Weaning % and Replacement Selection?

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Stocker Steve

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I picked a group of replacement heifers when they had their first shots. Really nice and uniform.
Added two more to the replacement group when they got boosters. Their mothers were heavy milkers and it was starting to show.
Had second thoughts on a couple Bwf when I sorted off and sold the culls in February. Their mothers were small Herefords and had gone dry over the winter. Still nice heifers, but not so uniform any more.

Is weaning percent a good way to level the field and avoid getting too dairy, or should I just focus on average uniform size for weanlings and cull both extremes?
 
Steve, if I'm gathering your question right you are wondering should you keep replacements based on a good uniform size, or based on % weaning weight ratio of cow to calf? If I got that right I would cull the extremes. You will have a more uniform calf crop to market in the end.
 
We culkl the extremes. One other criteria is how the calf grows out after weaning. If she is a good calf at weaning then really blossoms and grows exceptionally during the 45 day weaning process on grain she'll also find herself on the next train leaving town.
 
dun":9y28dbzt said:
We culkl the extremes. One other criteria is how the calf grows out after weaning. If she is a good calf at weaning then really blossoms and grows exceptionally during the 45 day weaning process on grain she'll also find herself on the next train leaving town.

mine winter "on the cow"
so if the cow dries off all they get is cow hay
not a growthy ration at 20 below

Dun - why cull "grows exceptionally"? gets too big or?
 
Stocker Steve":1dv6p2og said:
dun":1dv6p2og said:
We culkl the extremes. One other criteria is how the calf grows out after weaning. If she is a good calf at weaning then really blossoms and grows exceptionally during the 45 day weaning process on grain she'll also find herself on the next train leaving town.

mine winter "on the cow"
so if the cow dries off all they get is cow hay
not a growthy ration at 20 below

Dun - why cull "grows exceptionally"? gets too big or?
If they need grain to reach their potential they don;t have a place here, OR, the cow was shorting them on milk OR the can;t flourish on fescue.
 
Got the Or. What percent of your potential replacements get culled after weaning and before breeding?

Mine don't see grain and my fescue is not infected, but replacements out of heavy miking cows can stall out on the forage only ration later.
 
Stocker Steve":1o0edvaf said:
Got the Or. What percent of your potential replacements get culled after weaning and before breeding?

Mine don't see grain and my fescue is not infected, but replacements out of heavy miking cows can stall out on the forage only ration later.
Not many anymore. Maybe 1 every few years. When we started selecting for the type of cow that would work for us the rate was much higher. Now since the cow herd is adapted the replacements are pretty much adapted too. For replacement generating bulls we stay pretty much middle of the road, no extremes. For the meat maker bulls all we worry about is calving ease, growth and carcass quality.
 
My herd is improving fast as I get better with the trailer, but about 20% of the potential replacements from my box of crayons herd still get culled after weaning and before breeding. The good thing is I very very seldom have one that does not re breed to become a second calver.
 
Stocker Steve":2wm6lm2z said:
My herd is improving fast as I get better with the trailer, but about 20% of the potential replacements from my box of crayons herd still get culled after weaning and before breeding. The good thing is I very very seldom have one that does not re breed to become a second calver.


Not often, but when it does happen on a raised heifer that shows me how fast I can loose money on my primary way of herd building.


fitz
 
I bought 53 fairly uniform unweaned heifers during the monsoon of October 09 and marked 7 down for bad attitudes when I processed them. I then put all of them out on fall pasture till December. When I sorted off the 11 smallest ones - - all but one of the heifers with attitude were also the poor gainers on pasture. I think their heads were up so much they did not have time to graze.
 

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