youngest heifer to calve??

[Nesikep]

Saw my 8 month old bull calf breed a 13 month old heifer yesterday. My first thought was to hit her with lute in about 15 days. This thread is making me re-think that.

I would lute.. I find they usually will lag behind in growth right when they ought to naturally be doing the most growing.. their yearling spring and summer on grass, and i've seen it a few times now with (correctly aged) growthy heifers that just completely stopped growing as soon as they were pregnant.. I'm pretty sure the hormones would be the cause of that... this then affects their place in the pecking order and you can see they lag behind permanatly.. their milking ability is usually less than their genetic potential as well

About the yearlings being bred, and not growing anymore.. Mega's first daughter Sofa is a good example... She weaned at about 650lbs, she was 900 or so at breeding.. she's expecting her second calf, I really don't think she's very much over 1000 lbs.. she's a tiny little cow with a frame score of of about 4... She has a 3/4 sister who's exactly the same. Not what you'd expect from Frame 6 parents

I find breeding at 26 months WAAAY to old.. Ideally, I'd breed at about 18 months, but I don't want to deal with 2 calving seasons so 14-15 months it is

 

[Supa Dexta]

So then if you have a 60 day calving window, some of those heifers may only be 13mo. Which then calve @22.. She's fine if you think she's big enough now, and is going to eat well thru to calving.

 

[Petercoates87]

Lol newbie question incoming. I was just reading this post and it can't be smart to have a "cow" bred so young. I have been told that from 18 months old is rule of thumb for youngest to be bred. I'd be worried of losing the cow. I just 2 and my oldest cow gave birth just before her second birthday and she needed help.

 

[Supa Dexta]

I don't really see a question there, but generally 14-15 months is the target age to introduce them to a bull, so that they are big enough, and also will land in the planned calving time frame as their mothers and the rest of the herd. The ones that are bred in single digit months are accidents.

Nothing wrong or uncommon with a first time heifer needing a little help calving as a 2 yr old.

 

[bward]

In 2000 I had a 15 month and a 16 month calve. One pulled and one unassisted. They are both now 6 and grew to normal size. One 1600 and one 1450. Fertile as ever.

 

[Ol' 243]

In 2000 I had a 15 month and a 16 month calve. One pulled and one unassisted. They are both now 6 and grew to normal size. One 1600 and one 1450. Fertile as ever.

Is there a sale barn you could recomend to buy a 2000 model that is 6 years old. :lol: