feeding bred heifers

[wideurt]

Have a bull in with my heifers. A freind told me to stop feeding grain cause it will make the calf grow to big.The people I bought the heifers from said to feed. Whats the best route.I only feed 20 pounds of mfa sweet feed to 10 heifers .

 

[novatech]

If you have good grass I see no reason to feed them at all.

The key is to keep them in good condition, and that should be your only guide. If they need to put on weight then feed them otherwise it is a waste of money. Feed should be only a supplement to what they do not get out of the pasture.

One thing you will here over and over on these boards is that "You are in the grass business."

 

[dun]

As has been said, unless they're in poor condition, let them gow out on pasture. The fescue will get a little less quality during the next couple of months, but it should still be good enough to grow bred heifers on.

 

[wideurt]

Thank you for the repleys.I'm concerned because they are young.14-16 months.The vet saw them in April and said they looked real good& there would be no problem breeding.Evan at there age.The guy I bought them from said they looked better than his & he packes the feed on. But sence I have been feeing them all this time should'nt I contiue.sence I want them to gain size to get closer to their mature weight.Know if it true that feed will make their calves bigger than I do want to stop. Thats my main concern is making the calves to big.Like I said I'm not feeding them heavly & never have they always get grass or hay.Clean their water tanks evey other week.

 

[dun]

The old adage is "YOu can;t starve a small calf out of a cow". By the same token you can feed a large calf into a cow. If they're in BCS 6 or there abouts, they shouldn;t need supplement to keep growing.
Our heifers typically are born in the low to mid 70's wean in the high 5's to mid 6's, yealring in the high 8'ss to mid 9's and mature around 1200-1400 lbs. They only get grain for 45 days during the weaning process and acouple of mouths full when we start bringing them up to AI. But, we've slelcted for genetics that will perform on high endophyte fescue and don;t retain any heifers that don;t do well without supplement. Look to your genentics and your grass/forage to save money on supplements. If you keep supllementing when it's not required you'll never know if the animal can do her job wihtout it.

 

[sodfarmer490]

good mineral and grass is all your heifers need, forget the grain.
put your mineral out and keep it dry and clean, where you can check on heifers regularly.

 

[UncleLA]

I agree with what everyone above has said.
However, you could feed them just a little to keep them coming to the feed bunk. All of our cattle are trained with a feed bucket. When we want to catch them, they will follow us into the holding pen. Also, I don't think 20 pounds of feed for 10 heifers that age is doing that much any.
Just my opinion.

 

[MikeC]

Have a bull in with my heifers. A freind told me to stop feeding grain cause it will make the calf grow to big.The people I bought the heifers from said to feed. Whats the best route.I only feed 20 pounds of mfa sweet feed to 10 heifers .

If your forage doesn't contain adequate nutrition for those heifers to grow and develop properly, then you must give them some type of feed.

Simple, Simple, Simple.

I can't imagine 2 lbs. per day being too much grain for growing heifers unless your pastures are way above average.

 

[Farmgirl]

I don't claim to have all the answers on this subject but from everything I have read the detriment (if there is any) occurs in the last trimester of pregnancy. I'm with Mike, I can't imagine that 2 pounds of feed a day will hurt any heifer.

Also, if you have to assist them with calving or do much of anything else with them you will be glad to feed them a little just to be able to pen them when you need to.

My 2 cents,
Farmgirl

 

[Maddcowboy]

last year I had some small heifers and I gave them 5 lbs of grain per day in additon to good forages and they had nice calves, not too big not too small just right

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

It's not how much you're feeding, it's what body condition score (BCS) they are. If they are BCS of 6 or better, grass should be enough. But, if they are just now being bred, I wouldn't change their diet. Wait until they are settled.
2# a day is not really affecting them at all. That's just a little "tease" to keep them coming into a holding area.
As they get closer to calving (yes, in 3rd trimester), that's when their BCS is most important. If they aren't a 6, you need to suppliment them. It has been researched a bunch, and a thin cow/heifer will have more difficulty at calving/raising a calf/rebreeding than a cow/hfr in good BCS.
Even if you feed during the 3rd trimester, at best, you may put 10# on the calf. Yes, 10# "could" be critical, but research says the risk of 10# causing calving difficulties is far out weighed by the risk of a calf born with "weak calf syndrome" from a thin dam.

 

[Herefordcross]

That's just enough to keep 'em coming to the trough, a bucket full with work with a dozen or with a hundred head we do it every other day to most of our herd and it makes it real easy to round up for weaning, shots. etc.

 

[coolpop]

Early on I made the mistake of being too kind and feeding plenty of grain to my pregnant heifers -- had to pull 2 calves and that's not fun!

After having to pull the 2nd calf and almost loosing momma -- I learned the hard way -- a hand full or so of grain, gives them that sweet taste that my girls are used to and keeps them coming to you (so that you can get close to the calf when it's born too) sometimes a cake of good hay in a stall as a treat - but do not give much grain. They will also develop severe adema in their udder if you give too much grain.

Especially a young heifer - they are already questionable because of their youth and small stature.