Open Heifers to breed

[inyati13]

Here is Star. Plan to use Top hand for CE.

The heifer with the white spot is Queen (10 months old). One in front is Simangus (17 months old)

 

[bigbull338]

those are some nice looking heifers.we took 4 heifers that are ready to breed to the vet an worked them.an the vet said they weighed 1100lbs or better at 15 months old or less.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Your girls look good! Is the 17 month old bred yet? We are breeding our Feb heifers right now (when they cycle next), setting up for January calves. We weighed our "yearlings" over the weekend, and think they are right on target. Our Aprils are right at 890, our March's are about 950, and our Feb's were just over 1050 each. We do have one that is just a chunky monkey, she is an early April and weighed 1070! But, these girls are on a light grain ration to gear up for show season, so we expect them to be bigger.
How is that bull/steer calf bred? He looks like he has some meat on him! Looks like you already have some fly issues also. We started IGR in March, and have not seen many flies yet! I hope it stays that way...

 

[Dave]

I am putting CIDR's into 60 heifers on the 25th. Pulling them out on May 2nd. And breeding them all to Top Hand on the 4th. The Select Sires rep called to tell me that there had been some Top Hand calves who were being born a little heavier than they thought they should be. But he said they weren't having trouble with them (pulling etc). Of course within reason calving ease and weight are the same thing.
The big thing for the heifers and me is that I am going to grass this afternoon. I am tired of feeding them hay and they are tired of eating it.

 

[inyati13]

1. Star (top, simangus) is 16 1/2 months old. She was a little orphan calf. I raised her with a lot of tender care. She is my pet.
2. Other one with a white spot is a mixed breed 10 1/2 months old. Out of my cow. She is at 900 lbs. She is going to be big.
3. The two with red ear tags are 17 1/2 months old. Simangus from Rocking P. I would say 1100 lbs.
4. Steer calf was born 3/22/13 so less than 4 weeks. His mom is a simangus second calfer, bought from Rocking P as bred heifer. He is my first calf from my registered angus bull. He was the right size for easy delivery and has grown well. I used Calf Guard on mom requiring two live virus vaccinations in the 60 days before delivery. All my cows have had the Calf Guard treatment before calving this spring and zero scours. Knock on wood, this is the first year I have not had to deal with scours. I credit the Calf Guard. I only have two more calves to go this spring hope the Calf Guard also protects them.

Fire Sweep they are all still open. Yes. Flys are here now. I need to start my treatment routine.

 

[inyati13]

I am putting CIDR's into 60 heifers on the 25th. Pulling them out on May 2nd. And breeding them all to Top Hand on the 4th. The Select Sires rep called to tell me that there had been some Top Hand calves who were being born a little heavier than they thought they should be. But he said they weren't having trouble with them (pulling etc). Of course within reason calving ease and weight are the same thing.
The big thing for the heifers and me is that I am going to grass this afternoon. I am tired of feeding them hay and they are tired of eating it.

Thanks Dave. I don't like to hear that but his accuracy is only at .36 so not a big surprise. I got to be careful with that top one. She is probably smaller than she looks. The others are fine with perfect size. I am already on grass have been for about 3 weeks.

 

[Dave]

All my cows have had the Calf Guard treatment before calving this spring and zero scours. Knock on wood, this is the first year I have not had to deal with scours. I credit the Calf Guard. I only have two more calves to go this spring hope the Calf Guard also protects them.quote]
inyati, A few years back I went to using Guardian as a scour guard shot to give to the cows. The reason I use that particular shot is it has a longer window of effectiveness. So if you have pasture bred with a bull and are not exactly sure when the calf will come you have a bigger window to be inside. It has worked real well for me.

 

[Nesikep]

I use ScourGard on my cows a month before calving... 20 years ago we had 6 calves with scours at a time, all half dead, all getting tube fed (lost a number of them), and we started using the vaccine, never a problem since... If some cows don't cooperate, I don't vaccinate them (I'll try harder the next year though), and if I'm short of vaccine, I'll give them 3/4 or a dose... I usually give my heiferettes a shot of it at a year old, and don't give boosters to the first timers... I have had no problems doing it this way. We've never tried Guardian (if it ain't broke, don't fix it)

your heifers sound like they're about the weight of mine... Last year they were about 1100 at breeding, and this year I think they will be about 50-100 lbs short of that on average... One is in the high 900's now, and the others are right around 900... I figure a bit of grass should get them going. I've also found that as soon as they're bred, they stop (pretty much) growing.. must be the change in hormones

 

[inyati13]

Nesikep, you stated,"your heifers sound like they're about the weight of mine... Last year they were about 1100 at breeding, and this year I think they will be about 50-100 lbs short of that on average... One is in the high 900's now, and the others are right around 900... I figure a bit of grass should get them going. I've also found that as soon as they're bred, they stop (pretty much) growing.. must be the change in hormones."

I was thinking they would continue to grow during pregnancy! I hope they do.

 

[snake67]

Soon as they hit 800 pounds we breed them.

Any longer, it is a waste of feed and a waste of time.

Have an idea that will make people laugh but it works.

If you are concerned - breed all your heifers to LongHorn. It opens them up and you can still ship those calves as CAB at any weight you want.

Make a little money. Open up your heifers. Easy calving. Starts them off right. And the calves are up and running real fast after they are born.

No fuss. No muss. Reduced risk. A little cash. And best of all - they make CAB.

And then your girls are ready for the next season.

Why in the heck even bother worrying about calving heifers? This system works, makes some cash and you are good to go.

Just a thought that many here will laugh at but is commonly practised by many out here in my world.

Bez

 

[inyati13]

Soon as they hit 800 pounds we breed them.

Any longer, it is a waste of feed and a waste of time.

Have an idea that will make people laugh but it works.

If you are concerned - breed all your heifers to LongHorn. It opens them up and you can still ship those calves as CAB at any weight you want.

Make a little money. Open up your heifers. Easy calving. Starts them off right. And the calves are up and running real fast after they are born.

No fuss. No muss. Reduced risk. A little cash. And best of all - they make CAB.

And then your girls are ready for the next season.

Why in the heck even bother worrying about calving heifers? This system works, makes some cash and you are good to go.

Just a thought that many here will laugh at but is commonly practised by many out here in my world.

Bez

That does make sense. In my situation, it would pay only if I could get longhorn semen. Otherwise I would have to get a bull and that would be hard to justify for 5 open heifers. Do you keep a Longhorn in your operation?

 

[glacierridge]

I like to use an "older" bull on heifers myself, ones that have a higher accuracy percentage. Very rare to get a freak situation.
But, even if I'm not using an older bull, it's nice to use one that i have heard a lot of good reports on.

 

[snake67]

I do not keep any LH around any more - we have a different system in place today.

I know semen is available.

I also know that people who know a bit about the animal are not as negative about them as many here are.

It all depends upon your plan and where you are and what you are actually doing with the herd.

The breed would have disappeared long ago if there was no market for them.

Cheers

Bez

 

[Nesikep]

I've found that waiting for them to get over 800 lbs isn't a waste of time, I found that more mature heifers make much better first (and subsequent) calves... I find my "good" heifers make calves that compete with my "average" cows... I do have fairly large cows (1500 lb average?) and I find that if I can get them to 1000 lbs by breeding they do well.

Inyati, I found they certainly don't have any growth "spurts" from there on in... last year my heifers were gaining well (according to a weigh tape), and the month after they were bred, their growth slowed down drastically and that was while they were on good pasture... This is the reason that once I've decided on which heifers I'm keeping, I will often put them in a better pasture with their mothers, and pour the feed to them over the winter. It seems to work for me.

As for longhorns... I find they're a beautiful animal, but the market for them here sucks, and we don't grow enough bunchgrass for them, they wouldn't know what to do with alfalfa