Open heifers

[coachg]

I guess I'm a gluten for punishment. Here's a group of 11 open heifers we kept to breed in June . Probably should have sold them but we've got an older group of cows that need to be culled this fall . A couple of these probably won't make the cut so I'm looking at probably 8-9 total .

 

[farmerjan]

They are pretty nice looking heifers...
I'm with you. We kept and bred 12 last june... got 5 on the ground, so far from them. Kept another 15 that got bred this Dec-Feb... will get preg checked here soon. Have another 15 that will get bred in June this year.
We have been cherry picking the best to keep and breed for replacements. Have been selling the rest. We have been culling cows more heavily the last 2 years... mostly due to opens and that is because of age... many have next to no teeth... still have 3 from 2011 that are calving now... but have had a good part of the herd getting to the age of where they have to go. A couple with legs.... but again... when they are 11-12 and older... I have NO COMPLAINTS.
We bought 17 cows that were bred or had calves on them last year, 6-10 years old, that he was cutting back, giving up a pasture with pi$$ poor fences... but they are not the greatest cows and have already sold 4... attitude, lost a calf, come up open... We can raise a heifer up, that knows our "routines" for less than we can buy some... and KNOW a little better of their fitting in with what we do. Not saying we won't buy some if the price is right...
We have kept some heifers from older bought cows, because they have had good attitudes and fit in with the rest when we wean... and we have sold a couple from our own cows that had stupid attitudes....
It is not stupid to keep some and raise them for replacements.... it is what works best for each individual...
Mentioned on another thread about the ones we sold a couple weeks ago... the guy that bought the 8 called and wants any more that we are going to sell in that weight range... we had 5 we turned back because they would not fit on the trailer and didn't want to make a second trip that day.... he wants to make them cows and is going to breed them this summer... says they are nice to work around... These were not our best... but says something for their overall good attitudes... No guarantees and he understands that... says he expects a few might not breed etc..... we did not sell them as replacements... just as open heifers...
Glad that they will get a chance to be cows... if we were in the expansion mode, they would have been staying... but we are trying to just make enough replacements at this point... so some decent ones get sold and hopefully we are keeping the best for us...

 

[crossbreed]

We have a group of 10-year-old brangus that we are discussing replacing. All in the 13-1500 lb range that have been great cows. Just like on que all but one of these had heifers this year out of our new Gelbvieh bull. Guess they knew to replace themselves LOL. All have been great cows to work and it's hard with a small place to see good temperaments go. Hoping these new heifers along with the Gelbvieh heifers we have will take us through till time to pass down to kids/grandkids

 

[ClinchValley86]

If I have room, I'm keeping the good ones. Culled so many 2019 thru 2021 that everyone remaining are very solid cows, with quite a few being in their teens and a few close to 10. I'm keeping all thr heifers out of them. Of course I'd pick the best time to wanna build numbers.

I like my cows though, even if they're not black (Kenny). I really don't think I can go out and buy them.

Besides, the bred heifer market should be pretty hot the next year or two I think..

 

[BFE]

My experience on purchased heifers is maybe 50%retention by age five. I don't blame you for keeping your own back.

Sounds like a broken record, sell down the last few years, time to build back. I'm in the same boat. I would've started last year but the site came up with a flaw. So far so good this year, heifer calves outnumber the bulls once again. I seem to always run heavy on heifers.

 

[ClinchValley86]

My experience on purchased heifers is maybe 50%retention by age five. I don't blame you for keeping your own back.

Sounds like a broken record, sell down the last few years, time to build back. I'm in the same boat. I would've started last year but the site came up with a flaw. So far so good this year, heifer calves outnumber the bulls once again. I seem to always run heavy on heifers.

good problem to have sounds like