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<blockquote data-quote="SRBeef" data-source="post: 798358" data-attributes="member: 7509"><p>I have small herd but am building. I have bought a few registered heifers to get a good variety of female genetics to go with my bull genetics and establish a small registered group.</p><p></p><p>From this point on though I do not see myself buying any more heifers or cows but growing from what I have. I believe Nova hit it on the head: when you raise them yourself you know what the characteristics of your different cow "families" are - at least you should. Ones you buy are much more unkowns.</p><p></p><p>Once you start keeping good data on your herd you know far more about them than about the ones you might buy. So I will be building from within from now on.</p><p></p><p>As far as age of herd and when to cull cows, I plan to cull every fall right after fall workup and preg check.</p><p></p><p>#1 reason for culling is anything that is open at preg check. I don't care how old they are if they can give me a good calf in the spring. But if they are open in November at preg check time, they go for an immediate trailer ride, no exceptions.</p><p></p><p>More than cull by age I am going to cull to reduce my average mature cow size gradually over time. I plan on keeping more heifers from my target 1200 lb cows than my largest cows and each fall after weaning sell maybe my largest 2 or 3 cows. So I may keep 4-6 heifers each year and sell my 2-3 largest cows. </p><p></p><p>Weaning weight ratio (calf adj 205 day ww/cow wt at weaning) is another factor in deciding who to cull each fall.</p><p></p><p>I will keep a cow, almost regardless of her size, if she can maintain a ww ratio above 50%. I will cull a cow, regardless of size, if she can NOT maintain a ww ratio close to 50%. In practice however, the larger the cow, the less likely she will have a WW ratio over 50%. But even a 1200 lb good looking cow will be culled if she cannot maintain close to a 50% (or higher) ww ratio.</p><p></p><p>So basically cow age is not a factor in my culling as long as she preg checks bred in the fall. Culling will be for other reasons. jmh beginner's opinion. Jim</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SRBeef, post: 798358, member: 7509"] I have small herd but am building. I have bought a few registered heifers to get a good variety of female genetics to go with my bull genetics and establish a small registered group. From this point on though I do not see myself buying any more heifers or cows but growing from what I have. I believe Nova hit it on the head: when you raise them yourself you know what the characteristics of your different cow "families" are - at least you should. Ones you buy are much more unkowns. Once you start keeping good data on your herd you know far more about them than about the ones you might buy. So I will be building from within from now on. As far as age of herd and when to cull cows, I plan to cull every fall right after fall workup and preg check. #1 reason for culling is anything that is open at preg check. I don't care how old they are if they can give me a good calf in the spring. But if they are open in November at preg check time, they go for an immediate trailer ride, no exceptions. More than cull by age I am going to cull to reduce my average mature cow size gradually over time. I plan on keeping more heifers from my target 1200 lb cows than my largest cows and each fall after weaning sell maybe my largest 2 or 3 cows. So I may keep 4-6 heifers each year and sell my 2-3 largest cows. Weaning weight ratio (calf adj 205 day ww/cow wt at weaning) is another factor in deciding who to cull each fall. I will keep a cow, almost regardless of her size, if she can maintain a ww ratio above 50%. I will cull a cow, regardless of size, if she can NOT maintain a ww ratio close to 50%. In practice however, the larger the cow, the less likely she will have a WW ratio over 50%. But even a 1200 lb good looking cow will be culled if she cannot maintain close to a 50% (or higher) ww ratio. So basically cow age is not a factor in my culling as long as she preg checks bred in the fall. Culling will be for other reasons. jmh beginner's opinion. Jim [/QUOTE]
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