When do calf's start experiencing there first heat cycles?

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All according to their feeding situation... I have seen jersey heifers start cycling as young as 8 months... a few have been bred by bulls while still on their momma's at 6 months... with DISASTEROUS results...
Most of the farmers I work with have often seen heat cycles on heifers at 10-12 months... which is just too young to breed them... 15-16 months is the average age to breed first calf dairy heifers... on dairies, on very progressive feeding programs...
 
All according to their feeding situation... I have seen jersey heifers start cycling as young as 8 months... a few have been bred by bulls while still on their momma's at 6 months... with DISASTEROUS results...
Most of the farmers I work with have often seen heat cycles on heifers at 10-12 months... which is just too young to breed them... 15-16 months is the average age to breed first calf dairy heifers... on dairies, on very progressive feeding programs...
got you ill breed her at around 15-16 months with artificial insemination know a guy who dose it for the dairy's out here i will do more research for when to breed her and the weight requirements got a scale only goes up to 800lb thanks we feed her grain every day that the dairy uses for there calf's also she like it a lot
 
You never did say what breed or cross is she?????
If you know a guy that does A.I. breeding... ask him to look at her when she gets up to the 13-14 month age as to what he thinks about her size for breeding... The weight scale is a guide... BIG difference in weights of a Jersey compared to a Holstein or a Brown Swiss at 15 months.
 
You never did say what breed or cross is she?????
If you know a guy that does A.I. breeding... ask him to look at her when she gets up to the 13-14 month age as to what he thinks about her size for breeding... The weight scale is a guide... BIG difference in weights of a Jersey compared to a Holstein or a Brown Swiss at 15 months.
Holstein heifer she is my pfp
 
A beef breeding program is different than breeding dairy. first calf beef heifers need to calf within a calving window with the rest of the herd. Dairy heifers can calf any time and not worry about being in sync. with the rest of the herd. My general rule of thumb when I was in the dairy business was to calf first calf heifers between 26 -28 months old. I used calving ease AI Holstein sires on Holstein heifers. I think you should use @farmerjan 's advise and have your AI tech look at her when you are getting ready to start planning a breeding date and sire selection. I am curious about your original question about what age they start cycling. is she currently exposed to a bull or are you wondering if first heat has a factor on breeding age?
 
Basically agree with @Dsth .... couple of things to think about... When do you want a calf? Are you going to milk her or just use her as a nurse cow? Since you seem to be in the area where there are dairies, getting some calves to put on her should not be a problem.
Breeding will depend not only on her age and size and condition... but when you want a calf... I personally do not want my nurse cows to be calving in the bitter cold... It is hard enough to get calves started, especially on an unproven dairy animal... some will NOT take to being a nurse cow unless they are tied/locked into a stanchion type situation.... and the calves also feel the cold... the cows teats can get sore/chapped/ and that can be an issue... I want to start calves in late march through about Nov here... so I definitely will not be breeding cows from Feb through early June...

DO NOT TAKE THIS WRONG........No matter how POORLY you feed a dairy animal, thinking they will not produce as much milk... a dairy cow cannot just feed only one calf... the genetics are there to make alot of milk... even a low end dairy cow will make 40-50 lbs a day... so at least 5-6 gallons... when first fresh. She will HAVE to be milked and/or have SEVERAL calves on her or she will get mastitis...

What I am saying is you will not be able to "control" her milk production by feed alone because she is BRED to make milk.... Yes, she will peak at a lesser amount, and the milk will fall off quicker... BUT..... when she first comes fresh, she will make buckets of milk and she will drop weight and lose condition and not cycle back or come back in heat or anything... if she does not get enough feed. Dairy cattle will "milk the fat off their back" for the first 120 days.... and so they have to get fed enough to keep them milking and to get back into condition for all their body functions, like uterus getting back to normal size, and then cycling, to get back on track.
I am thinking that in another thread, you were talking about grazing her... and that is all well fine and good... there are lots of grass based dairy's.... but they feed more than just grass... the cows can get some sort of grass silage... known as haylage.... or other supplemental feeding..high quality alfalfa and other "grass" type feed; because grass alone will not cut it for a dairy animal. PLUS... if she calves in the 2-2 1/2 yr old range... she will still grow for another 1-2 years... so she needs all the nutrition she can get to finish growing and mature.

That part is the same with beef animals... they get calved out around 2 or so.... and on the best pastures, can feed one calf and continue to grow and then also cycle and get pregnant. BUT, they are only making maybe an average of 1-2 gallons a day... they are not bred for "making milk" like a dairy animal...They will hopefully be "fatter" when they calve due to their build/breed..... and will gain weight more easily than a dairy animal on just grass pasture... and generally they will not make more milk than their calf can use overall... totally different type of handling especially in the early part of lactation.....
 
Dairy heifers can start having heats at 4 months old , very common in Jerseys , at least on all of mine , I breed at 15 to 16 months old at around 80% of mature height , and you need to make sure she dose not get to fat
Suzanne
 

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