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Cattle Boards
Breeding / Calving Issues
Stop feeding grain prior to calving?
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<blockquote data-quote="jdg" data-source="post: 1424281" data-attributes="member: 13350"><p>In South GA, we have the good fortune of having the ability to graze year round...that is, if we have either rain or irrigation, and understand how to manage stocking rate. That being said, I really resonate with Burt Teichert's ideas regarding heifer development, which is to quickly flash breed heifers (less than two cycles) at around %55-%60 of mature body weight. I can do this on high quality perennials or annuals without supplementation. This selects for the early maturing cows that work in your environment. You have to keep extra heifers to develop, because many will fall out. I actually breed for 2 to 3 cycles, date the pregnancies via ultrasound, and sell the later breds as bred heifers. (still a lot of selection pressure considering the development program). Once they are bred, you then keep good nutrition to them through weaning their first calf. (in my case, high quality forages...although you could supplement at this point) so that they calve at BCS 5-6. Otherwise, they will struggle to raise a decent calf. I have had a few runty calf crops learning this lesson. I believe that putting fertility pressure early will pay dividends down the road towards reproductive longevity. A true calving ease bull will help, but the heifer's CED and BW scores matter as well, regarding an unassisted birth. High quality hay would work as a development too as well, but might be more expensive than grain or other supplementation. I do think it is important though to select for forage conversion early on as a selection tool.</p><p><a href="https://postimg.org/image/3ldfbj54z/" target="_blank"><img src="https://s29.postimg.org/3ldfbj54z/IMG_6892.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jdg, post: 1424281, member: 13350"] In South GA, we have the good fortune of having the ability to graze year round...that is, if we have either rain or irrigation, and understand how to manage stocking rate. That being said, I really resonate with Burt Teichert's ideas regarding heifer development, which is to quickly flash breed heifers (less than two cycles) at around %55-%60 of mature body weight. I can do this on high quality perennials or annuals without supplementation. This selects for the early maturing cows that work in your environment. You have to keep extra heifers to develop, because many will fall out. I actually breed for 2 to 3 cycles, date the pregnancies via ultrasound, and sell the later breds as bred heifers. (still a lot of selection pressure considering the development program). Once they are bred, you then keep good nutrition to them through weaning their first calf. (in my case, high quality forages...although you could supplement at this point) so that they calve at BCS 5-6. Otherwise, they will struggle to raise a decent calf. I have had a few runty calf crops learning this lesson. I believe that putting fertility pressure early will pay dividends down the road towards reproductive longevity. A true calving ease bull will help, but the heifer's CED and BW scores matter as well, regarding an unassisted birth. High quality hay would work as a development too as well, but might be more expensive than grain or other supplementation. I do think it is important though to select for forage conversion early on as a selection tool. [url=https://postimg.org/image/3ldfbj54z/][img]https://s29.postimg.org/3ldfbj54z/IMG_6892.jpg[/img][/url] [/QUOTE]
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Stop feeding grain prior to calving?
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