Should I buy another heifer or try to find a bred cow?

[SandyB]

I am looking for a bit of advise. So far we have a very nice market steer for my daughter to show at our fair late next summer and we have a March heifer by Bodacious that we plan to show a little and then breed. We want to get at least one more female but have limited funds. Our goal is to slowly grow our herd to 5 producing females and raise a few nice jackpot and/or market calves. So with the limited funds we have right now, should we buy a couple more entry level heifers or buy a bred cow?

Also, in your opinion, what bloodlines should we stay away from? For example, I was recently told Believe In Me's and Heatwave's do not make very good cows, that they have a tendency to have calving issues and not produce enough milk. Not sure if that is the hard truth but I want to make sure we do the right thing as we do not have money to play around with. So just appreciate suggestions and advise.

 

[DiamondMCattle]

In my opinion it is better to buy a bred female, depending on what your looking for the value you will get out of the bred female will be greater. You will obviously see a return sooner. I don't know much about clubby breeding but I have been told many times that the best way to start is with high percentage angus, simmi, or maine cows that have a strong maternal base, and then use your choice of sires to breed your own clubby style calves.

 

[afhm]

A bred would most likely be more affordable.  I would go with whatever I ran across first that I really liked was in the budget.  If you need / want another show calf then go with a heifer calf.

 

[ferkj]

For what you're wanting to do build a cow herd, the bred heifer/cow is definetly the way to go. As stated above return is quicker, you know you're getting a proven breeder and often times they are cheaper or no more expensive than a heifer.  Everyone seems to want to make a big splash with a new show heifer but if cows are what you're after then buy them.  Many sales or breeders will have them ultrasounded so you know if you're gonna get a heifer calf or bull calf.  Buy a bred cow carrying a heifer calf and you have 3/5 of the herd you want counting your show heifer.  Good luck in the cattle business. 

 

[SandyB]

Thank you for the advise. Thats what I thought too but figured a nice bred cow or bred heifer would be out of my price range. I will have to keep looking.

Any suggested bloodlines I should stay away from?

 

[pds]

I have been in your shoes. We quickly realized that we could not afford the type of females that we needed to get to where we wanted to be. We decided to go a different route instead of spending a lot of money on one heifer or bred cow we rented some recipe cows and bought maternal bred embryos that we could take those females and turn into cows. When we started this way we figured how much we would spend over our kids 4-H career on steers and put it into embryos. Our first year we put in 18 eggs and had 14 calves, 9 of them were heifers that we are breeding  and flushing our own donors and the kids are showing very competitive and winning with calves that we raise. Granted there is more risk and it is a long term investment but it allows you to get higher quality for less. If you go this way do your homework on breeders that are going the direction that you want to go. When we started doing this we spent a year looking at the genetics that were topping sales and winning major shows putting more emphasis on the cow side of the pedigree than the bulls.

 

[AAOK]

In my opinion it is better to buy a bred female, depending on what your looking for the value you will get out of the bred female will be greater. You will obviously see a return sooner. I don't know much about clubby breeding but I have been told many times that the best way to start is with high percentage angus, simmi, or maine cows that have a strong maternal base, and then use your choice of sires to breed your own clubby style calves.

Perfect reply

 

[jbzdad]

Dennis Garwood at GVC and others will sometimes sell some breds in the 8-10 y/o catagory... you can get 2 for one here and still have a chance for another couple of calves out of them . I was successful with this,

 

[parkerqb7]

I also looking buy a heifer to start my herd. Are BIM heifers make good mothers? I ran across a good looking one but passed because I heard some bad things about these heifers. Could someone please fill me in?

 

[Freddy]

Do you have room to use embryo's, this is the way to build herd and quality at same time at less money ....

 

[parkerqb7]

Sandy I am sorry I didn't realize that I was Hy-jacking your topic. I am new to forums and was unaware that I was hy-jacking your post. Once again I am sorry.

 

[AAOK]

In my opinion it is better to buy a bred female, depending on what your looking for the value you will get out of the bred female will be greater. You will obviously see a return sooner. I don't know much about clubby breeding but I have been told many times that the best way to start is with high percentage angus, simmi, or maine cows that have a strong maternal base, and then use your choice of sires to breed your own clubby style calves.

Perfect reply

Seriously, you won't find any advice than this from Diamond M