Keeper heifers

[groveman14]

I've heard that some cull their heifers so drastically that they keep only 1-2 out of twenty. What characteristics are you looking for in a keeper heifer, other that wide rear hips and general health, size, coloring, etc, My entire herd is brangus. Do some breeds average more keepers than others? Help, please!

 

[Beefy]

keep heifers out of your best cows. however many you decide to keep depends on your wallet, mostly. Brangus in general make good mamas so dont hesitate to retain a good animal. Your best cows will make themselves known. fertility and conformation are the first essentials i look at.

 

[Beefy]

and oh yeah, disposition (given.)

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I've heard that some cull their heifers so drastically that they keep only 1-2 out of twenty. What characteristics are you looking for in a keeper heifer, other that wide rear hips and general health, size, coloring, etc, My entire herd is brangus. Do some breeds average more keepers than others? Help, please!

I noticed by your handle that we probably had something in common. The good old canker wrecked citrus biz. I've seen some folks get very aggessive and keep a lot fo stuff they shouldn't have. It was good for the first few years having all those heifers coming online, but the bottom line suffered tremendously in the long run and the future crop of heifers was extremely poor. Would've paid to just keep the best and buy to cover the shortcoming. Looks like you've got the right idea along with Beefy on what to look for. Look for development of the female organs on the outside also. Cull the ones that don't have the parts to get the end result. I wouldn't select on color if your working it from a commercial base.

 

[dph]

1-2 out of twenty would equate to 2-6 replacements for a 100 hd herd. This would not be sustainable. Beefy gave great advice.

You should allow yourself a couple of "culls," if possible. Our first cull, deciding which ones will be kept, is on confirmation, the mother's udder, and disposition. They will then get culled once exposed to a bull by pregnancy and disposition during preg checking. They may then get culled a third time after a couple of calves if we find their offspring to be lacking.

A lot of guys shoot for the top half to two thirds of their heifers for replacements. If you are buying or AIing to the right bulls, you should still be doing a lot to improve the herd with each group of heifers.

 

[3MR]

Not trying to be a jerk; but, 1-2 out of 20 would equal 5 - 10 out of 100 not 2-6

 

[dph]

I guess it would if they were using sexed semen and all 100 head were having heifer calves.

 

[3MR]

Now theres a goal to shoot for. 8) but you would have to apply the same thing to the original 1-2 out of 20 so it still wouldnt equal 2-6. 8) Have a great day, or I guess its evening/night there.

 

[dph]

3MR, it doesn't matter I guess, a bit off topic, but what I was saying was a 100 head herd would probably have 45-55 calves that were heifers. If we used the low range and rounded 45 down, they would have 2 replacements out of their heifers, if we used the high range, and rounded 55 up they would have 6.

5-10 would be if they had 100 head of heifers they were picking from.