Some Young Cows and Heifers

[Backbone Ranch]

Heifers and young cows are the future of everybody's herds. Here are some that will be replacing a few of the older cows in the next few years. What are your thoughts on them?
Here is a 2.5 year old heifer that is due to calve within the next month.

Here is another heifer that is due to calve this fall. I believe that she is due within the next 10 days or so. She is a purebred Murray Grey. She is around 1,200 lbs right now. We are very excited for her calf; she is the daughter of our very best cow who is now 12.5 years old.

These heifers are just turning 18 months old and will be bred this December to calve at 30 months.

Here is a cow x calf pair. The cow is a 50% Murray Grey x 50% Guernsey cow who is 3.5 years old and raising her second calf. Her heifer calf beside her is 75% Murray Grey. Her heifer calf is pictured in the second picture. She is 6.5 months old.

 

[Rafter S]

All nice-looking heifers. I really like what I've seen of the Murray Grey cattle. (I have to admit that I had never heard of them before joining this forum.)

 

[creekdrive]

Beautiful! Your animals are some of my favorites on this board and you take good pictures. These are all nice, but I especially love that first bred heifer pictured & the #18 yearling heifer.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[gizmom]

:heart: your cattle

gizmom

 

[torogmc81]

Great pics.

Can I ask why the reason for waiting till 18 + months to breed your heifers instead of 15? (Aside from calving season logistics ...)

Thanks!

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

Great pics.

Can I ask why the reason for waiting till 18 + months to breed your heifers instead of 15? (Aside from calving season logistics ...)

Thanks!

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[slick4591]

Really nice cattle.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Great pics.

Can I ask why the reason for waiting till 18 + months to breed your heifers instead of 15? (Aside from calving season logistics ...)

Thanks!

We have found that many of our heifers are still pretty small in size to breed as yearlings. Our cows average a frame score 4, but range between a frame 3 and 5. We have bred a few heifers as yearlings, especially if we feel that they are the right size and weight, but we generally calve out heifers in the fall. The fall calves average 5 or more lbs less at birth than our spring calves, so we feel that this contributes to less calving problems. By breeding at 18 months, our smaller heifers have put on more frame and can finish growing themselves before the calf is born. Also, by calving the heifers in the fall and cows in the spring, we can pay much closer attention to the few heifers that we have calving. I know that it is not a decision that most people make but it works well for us, so we will continue to calve our heifers at 2.5 years.

One thing that I have noticed between the cows that calve at 2 years vs. cows that calve at 2.5 is that the cows that calve at 2.5 years for the first time generally hold a greater BCS throughout the year and have greater longevity. In addition, we have had 100% of our first calvers breed back for a second calf and calve first cycle during the following year. This may not be true in all herds, but it is something that I have noticed.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Thank you for the feedback on these heifers. The #18 heifer has a different bloodline than the majority of our herd. She is a descendant of a bull named Michaelong Grasshopper. His photo is below. He is her great-grandsire.

All nice-looking heifers. I really like what I've seen of the Murray Grey cattle. (I have to admit that I had never heard of them before joining this forum.)

Many people have not ever heard of Murray Greys. In fact, my family had never heard of Murray Greys in the 40 years that we have been raising cattle until I started researching beef breeds. The change has been a good one; I hope that we will be raising Greys for many decades.

 

[Baldie Maker]

Any fear of johnnes from the guernsey cross?

 

[Backbone Ranch]

Any fear of johnnes from the guernsey cross?

Not really. The Guernsey mother was purchased in 2011 from a Murray Grey breeder in Oklahoma. She had been with that Oklahoma breeder for about 5 years prior to 2011. Before that, she was at a very small dairy on Oklahoma. She went to the processor at around the age of 12 or more. She was beginning to lose condition after weaning her calf in 2012 (this 50% cow). But we checked her teeth and they were hardly existent because they were so worn. From what I understand, cattle with Johnne's lose condition while they are in their prime and have severe diarrhea. I do not recall our Guernsey ever having severe fluctuations in weight or diarrhea.

 

[Lazy M]

The first two breds really don't look to be producing much milk to be so close to calving. Is this common for the breed or is it just a heifer-thing?

 

[Backbone Ranch]

The first bred heifer was about a month out from calving at the time this photo was taken. As for the second heifer, I am not sure how large her udder will get. Both of these heifers were sired by a bull who had really good udders in his lineage. We have had several cows who have had small udders and yet produce some very good calves. The cow below is a 4.5 year old. She was raising her own calf along with an orphan at the time. The calves at weaning had a combined weight of over 1,000 lbs. Her udder does not fill until literally the day before she calves. Even then, it is not very large. The first photo shows the largest her udder ever gets.

This is her this year with her bull calf.

There are cows with good and bad udders in every breed. It may just be a heifer thing, or they may have terrific attachments. I will know better when they calve.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

All of the heifers have calved as of last week. Two bulls and a heifer. The bulls averaged 65.5 lbs and the heifer weighed 62 lbs at birth. The udder attachments on the first calf heifers (now cows) are great. Here are photos of both of the heifers shown earlier in this thread.