longhorns

[Anonymous]

my son wants to purchase some long horns for a hobby. my question is: on the average at what age do they reach sexual maturity. he wants to run them with my cows until he can get his place fenced. they are 6 months old now and it will be a few months before he is ready to move them. i am in the middle of breeding my cows now. i breed naturally and do not want his long horn bull to go to any of my commercial cows. also he would prefer not to have my brangus bull go to his heifers. any help would be appreciated.

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[Anonymous]

> my son wants to purchase some long
> horns for a hobby. my question is:
> on the average at what age do they
> reach sexual maturity. he wants to
> run them with my cows until he can
> get his place fenced. they are 6
> months old now and it will be a
> few months before he is ready to
> move them. i am in the middle of
> breeding my cows now. i breed
> naturally and do not want his long
> horn bull to go to any of my
> commercial cows. also he would
> prefer not to have my brangus bull
> go to his heifers. any help would
> be appreciated.

The earliest that I have heard of a Longhorn heifer breeding is 9 months. Gennerlly speaking, the earliest that I would expect a Longhorn to begin cycling and be fertile would be between 12 and 14 months.

The bull could probably do the job at 10 to 12 months of age, but would not have the height to sucessfully accomplish the task on a full grown cow unless she was standing downhill from him.

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[Anonymous]

> The earliest that I have heard of
> a Longhorn heifer breeding is 9
> months. Gennerlly speaking, the
> earliest that I would expect a
> Longhorn to begin cycling and be
> fertile would be between 12 and 14
> The bull could probably do the job
> at 10 to 12 months of age, but
> would not have the height to
> sucessfully accomplish the task on
> a full grown cow unless she was
> standing downhill from him.

I quoted the 9 months breeding on the heifer from memory. Upon further investigation, it was 6 months. Reference, ITLA.com message board under the title of Darn Fertile

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[Anonymous]

I would think that Longhorns mature and act like any bovine. I happened to run into a lady in Portland who had leased her pastures to a Longhorn grower. They were constantly repairing fences, because the Longhorns don't realize that their horns are waaaayyyy out there. And, I have a heifer that matured at six months... before anyone knew that she had a heat, she had been bred... surprise, surprise.... not a happy one. While I was in the vet's office getting the supplies to take care of her AfTER the C-section, I talked to a woman who had a friend ( I know, more than you wanted to know). The friend had bought some four month old heifers at a sale and most of them had already been bred. It is probably unusual, but beware! It happens.

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