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OK, more in the saga of the two Hereford Heifers
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<blockquote data-quote="htrc" data-source="post: 466353" data-attributes="member: 7283"><p>I've bred heifers 14-16 months of age and not had any problems,but seems like 16 months is the best age as far as maturity of the heifers on average. </p><p>I guess it depends on when your calving season is normally. I calve in feb-march which puts the heifers at about the right age the next breeding season.If you calve spring and fall you could hold your heifers if you wanted them a little older and breed them to be fall calvers. A couple of years I tried to take my yearling heifers and breed them to drop calves in the fall then weaned the calves at about 4 months.I kept them open thru the lactation,then I bred them to be spring calvers.I just wanted to see if this helped the females make better second calf heifers or increased first service breedings. </p><p>It did increase my second calf weaning weight and body condition of the cows.Almost all the heifers bred back first service and I didn't cull any open heifers. Down side was the calving interval,but those females were better cows in the long term.It was a quicker return than if I had waited and bred them as two year olds.It was less costly than breeding them too young and the problems with calving,milking and rebreeding that can occur with that.</p><p>Sorry got on a roll-I'll be quiet now</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="htrc, post: 466353, member: 7283"] I've bred heifers 14-16 months of age and not had any problems,but seems like 16 months is the best age as far as maturity of the heifers on average. I guess it depends on when your calving season is normally. I calve in feb-march which puts the heifers at about the right age the next breeding season.If you calve spring and fall you could hold your heifers if you wanted them a little older and breed them to be fall calvers. A couple of years I tried to take my yearling heifers and breed them to drop calves in the fall then weaned the calves at about 4 months.I kept them open thru the lactation,then I bred them to be spring calvers.I just wanted to see if this helped the females make better second calf heifers or increased first service breedings. It did increase my second calf weaning weight and body condition of the cows.Almost all the heifers bred back first service and I didn't cull any open heifers. Down side was the calving interval,but those females were better cows in the long term.It was a quicker return than if I had waited and bred them as two year olds.It was less costly than breeding them too young and the problems with calving,milking and rebreeding that can occur with that. Sorry got on a roll-I'll be quiet now [/QUOTE]
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OK, more in the saga of the two Hereford Heifers
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