Replacement Heifers

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Conagher

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Assume Registered Herd. Seedstock producer. You've analyized your cows, selected bulls for the traits, genetics, bloodlines, etc. you want to include in your herd. Heifers are born; some make the cut, some don't. Two part question:

1) What do you use to determine which heifers make the cut and which don't - physical appearance, structure, avg. daily weight gain, all of the above, others?

2) For the heifers you are not planning to keep, when do you sell them - weaning, yearling, bred heifers?

Thanks!
 
Conagher":3oasmnex said:
Assume Registered Herd. Seedstock producer. You've analyized your cows, selected bulls for the traits, genetics, bloodlines, etc. you want to include in your herd. Heifers are born; some make the cut, some don't. Two part question:

1) What do you use to determine which heifers make the cut and which don't - physical appearance, structure, avg. daily weight gain, all of the above, others?

All of the above, plus their dam's production record. That's one place the AHIR data comes in handy.

2) For the heifers you are not planning to keep, when do you sell them - weaning, yearling, bred heifers?

Thanks!

I prefer to sell them as bred heifers or even wait and sell them as a pair. But it will depend on your situation. If you need to get them off the place because of a grass shortage or you don't have time to manage young heifers for optimum growth or getting them bred is expensive or inconvenient, selling them younger might work best for you.
 
Conagher":1h5xa215 said:
Assume Registered Herd. Seedstock producer. You've analyized your cows, selected bulls for the traits, genetics, bloodlines, etc. you want to include in your herd. Heifers are born; some make the cut, some don't. Two part question:

1) What do you use to determine which heifers make the cut and which don't - physical appearance, structure, avg. daily weight gain, all of the above, others?

2) For the heifers you are not planning to keep, when do you sell them - weaning, yearling, bred heifers?

Thanks!
1- All of the above Plus;
A- disposition
B- ultrasound data
C- pelvic measurements
D- Any timid animals (not willing to fight it's way to the trough or the hay bale)

2- One cut at weaning and another at yearling. They go to the sale barn WITHOUT papers.
 
Mike pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

If they don't make my cut, they probably arn't fit for anyone else to breed either. They find the feedlot.
 
Thanks for the replies!

Frankie - do you sale your bred heifers or pairs as with or without papers?

MikeC/certherfbeef - based on your criteria, what % makes the cut?

Thanks!
 
Conagher":3af2yqyp said:
Thanks for the replies!

Frankie - do you sale your bred heifers or pairs as with or without papers?

MikeC/certherfbeef - based on your criteria, what % makes the cut?

Thanks!

As I continue to cull in the mature cowherd also, the % goes down each year. At present, I would estimate that I retain about 50% of the heifers weaned and about 25% stick around for the long term.

Reproductive traits take much longer to analyze than physical traits.
 
Conagher":146j7j8k said:
Assume Registered Herd. Seedstock producer. You've analyized your cows, selected bulls for the traits, genetics, bloodlines, etc. you want to include in your herd. Heifers are born; some make the cut, some don't. Two part question:

1) What do you use to determine which heifers make the cut and which don't - physical appearance, structure, avg. daily weight gain, all of the above, others?

2) For the heifers you are not planning to keep, when do you sell them - weaning, yearling, bred heifers?

Thanks!
We base our decision for who to keep on all of the above. We are now ultra sounding and taking pelvic measurements.

The ones that we decide not to keep will be sold as registered heifers breed or open with a guarantee. The culls will be sold in shrink wrap. The only thing that goes to the sale barn are cull cows and bulls that didn't perform for one reason or another.
 
Conagher":1xoouej3 said:
Thanks for the replies!

Frankie - do you sale your bred heifers or pairs as with or without papers?

MikeC/certherfbeef - based on your criteria, what % makes the cut?

Thanks!

If an animal is stays around long enough to breed, she'll probably be sold with papers. The ones that we haul to the sale barn go without papers.
 
certherfbeef":3qr1ctlj said:
Mike pretty much hit the nail on the head there.

If they don't make my cut, they probably arn't fit for anyone else to breed either. They find the feedlot.

Bingo, we have a winner.
If they aren;t good enough to be a breeder for me, I sure wouldn;t sell them to someone else. A good name is a long time in the making. And as the old saying goes "One ah sh!! wipes out all the atta boys"

dun
 
If they're not fit to keep as replacements, they go to the feedlot at weaning. We've only kept 3 replacements in the past year, and a handful of show calves. Also culled deep into the cow herd!
 

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