First calf heifers?

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kaneranch

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I thought I heard some were that first calve heifer's calves aren't as nice as experienced brood cows. Is that correct, I know that they don't calve as easy as cows but I am wondering about the quality. Thank Kaneranch
 
Well Kane, we be raisin baby bulls we buy from a couple local dairies, so I can only speak for Holsteins. Are the calves what come from seasoned cows nicer than first calf heifers? If ya mean better, Absolutely not! Are they bigger? yep. A little stronger? yep. But better? Not that we can see.Maybe take em a bit longer ta get goin, which is a downpoint as far as some be concerned, depends on what ya target be. Most dairy men AI and select semen from easy calvin bulls for their first time girls especially, this usually be what accounts for the smaller, narrower bodied calves. But they do just fine and at 3 months it be difficult ta tell the difference.

george
 
Bulls being equal, calves from heifers should be of better quality than those from mature cows. They probably won't be as big, probably not as fleshy, but that isn't the same thing as quality. Your heifers should be of better quality than your mature cows because they should reflect at least one generation of genetic improvement over what you had in your cows. Possibly several generations of improvement. And it doesn't matter if you raise your own heifers or buy them---you need to make improvements in quality with every year. That should be reflected in the quality of calves from those heifers.
 
Thanks, I wanted to know because I have a first calve heifer that should be calving here pretty soon and I was wondering what to expect. Thanks Kaneranch
 
I agree with Texan on this one. You should expect better quality calves from your heifers (provided they are being bred to a bull of good quality) than from your cows. Many seed stock producers today with the use of ET have very few cows in their seed stock herds that exceed 6 to 8 years of age. With the use of ET one can do more a few short years to improve genetics that we once could in a lifetime. JMO
 
kaneranch":1tgmzu09 said:
I thought I heard some were that first calve heifer's calves aren't as nice as experienced brood cows. Is that correct, I know that they don't calve as easy as cows but I am wondering about the quality. Thank Kaneranch

That depends on the genetics of the heifers and the cows. If you've been using good bulls, you would expect your heifers to have superior genetics to the older cows. The calves from heifers will probably have lighter weaning weights because a two year old won't milk to her full potential. That's why we use adjusted 205 day weights. It allows us to compare cows of all ages with each other.
 
I agree with all of the above posts. I've always heard that first calves aren't worth keeping but I don't see that. We keep many of our heifer's first calves as many of them do surpass their mothers and I truly believe it is because of using good genetics. Most times they won't weigh out as much as calves from the older cows but they usually catch up in the long run. Don't discount your calf until you see what you have.
 
The idea of not keeping heifers out of heifers is because years ago farmers only bred their heifers to the smallest growth bulls available because they didn't want calving problems. With modern information on bull selection, you don't have to sacrifice the first calf born just to have calving ease. You can use a bull that will calve easy enough for a heifer, but have enough growth potential to make a "cow" in your herd.
And, yes, heifers in your herd "should" be genetically better than the older cows if you have been trying to improve your herd each year.
 
the not keeping heifers from came yrs ago when they bred heifers to smaller no count bulls.hoping for less calving problems.but now days if you cull your heifers out of heifers your throwing away better breeding.b/c the calf is most likely better bred than the mom.scott
 
kaneranch":3097zul8 said:
I thought I heard some were that first calve heifer's calves aren't as nice as experienced brood cows. Is that correct, I know that they don't calve as easy as cows but I am wondering about the quality. Thank Kaneranch

I know from the earlier posts that I am in the minority here; but in a commercial environment I agree with rarely keeping heifers out of heifers. Usually they are lighter at weaning and thus are less likely to be heavy enough to breed to calf at 24 months. Weight is very important and even though (in theory) your heifers are better than your cows genetically I would rather have the extra 50 to 75 pounds. I have also weaned heifers earlier than the rest of the herd when I thought they would benefit from an extra 60 days of dry time.
 
Brandonm2":14qqzb9u said:
kaneranch":14qqzb9u said:
I thought I heard some were that first calve heifer's calves aren't as nice as experienced brood cows. Is that correct, I know that they don't calve as easy as cows but I am wondering about the quality. Thank Kaneranch

I know from the earlier posts that I am in the minority here; but in a commercial environment I agree with rarely keeping heifers out of heifers. Usually they are lighter at weaning and thus are less likely to be heavy enough to breed to calf at 24 months. Weight is very important and even though (in theory) your heifers are better than your cows genetically I would rather have the extra 50 to 75 pounds. I have also weaned heifers earlier than the rest of the herd when I thought they would benefit from an extra 60 days of dry time.

We're just as likely to keep heifers out of heifers as we are cows. They may be a little lighter as yearlings but by the time they calve they're pretty much caught up. But a good bit of that has to do with bull selection. After a couple of weeks off the cow at weaning thy're turned back in with the cow herd and expected to grow to breeding size without supplement. We breed them right along with the cow herd. The only one we've had in years that didn;t breed back on time had twins. But she also went nuts just before weaning time and we ended up eating her.

dun
 

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