Question about Ralgro on heifers

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wpenrod

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
368
Location
North Manchester Indiana
Have any of you had success with using ralgro on breeding heifers, On the box it says not to use after weaning for heifers but I was told that that a few of you have used it with success on heifers past weaning, any advice would be greatly appreciated

wesley
 

plattevalleysimmentals

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Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
98
Location
Kearney, NE
Ive always been told that once is ok but a second time can make them steril. But, with that in mind, we had a payback X pb goldmine heifer that we didnt think we were going to keep and decided to give her a second implant and stick her in the feedlot. Well we decided later that we were going to need her after all and she has stuck to the ai first try every year for the last 3 years, and she is even a little spooky which I would think would be tougher to get her to settle. I havent heard of anyone else doing it but thats just been our experience.
 

justintime

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Joined
May 26, 2007
Messages
4,346
Location
Saskatchewan Canada
Here is my recommendation ... DO NOT GIVE RALGRO TO BREEDING HEIFERS!! Sorry for yelling but I wanted to make sure you heard me. I know that there are lots of people who think that one shot of Ralgro is OK but my experience has always be different.

We used to feed quite a few heifers when we were feeding cattle. On one occasion we had a pen of 350 heifers and we had given all of them Ralgro when they arrived. There were a group of about 25 heifers that did not get Ralgro as we had run out when they arrived, so we did not bother running them through the chute again later. There was also a group of 45 heifers that we had purchased from a neighbor and he had told us that they had been given Ralgro as calves before they went to pasture in the spring. As all the heifers were tagged we knew which ones had received Ralgro and which had not. There was also a group that had received two doses of Ralgro in their lives.

By spring, cattle markets had taken a big drop so we decided we would breed the heifers and sell them in the fall as bred heifers. At this time, we had no idea that Ralgro could affect the fertility of the heifers. We turned several bulls in the pen. When we preg tested in the fall, all the heifers that had NOT received Ralgro were safe in calf. Of the heifers that had received one Ralgro shot, over 20% were open. In the group that had 2 Ralgro shots, over 80 % were open. We never even saw several of the group with 2 doses of Ralgro, even cycle.  I have seen this on more than one occasion.

I know a well known breeder who continues to give his show heifers Ralgro(... you know anything to win a ribbon!) I have heard of many breeding issues with his show heifers. I, for one, will not buy heifers from him, simply because I do not know what I am getting. He raises some pretty good cattle but he is shooting himself in the foot just by giving Ralgro.

Giving Ralgro to uncastrated male calves is even a worse mess. NEVER DO THIS!  I can tell if a male calf has had Ralgro just by feeling their testicles. if you have ever tried to castrate a male calf that has had Ralgro, I guarantee you will be mad before you are done. I am not sure why it does this, but the testicles and cords will be all fused to the scrotum, and you can eventually get everything apart and the job finished, but they will bleed  very badly. It is a total mess. My dad used to be far past angry if we had to castrate a group of male calves that had received Ralgro. I can still hear him as he felt the scrotum of an animal that had just come in the chute. This is even more proof to me that Ralgro should not be given to heifers. If it messes up bull calves like this, I can only imagine what it must do to the reproductive organs to heifers.

I know the company claims that one shot of Ralgro is OK, but I am not a believer. I don't know why you would mess with the potential breeding ability of a heifer for about 15 extra lbs of weight. I also believe that there can be future infertility issues with heifers that do get in calf after one dose of Ralgro. I do not know if anyone has ever studied this, but I am thinking that heifers that have received one dose of ralgro also end up being culled earlier because they have a higher incidence of coming in open.
 

LN

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 15, 2008
Messages
767
Location
South Texas
What JIT said. If you intend to keep them as a breeding female, DON'T DO IT!
 
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