Would you keep this heifer?

[B&M Farms]

I have a black baldie heifer that calved mid Oct. at 16 months old. I had put a new bull in the pasture and pulled calves to sale and wean a few replacement heifers the end of Dec. This one didn't get caught until Jan. and I decided to keep her. She calved fine with no problems. The only problem was milk. She didn't milk well at all, even for a heifer. Her mother has always milked well and always raised a good calf which was one reason for keeping her. I am planning on pulling the calf off of her this week and selling it. I have never had a heifer calve this young and am not sure if her bag will improve with the next one. Would you breed her back or sale her?

 

[jilleroo]

Most likely she'll milk quite okay if she is allowed to grow and fill out before she calves next time. We've had them calve that young and raise a very ordinary calf but, once they caught up in age and condition, they milked just fine.

 

[novatech]

Most likely she'll milk quite okay if she is allowed to grow and fill out before she calves next time. We've had them calve that young and raise a very ordinary calf but, once they caught up in age and condition, they milked just fine.

I agree. It is fairly common with first calvers, especially the younger ones. If she doesn't come around with the next calf then off to the sale barn, and take a closer look at the bull you are using.

 

[xxbrand]

I think novatech and jilleroo are right on. She will probably give enough milk after she has matured as a two and three year old, but I too would look at the bull's EPD's that she is bred to. I had a heifer calve at 16 months and she didn't have much milk, but grew and starting raising good calves with plenty of milk. She is now 6 years old and one of my best cows.

 

[bigbull338]

as said if she dont milk well with the 2nd calf off to the sale barn with her.the big question is this is she bred back.

 

[B&M Farms]

Shes probably just bred. I didnt put a bull in until Christmas. I was thinking about the same because she was so young. She came out of a good baldie cow and a brangus bull with good maternal milk numbers. I think I will give her another shot. Thanks.

 

[double v]

she gets a pass on first calf then be harder in how she raises one.

 

[jilleroo]

If she's calved that young, she can afford to have a bit of a holiday before the next calf to allow her to catch up.

 

[B&M Farms]

If she's calved that young, she can afford to have a bit of a holiday before the next calf to allow her to catch up.

I will sale the calf this week at four months old and she should just be getting bred. She should have close to 10 months to fill out a little.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm assuming this was an accidental pregnancy?

We had one who calved at 16 months in June, bred back in 3 weeks and caught up with the rest of the herd... Never did make a good calf.. though we did get 4 calves from her before we shipped her

I'd be hesitant to keep her, but if she's worth the hassle of trying to keep her separate from the bulls for that long, with good feed I'm sure you'd get better results than we did.

 

[Old_man_emu]

have you had a close look at her udder? I had one that calved as a 2 y/o and didn't milk well, when i had a closer look she was dry on the back half of her udder and pretty poor up front. That was enough for me to get rid of her, but i'm pretty hard and don't really give second chances .

 

[cypressfarms]

Most likely she'll milk quite okay if she is allowed to grow and fill out before she calves next time. We've had them calve that young and raise a very ordinary calf but, once they caught up in age and condition, they milked just fine.

I agree. It is fairly common with first calvers, especially the younger ones. If she doesn't come around with the next calf then off to the sale barn, and take a closer look at the bull you are using.

Couple of years ago or so I ran numbers on all the calves I had, focusing on weaning weight. Almost every heifer (read first calf) weaned a calf below the herd average. If memory serves me correctly, the heifer average was about 50 pounds less than the cow average. By the second calf every heifer was back up to herd average or very close. I think the biggest reason for this is that a young heifer just isn't capable of producing the amount of milk needed (beef cattle), because she herself is still growing and that requires a large portion of her energy. By the second calf, the cow has grown and matured and can put more energy to producing milk - hence the bigger calves. JMO.

I'd give her a 2nd chance...