next show crop, and they have had no trouble at all.

Any suggestions?

 

[dun]

What can be done so they can raise a calf?

Any suggestions?

It's too late to close the barn door, the horse is already stolen. Get rid of the 2 that don;t milk and don;t keep any of their offspring.

dun

 

[milkmaid]

What can be done so they can raise a calf?

Any suggestions?

It's too late to close the barn door, the horse is already stolen. Get rid of the 2 that don;t milk and don;t keep any of their offspring.

dun

Ditto. Not sure about y'all, but any calf, even a dairy calf, that can't gain over 1.5lbs/day has some serious problems. 1.1 and 1.2lb ADG is too low - they should have been culled just for that.

Ann- different cows milk differently. All cows have some degree of fat in their udder and some degree of excess tissue that makes an udder, look like an udder. You can have a whole herd of heifers raised on the same feed ration and some will produce 30lbs/day for their lactation, and others go over 100lbs/day. Just genetics. If starving a heifer so she didn't get any amount of fat in her udder would guarantee a top producer, then all dairy cows would be raised with a 1lb ADG and take 3 1/2 years to get to their first calf.

 

[Toro Muco]

Thanks so much for the reply.

:shock: I must have made a mistake in the weight gains. I will have to look them up. As I said, they are show heifers, and the first one was reprimanded in the ring for being overly fat, so she only took reserve champion.

I thank you for the advice, I had already pretty much made up my mind to cull them. I guess I was hoping for a miracle! Being the first born on the ranch, we are somewhat attached to them.

 

[Toro Muco]

Ditto. Not sure about y'all, but any calf, even a dairy calf, that can't gain over 1.5lbs/day has some serious problems. 1.1 and 1.2lb ADG is too low - they should have been culled just for that.

So sorry, it was 1.1 and 1.2 Kilos per day, not pounds. I keep forgetting that metric is used here.

So you think it's genetic, even though both heifers are from completely different bloodlines? I have flushed their mothers for embryos and have quite a few young heifers from the same pairings, being that they did so well in the showring. Some of them are due to give birth in the next month or so...