to what age do you keep your cows?

[bulldurham]

This is a bit like vehicles.. You might like the new Charger, it may have be technically superior in all ways, but if you have a '53 Corvette the thing is worth a small fortune.

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The difference being that in cattle, value needs to be though of only in terms of "intrinsic value."

 

[highgrit]

You cull cows because they are old, not producing, or problems and replace them with a replacement heifer of your choice out of your herd. Superior or not, you know where the replacement heifer out of your herd is coming from so you have an idea what to expect.

Crappy heifers make crappy calves and cows, the majority of the time. I would never keep a heifer that was not superior in my eyes. Anyone that keeps all their heifers to build a herd needs glasses. IMO

 

[ANAZAZI]

When breeding 2 animals together to produce 1, you're losing half the genetics, perhaps they're the better half, or the worst half, but most likely it'll be a bit of both.. If you breed the same 2 animals repeatedly, collectively the offspring will have all the genetics of their two parents. This can be valuable as well.

I have seen this. A friend of my uncles` bred his mare to the same stallion for i think sixteen foals. They were all good, but there were a variety of looks and colours, and some were better ponies than the others.

 

[ANAZAZI]

edited out because wrong subject.

 

[bigbull338]

not all calves from proven bulls are good that is a known fact.but the odds are more in your favor when you have a proven bull and proven cows.example ive got a cow im going to cull due to age and not raising the best calves.but she did raise a good heifer 3yrs ago.

 

[Big Cheese]

You cull cows because they are old, not producing, or problems and replace them with a replacement heifer of your choice out of your herd. Superior or not, you know where the replacement heifer out of your herd is coming from so you have an idea what to expect.

Crappy heifers make crappy calves and cows, the majority of the time. I would never keep a heifer that was not superior in my eyes. Anyone that keeps all their heifers to build a herd needs glasses. IMO

That's why you cull the crappy heifers out while you are weaning them. When one begins to not meet the standards YOU want in your herd you send it packing. However, about your opinion on keeping heifers.....some people that want to expand their herd (maybe they acquired an extra 20-40 acres of land) but don't want to fork out crazy money for cows and like the heritage in their herd so they will keep all of their heifers that year. They will still cull out ones that don't meet their standards.

We kept all of our heifers this year except two at weaning time. They didn't meet our standards so they were sent packing. Out of the 32 that we kept there is one that is smaller then the others and she is not growing as good so we should probably cull her but we are going to wait and see with her. She's aggressive and fights just as much as the others and gets her groceries. There is an old farmer down here that i've talked about before he has 600 momma cows. Some of the first advice he gave us when keeping heifers for replacements is sell the big ones and keep the smaller ones. You get more money for the bigger ones at the time you sell and the smaller ones will grow like weeds in the pen when the feed is being poured to them. Smaller ones are also fighters and usually make the better cow. But hey everyone has their own opinion and I'm certainly not telling you how to run your herd. Everyone likes different types and kind of cattle. This is just my opinion on the matter.

 

[Nesikep]

I wouldn't go as far as to say "keep the smaller heifers", but do agree with sending the heaviest couple heifers out. Despite size is a factor, you have to look at the whole package.. If she's built really well, I don't mind a bit a smaller cow.. and sometimes you can tell that the big ones will just get way too big, or they have attitude problems.

 

[Big Cheese]

I probably should have put smaller framed heifers in there instead of just smaller heifers. We like our cows to not get over 1000 pounds if we can help it. We run mostly Longhorns now but the few beefs we have fit in with them. Some are to big but they are ok. The point of keeping the smaller to midsize framed heifers is you can run more head in your pasture. That's what we shoot for.

 

[highgrit]

Well I'm not so sure about shipping the biggest heifers. Just because the heifer or cow is larger doesn't necessarily mean that it eats more. Some cows and calves are easy doers no matter their size. That's part of what I look at. The other main thing I consider when keeping a heifer is, who's it's dame. This to me is a deal breaker. Like mother like daughter, holds true in cattle also.

 

[bigbull338]

the bottomline on keeping bigger cows or heifers tobe cows in your herd is how big of a calf will say that 1300lb cow wean vs say a 1100lb cows weaned calf weighs.

 

[Nesikep]

Well I'm not so sure about shipping the biggest heifers. Just because the heifer or cow is larger doesn't necessarily mean that it eats more. Some cows and calves are easy doers no matter their size. That's part of what I look at. The other main thing I consider when keeping a heifer is, who's it's dame. This to me is a deal breaker. Like mother like daughter, holds true in cattle also.

I think we have a number of threads that have covered that! :deadhorse:

Like mother, like daughter certainly does hold true in many cases.. I have to try once in a while to prove it wrong, sometimes it works, sometimes not so much

 

[glacierridge]

This is a bit like vehicles.. You might like the new Charger, it may have be technically superior in all ways, but if you have a '53 Corvette the thing is worth a small fortune.

When breeding 2 animals together to produce 1, you're losing half the genetics, perhaps they're the better half, or the worst half, but most likely it'll be a bit of both.. If you breed the same 2 animals repeatedly, collectively the offspring will have all the genetics of their two parents. This can be valuable as well.

That is what we do when we have a favorite pairing. We've had several that we have used the "same recipe"on repeatedly.
We don't have a solidly young herd, we keep the more solid matriarchs, sell a few average and the ones that are the weakest links become excellent hamburger.