Putting a soon to be bred heifer on a diet

[livestock101]

We've got a bull coming this week to do his thing and one of our hereford heifers is clearly overweight. We'd like to go ahead and get her bred but what about putting her on a diet while she's pregnant? Bad idea? We've got the heifers in the last pasture and will be forced to feed hay pretty soon due to our drought.

What are your thoughts? The bull coming in does not belong to us, he's being borrowed and so we really can't wait until she's slimmed down to breed her.

 

[highvoltagecattleco]

I wouldn't put her on a diet. When she has the calf most of that excess weight is going to feed her calf. I typically try to ramp my cows, especially heifers up the last two months of pregnancy. It is way to hard to put the weight back on them when nursing a calf.

 

[dun]

Wait a couple of months afer she's bred then you can trim her down a little. Depends on just how over conditioned she is. A cow/heifer on a loosing plain of nutrition won;t settle as well as one on a steady or gaining plain.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Unless she is totally OBESE, I would not worry about taking weight off. She is still growing, soon to be growing a calf inside her, cutting teeth, and going into poor pasture time. Lots harder to put it on after she calves. She will lose more than you expect after calving.
Getting her bred now isn't the worry - it's getting her bred AFTER next year's calf if she gets thin.