Hereford heifer Question?

[graber2812]

We have a heifer that is now 13 months old & about 950 lbs. Question is..when is she full grown? how old/weight does she have to be to breed her? she is on grain about 18 lbs of feed daily with hay on the side. please help were new at this heifer thing

 

[dun]

She's old enough and big enough to breed now. As to her full gorwn size it won;t be till she's 3-5 years old but she'll be close at 2 years. After 2 they just add bulk and not much in height

 

[HOSS]

As dun says she is plenty big enough but I would ask what breed she is before determining if she is old enough. Some breeds mature at a slower rate. For most breeds 15 months is a good rule of thumb as far as age is concerned. I have bred some of my Gelbvieh heifers at 14 months with no problems.

 

[HOSS]

Oops.......I just got reminded that it is a Hereford . I guess I scanned the post title too fast. You should be good to go.

 

[graber2812]

Thanks for all the replies. Im just the "what if's...kinda person.....lol...

With living here in Texas ...is there ever a good time not to breed? I've been told that we have to have her breed before our county show (which Is end of March). It looks like if we were to start the process "now" she would calve in March/april....not thinking now would be a good time with our county show then.

 

[dun]

Thanks for all the replies. Im just the "what if's...kinda person.....lol...

With living here in Texas ...is there ever a good time not to breed? I've been told that we have to have her breed before our county show (which Is end of March). It looks like if we were to start the process "now" she would calve in March/april....not thinking now would be a good time with our county show then.

You would probably want to breed before the hot weather sets in too much. Conception suffers some for british and continentals during the severest heat.

 

[chippie]

I would breed her in the fall when the weather starts getting a bit cooler.
You may have a difficult time getting her to settle during the hot summer months.

Also, it probably would not be a good idea having her too heavy in calf at show time.

 

[djinwa]

You can measure her hip height and look on the frame chart for heifers to see which frame she is. Then follow the column down to see how she'll grow with age at the same frame number. The oldest age on the mature cow chart is 48 months.

This is based on averages, so your heifer may vary, but its the best we have for predicting growth.

http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare ... 271web.pdf

 

[graber2812]

Thanks for all the replies. I spoke to one of the AG Extension reps yesterday and he was tell me same thing....probably need to wait until sept /oct to breed so that she isn't heavily bred at show time.....Y'all are wonderful here.