Fertile Fat Heifers ?

[Stocker Steve]

- Used a 4 frame BA bull with + EN or Victor 719T.
- Ran these heifers with the cows baling grazing hay and straw over the winter. They looked a little rough by March, but then they got a lot of condition on good grass only this summer. Weighed a couple today and was surprised to see they are 700 to 800# at 14 months.
- How much condition can heifers have without hurting fertility?

 

[Anonymous]

Don't go above a bcs of 5-6. Heifers seem to benefit from a little extra cover once they calve. They cycle back faster

 

[KNERSIE]

They have to be really obese for fertility to suffer, the more immediate problem by getting them overfat before they are bred is that fat accumulates in the udder and fatcells take the place where milk glands could develop. Once they are bred it's not an issue anymore.

 

[glacierridge]

Too thin is usually more of an issue.
Females need a little body fat to cycle normally.

I know humans that are too skinny don't cycle like they should either.

 

[AllForage]

I am sure they are fine, sounds like you are heading in the right direction.

 

[Stocker Steve]

They have to be really obese for fertility to suffer, the more immediate problem by getting them overfat before they are bred is that fat accumulates in the udder and fatcells take the place where milk glands could develop. Once they are bred it's not an issue anymore.

Another problem to work on - - too fat from grass. I may have to go back to a Limi bull.

 

[KNERSIE]

They have to be really obese for fertility to suffer, the more immediate problem by getting them overfat before they are bred is that fat accumulates in the udder and fatcells take the place where milk glands could develop. Once they are bred it's not an issue anymore.

Another problem to work on - - too fat from grass. I may have to go back to a Limi bull.

Trust me on this, it's a good problem to have....

 

[Alan]

I'm happy with 700 to 800 lb 14 month old heifers, I assuming they weren't bred or just bred at 14 months? Once they are bred grass fat is a good thing, easy keepers. They will gain well and drop weight in the winter month ...... Some weight.

What Knersie said x2

 

[Stocker Steve]

They are now 14 to 15 month old WF heifers. They are worth about as much now a medium sized kill cow, but my retention rate with home raised heifers is much higher than the retention rate with purchased cows. So I decided to do the work, and then do some more hard cull'in on the cow herd this fall. I boostered the heifers, gave them Multi Min 90, waited 10 days, synced with lute, and are now AI ing them.

 

[glacierridge]

What bull you using?

Not trying to be nosey, just curious.
Sometimes it gives me something to look into because we do so much AI.

 

[Nesikep]

I haven't had problems with heifers being too fat to get bred, though once in a while they do take 2 times to breed (haven't had one take 3 times in years and years)... I usually treat all the calves the same until I've made up my mind which heifers I'm retaining, and then feed them really well, I have found that pays better than sparing a bale or two and having to cull them later... I have fairly large cows, but my weaning weights for my heifers at 7 month is usually 650 lbs, and I usually get them to 1000 by breeding time. So far it's worked well for me, and all of my first timers this year have steers that ought to wean around 600-650 lbs, which I'm quite alright with. I never grain them (except for treats), so the fat is from grass/hay, and milk.