Underweight jersey

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Have you seen your heifer showing any signs of heat such as riding the other calves or being ridden by them? Here is some interesting information.

Revisiting Benchmarks for Age of First Breeding

When it comes to the optimal time for breeding, size is more important than age.

www.dairyherd.com

 

[who cares]

Nobody has mentioned forage quality. Best way to put the right weight on a heifer or cow is to have good quality forage. You mentioned she doesn't have a lot of grass and she's on first cutting. Some heifers can thrive on first cutting, but they do way better on 2nd cut anything. If it's straight grass, try some alfalfa or just simply try switching to a different quality. 6 lb grain is tons for a 40 inch 14 month heifer. Yes 40 in is pretty small, but there's some small jerseys up in Canada.
There's a huge variety of quality in first cutting. When trying to put weight on them, the first thing I do is find better hay. .
You may find you don't even need grain . I don't feed grain to any of my heifers until 2 weeks before freshening, and my adult cows produce up to 65 pounds a day.

 

[M.Magis]

Just wiped not washed, they are smaller troughs and she lives with 2 beef calves.
All 3 are 4H (she's done 4H) so the kids dump wipe and fill each morning as part of chores
Perhaps the should just refill and only wipe every week?

If this is a water trough that gets filled with a hose, it absolutely needs cleaned on a semi regular basis. Maybe not every day, but it's not hurting anything either. I suspect those questioning it are thinking of a spring filled trough, where the water is constantly refreshed. Those rarely need cleaned, if ever. A couple goldfish and they're crystal clear. But a hose filled trough need cleaned often, especially when the cattle that use them are fed grain. All of the grain and dirt that ends up in the trough sinks to the bottom and turns into a nasty sludge, like pond muck. Pretty soon the water takes on that odor and taste. They'll still drink it, but no where near as much as with clean water.

 

[Rancher]

When I sis dairy cows and goats, 40yrs ago, I kept their water clean. Now with my beefers on pasture from May thru Septembe, they drink from my pond 200ft by 70ft wide and when full 20 ft deep. They swim in it, pee and poo in it and ducks, geese and swans screw in it. Winter they get fresh water in 100gal tubs

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Here's how I decide. It's hot out here. I look at a trough and decide would I want to get in there or not. Dairy cows need a lot of clean fresh water to make milk. Note: my goldfish are obese.