Ky hills
Well-known member
Several years ago I bought a group of 3 Hereford heifers averaging right around 850 lbs at the Hereford influence sale in Stanford KY.
One heifer was bat blank crazy and sold at the next available sale day. The other two were pretty good and bred and calves out. One had an awful looking udder that got worse the second year and was sold after her second calf. That cows first calf was a heifer and nothing special so I almost sold her based on her mother's udder. We ended up keeping her along with a few others. She was a bit younger than the others but was almost their size so we went in and turned her out with the bull at 12 months old, the others were 14-15 months old, and I didn't want to keep one odd calf separated. She (#21) calved unassisted down at the bottom of a hill at 21 months old. When I found her she and her new bull calf were surrounded by buzzards and she was standing over her calf trying to fight them off. If I hadn't found them and ran off the buzzards she would have lost the calf. I was impressed with her trying to protect her calf as such a young heifer.
She earned her place in the herd that day . Her udder is much better than her mother's udder was. Her second calf was a heifer and we retained it, however it did not breed and we finished it out for a beef.
The third calf also a heifer, as retained, I was skeptical but my wife had named the calf Patch and wanted to keep her.
Next calf also a heifer and full sister to the last two heifers, but this one is red.
Neighbors Charolais cross bull got in with our cows and apparently in with our weaned heifers first before getting into the cow field.
So it looks like Patch and her year younger red sister are going to calve within a month or two of each other.
Three heifer calves full sisters from 3 years very different outcomes, one not breeding, one pretty much on time maybe 6 weeks behind most of the others and one heifer gets bred accidentally at 9 months old.
21 has another heifer full sister to the others ready to wean, it will be sold along with all the other fall calves.
First couple pictures are of 21 Hereford cow and her current calf, then next picture is her BWF calf from 3 years ago that went in our freezer, the next ones are Patch and her younger sister that are both close to calving.
One heifer was bat blank crazy and sold at the next available sale day. The other two were pretty good and bred and calves out. One had an awful looking udder that got worse the second year and was sold after her second calf. That cows first calf was a heifer and nothing special so I almost sold her based on her mother's udder. We ended up keeping her along with a few others. She was a bit younger than the others but was almost their size so we went in and turned her out with the bull at 12 months old, the others were 14-15 months old, and I didn't want to keep one odd calf separated. She (#21) calved unassisted down at the bottom of a hill at 21 months old. When I found her she and her new bull calf were surrounded by buzzards and she was standing over her calf trying to fight them off. If I hadn't found them and ran off the buzzards she would have lost the calf. I was impressed with her trying to protect her calf as such a young heifer.
She earned her place in the herd that day . Her udder is much better than her mother's udder was. Her second calf was a heifer and we retained it, however it did not breed and we finished it out for a beef.
The third calf also a heifer, as retained, I was skeptical but my wife had named the calf Patch and wanted to keep her.
Next calf also a heifer and full sister to the last two heifers, but this one is red.
Neighbors Charolais cross bull got in with our cows and apparently in with our weaned heifers first before getting into the cow field.
So it looks like Patch and her year younger red sister are going to calve within a month or two of each other.
Three heifer calves full sisters from 3 years very different outcomes, one not breeding, one pretty much on time maybe 6 weeks behind most of the others and one heifer gets bred accidentally at 9 months old.
21 has another heifer full sister to the others ready to wean, it will be sold along with all the other fall calves.
First couple pictures are of 21 Hereford cow and her current calf, then next picture is her BWF calf from 3 years ago that went in our freezer, the next ones are Patch and her younger sister that are both close to calving.
