how old to breed
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novaman
Well-known member
It isn't an age thing. It depends on how fast the animal matures and their size. I've had heifers bred as early as 2 months of age. Obviously the goal is to get them to a point where the pregnancy won't hinder their growth or their ability to give birth. That said I try to breed my heifers by 15 months of age so their first calf is right at 2 years of age. As far as bulls I'm not sure. All I can tell you is that I buy yearlings and they go out with the girls around 15 months of age and have never had a problem.
Also you want to take into consideration the breed. With Brahmans they mature late so the bull will bred at about 18 months or so and same with heifers.
I've also known breeders to wait until the heifer gets a certain weight around 800lbs.
With bulls I wouldn't have him breed until around 18 months and then only cover no more than maybe 10 to 15 females.
I've also known breeders to wait until the heifer gets a certain weight around 800lbs.
With bulls I wouldn't have him breed until around 18 months and then only cover no more than maybe 10 to 15 females.
bigbull338
Well-known member
a bull can breed as young as 10 to 12 months.an a heifer can get bred at 10 to 12 months or younger.
gerardplauche
Well-known member
novaman":2tsivmke said:
2 months??? I'm blown away...
TexasBred
Well-known member
We try to breed at 15-16 months but try to get them big enough to breed at the same time. Usually if one is a bit small at that age there's a chance she will always be a little smaller than the other cows. Have had heifers come in at 8-9 months of age. Even had a bull of about that same age actually breed one of them but he wasn't fertile yet and I doubt she was fully developed so she didn't conceive. . Blamed myself for that. The bull calf should have already been sold.
Engler
Well-known member
Personally I like to breed heifers at about 13.5-14 months. This way they should calve 4-6 weeks ahead of the main cow herd. By calving them a little sooner the help (me) should be fresher, and heifers generally need more help than cows. Also, the heifers are still growing into full momma cows and they can use a little more time to get back into conditon to breed back with the main herd. A third bonus in doing this is that heifers generally wean a smaller calf than a cow all other things being equal. By making their calves a little older they fit on to the calves of the cows that have a higher WDA giving you a more uniform calf crop.
I breed based primarily on weight, not age. Usually around 850lbs on my holstein heifers, and that generally ends up being 12-14 months. I will breed earlier or later depending on the time of year... for instance, I don't have a problem breeding a 750lb heifer if it's early spring and she has the whole summer to run on pasture, but I won't breed lower than 850lbs going into the winter since my ADG is so low when the temps drop, and I need them around 1200-1300lbs at calving.
TexasBred
Well-known member
milkmaid":11mrpzpu said:
Someone mentioned on another string they couldn't understand why someone up North where the weather is so severe will breed cows to calf in that cold weather. I'm curious too.
Dairies calve all year round, and therefore I breed my dairy heifers whenever they're ready.
The beef guys... all I've ever understood is that by calving in February/March, the calves are ready to wean and sell in October when the cows come off the range. The goal is always to have the calves big enough to work and brand before they get thrown out to the summer pasture, and as we have a short summer and 9 months of "winter," it just isn't economical or sensible for them to calve in April/May out here.
The beef guys... all I've ever understood is that by calving in February/March, the calves are ready to wean and sell in October when the cows come off the range. The goal is always to have the calves big enough to work and brand before they get thrown out to the summer pasture, and as we have a short summer and 9 months of "winter," it just isn't economical or sensible for them to calve in April/May out here.
novaman
Well-known member
Question it all you want. It makes no difference to me what you believe or don't, but I don't post things that are not true. The heifers I speak of were born in mid-March. They happened to be kept as replacements. The following year they calved in early February. You go ahead and do the math but I believe that put them right around 2 months of age when they were bred. These were Gelbvieh in breed. I have noticed the breed as a whole seems to have high fertility and early maturing and I guess I cannot argue that.Jovid":37cwj8z8 said:
TexasBred
Well-known member
milkmaid":2usnlxps said:
Guess we're just reverse down here with 9 months of heat and what you folks would call 3 months of mild winter. But a larger % of dairies down this way do not breed to calve in the summer months. Most won't keep anything to weaning either but will sell the calves at 3 days old for $600 + if it's a heifer....$20 to $80 for bulls.
Was just curious how other parts of the country did things and the "why" behind it. Thanks.
We breed strictly based on our normal breeding season. We don;t want the calves born much before March 1 and don't like them born later then mid to late april. Since all of our calves are born in that window we breed the heifers to calf in the same. Makes them around 14-15 months when bred. One standard rule of thumb is I won't retain a heifer I wouldn;t be willing to buy.
TexasBred":2u6mg6dv said:
I wish it was that way out here... can't hardly get my hands on heifers. The dairies raise all their heifers (unless they have contracts with calf ranches) and while I'd willingly pay $600 for a newborn, they're basically impossible to find.
TexasBred
Well-known member
novaman":154sbegl said:
Somebody needs to call Ripley's Believe it or Not on this one. Never heard of such. Better yet I'm wondering about the "how'd he do it" of this mating.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Must have been a short legged bull too....maybe 4 months old. Surely somebody just got the calves mixed up or something.
gerardplauche
Well-known member
I hope that is the case. Even if they somehow managed to gain 500 lbs in 2 months :shock: , how could they develope that fast to conceive. Probably a calf mix up.
A
Anonymous
I guess he lives by the old adage- "Old enough to feed em, Old enough to breed em"
