Ralgro/heifers

[Green Creek]

I'm showing my ignorance here but I am asking if you use Ralgro on heifers? The insert gives information on heifers but is it just the heifers you plan to sell or all of them. I says the dose is good for 70 days on heifers. Thanks for enlightening me .

 

[A.J.]

I was always told not to use it on replacement heifers because it could affect fertility, so we haven't implanted heifers that have potential to be replacements. Some others may chime in and say it's worked great for them though. Here's an article I found discussing it.

http://igrow.org/livestock/beef/conside ... er-calves/

 

[Dave]

I have always heard not to implant heifers you intend to breed.

 

[Bigfoot]

If I'm not mistaken, they make an implant for heifers. I use my regular old ralgro implant on mine, and try not implant heifers I'm keeping. I have also implanted many heifers that I ended up keeping, with no ill affects.

 

[Dave]

The product information on Ralgro says that replacement heifers should be implanted between 1 and 7 months. I take that to mean that it doesn't have a lasting effect but you wouldn't want to be using near breeding age.

 

[Son of Butch]

The product information on Ralgro says that replacement heifers should be implanted between 1 and 7 months.
I take that to mean that it doesn't have a lasting effect but you wouldn't want to be using near breeding age.

My Vet agrees with your statement.
But I still won't implant replacement heifers and or steers for family and friends for table beef.

 

[Green Creek]

I think we will pass on the implants . Thanks everyone.

 

[JMJ Farms]

The product information on Ralgro says that replacement heifers should be implanted between 1 and 7 months.
I take that to mean that it doesn't have a lasting effect but you wouldn't want to be using near breeding age.

My Vet agrees with your statement.
But I still won't implant replacement heifers and or steers for family and friends for table beef.

I don't understand this statement. Either you think implants are safe. Or you are completely against them. But this statement implies that you think it's ok to implant calves for other folks table, as long as you, your family, or your friends aren't eating them.

 

[Lucky_P]

Used to implant most of my heifers, then dropped back to only implanting those that I KNEW from the outset that we weren't going to keep. Have just kinda stopped implanting heifers altogether, but probably ought to go back to implanting the non-keepers, just for the added weight.

They are SAFE, with regard to any concerns about 'hormone levels' in beef from implanted animals... you get 100s times more estrogenic activity from beef from a cow or heifer with intact ovaries than that from an implanted steer... the increased level in an implanted heifer... so small as to be virtually unmeasureable.

Ralgro (and, probably most of the other growth-promoting implants, as well) exert their effect by stimulating the animal's pituitary gland to release more of its own natural growth hormone... resulting in increased weight gain as a result of increased lean muscle mass.

 

[Son of Butch]

The product information on Ralgro says that replacement heifers should be implanted between 1 and 7 months.
I take that to mean that it doesn't have a lasting effect but you wouldn't want to be using near breeding age.

My Vet agrees with your statement.
But I still won't implant replacement heifers and or steers for family and friends for table beef.

I don't understand this statement. Either you think implants are safe. Or you are completely against them. But this statement implies that you think it's ok to implant calves for other folks table, as long as you, your family, or your friends aren't eating them.

Implants are safe and a no doubt about it money maker.
My vet recommends implanting replacement heifers under 500 lbs with ral-gro.
My replacement heifer growth is on track and I don't feel they will benefit from added weight and potential udder fat deposits
or any outside chance of reproduction problems or prolapses.
Implants are great for added efficient lean red meat production, they're safe with an excellent return on investment.
However they will lower tenderness, marbling and carcass quality a notch ie from high choice to choice.
I sell on the hoof, not grade and yield, no bonus for high choice vs choice, so have to make it up with efficient added pounds.
For family and friends it's about taste, tenderness and quality, all about shooting for prime and not about any health issue concern.
(That's why I've got a few Wagyu crosses, table beef for friends and family, not marketing it to others.)
So, yes you can think they are safe and still not use them in all instances without being completely against them.
Hope this clears up any misunderstanding my statement may have caused.

 

[Lucky_P]

All good points, SoB.

I'm not a physiologist or meat scientist... but wonder how much, if any, effect one implant, at a young age (essentially a year out from harvest), would have on marbling... and should not affect tenderness at all, I wouldn't think.

 

[Son of Butch]

I agree Lucky P it's the 'hotter' large dose implants in the finishing lots, ral-gro is actually on milder side.
But when lean red meat mass increases % of imf decreases. More or larger red meat cells increase % of lean meat at the expense of marbling. Marbling is the whole point of Wagyu, so I'm not going to go down the path of anything that decreases it.

 

[bird dog]

I implant all my calves at 2-4 months because I don't really pick out replacements until weaning. Out of the last three crops totaling about 20 heifers I have had problems with one. She would cycle but not take the breeding. I saw the bull on her twice.
To me the added growth is worth the risk.

 

[randiliana]

We don't implant our potential replacement heifers. But I know at birth which heifers are likely to be kept and which are not. I just don't think that the added growth they get is worth the small chance that they won't breed, and that extra weight doesn't matter much unless we are selling them anyways.