my first calf born from my cows.

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stockbub

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Had my first ranch calf born today. Heifer's moms about 1300 lbs . Heifer weights about800 lbs. Her calf was small, but no problems. Question is are most calf to Heifer smaller? Should she continue to grow? Should I look at culling her since calf was small
 
We had a tiny heifer born here last year. By "tiny," I'm talking maybe 35 lbs. tops -- no bigger than that. Her first-time mama is a good sized girl. That little one is now about 8 mos. old. She may always be a smaller animal (we'll see), but she's the size I'd expect a 6-mo. old to be now. Ya just never know . . . .
 
In my experience, the heifers (except one) often throw smaller calves, especially when their calves were heifers. The heifers have had produced 350-500lbs calves at weaning time in the past despite of the first timers being small. Kept some nice heifers from the first timers as replacement and have no breeding issues with them.
 
small aint always bad n a cow,the smaller they r the less they eat.as long as they weigh 50% of there body weight i would b happy with it.
 
"Heifer's moms about 1300 lbs . Heifer weights about800 lbs" - little confusing, I'm going to "assume" you meant to type 80#??? If so, that is not what I would consider small. That's a great size.
The old timers always said you shouldn't keep replacement heifers born out of heifers. BUT, that's because they used super easy calving bulls that produced runts. The new modern bulls being used, can be easy calving with a lot of potential growth after birth.
By all rights, your heifers SHOULD be producing you your best calves, because they should represent your best genetics. Granted, the heifer won't milk as well as a mature cow, so her calves may not wean off as heavy as a mature cow.
 
Id rather have a low BW calf off of a heifer..Im watching the gain.

Had one off of a young heifer last year..he's making a trip to town next week..he turned out very good, despite his smaller size when born..
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley":61s1ewi2 said:
"Heifer's moms about 1300 lbs . Heifer weights about800 lbs" - little confusing, I'm going to "assume" you meant to type 80#??? If so, that is not what I would consider small. That's a great size.
The old timers always said you shouldn't keep replacement heifers born out of heifers. BUT, that's because they used super easy calving bulls that produced runts. The new modern bulls being used, can be easy calving with a lot of potential growth after birth.
By all rights, your heifers SHOULD be producing you your best calves, because they should represent your best genetics. Granted, the heifer won't milk as well as a mature cow, so her calves may not wean off as heavy as a mature cow.
Jeanne, I interpreted his post as little calf's mom was 800 lbs. and maternal grandma cow was 1,300. ??
 
Yes, Heifer weight is 800. Calf is about45 to 50 lbs.doing ok, I just wonder if I should pull her off her mom and put her on a nurse cow. I know she could get more milk then she wants.. any more suggestions
 
Just leave the calf with her mother. I have lot of heifers that has small udders and still produced 400lbs calves at weaning time.
 
stockbub":gq58b0rj said:
Yes, Heifer weight is 800. Calf is about45 to 50 lbs.doing ok, I just wonder if I should pull her off her mom and put her on a nurse cow. I know she could get more milk then she wants.. any more suggestions

The best thing you can do for her is to leave her alone for a few weeks. Feed her momma and quit trying to cull her before she is a week old.
 

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