Always Looking Ahead

I recently purchased 10 heifers that are Angus/Holstein cross and due to calve in October back to Angus bulls. These came from a very strong dairy herd and sired by Deer Valley Angus bulls. What can I do to maximize their second calves? My end goal for second calf is replacements for the future. Leaning toward maybe a couple ET and AI calves from either Angus or Simmental. Any thoughts?

If you were wanting recips they should have plenty of milk. If you are wanting to AI them for replacements I would recommend any DUFF, or OCC Bull to help add some keep. As far as Simmental Uno Mas, STF Shocking Dream or Goldmine. I would warn you that using heifers as recips can be trying at best. I did it once and won't do it again. Good luck!

What negatives did you experience?

Heifers are Dumb! They more often than not have more trouble getting a calf on the ground, letting it nurse etc. If I am going to put an egg in that cost me pretty dearly I want an experienced mother that knows what to do from having done it successfully in the past, and can have the calf with less effort. You also would want to be pretty picky about what the breeding of the offspring is as far as what to expect for birth weight. I would breed them to a DUFF or an OCC bull with a low BW and let them prove themselves for a year. That way if any wash out they don't do it with an embryo you have a lot invested in. The calves I lost in my heifer ET experiment had a lot to do with them being first time mothers.

Do you think I need to go low birthweight for this breeding as well? They are bred to low birthweight Angus now

I should learn to read better I would not worry as much about the birth weight on a second calf(but don't get to crazy). I also didn't comprehend that you will be putting embryos in cows not heifers, since they will have raised their first calves. I would check on what the birth weight of the calves produced by the embryos is expected. I also would use DUFF and OCC bulls to breed to the second calvers AI not just because of birthweight, but because they will typically produce cattle that keep easy. I am assuming that the holstein influence will mean they will take a bit more feed. After reading your first post again I appologize I didn't realize they would have had calves. To maximize your calves embryos are the way to go.

No problem and thank you for the advice and info. DUFF bulls look very solid. Was not familiar with thm until you suggested. We will definitely be feeding as soon as the calves are born to get cows into re breeding shape. I may try to mix up some different sires to see what combination gives us the best results on some AI calves. As far as ET goes, I have searched the boards some and it seems like ET is a huge price difference from area to area. I was thinking it to be $400 or so plus embryo. Is this close?

It does vary some by area also on type of flush. Embryo freezing varies from 50 to 100 dollars as does implanting them. Actuall embryo's can vary massively from 200 to 2000 when buying them individually or in a package deal. If this dosen't answer your questions pm me and I will see what I can do

No that's great info. Thank you