Silly question about heifer?

[red]

This might be a silly question & I've been known to ask some )) But here goes:
Why do a lot of people have their heifers calve first? I usually try to hold off for little better weather & for them have a  little more growth. But I see a lot that have the first calf heifers calving before the rest. Is is so you can devote more time to them & get them out of the way?
Also some of our heifers seem to take at least 2 tries AIing so that is another reason they are a little later. Usually I contribute that to them having that extra show heifer fat. what does others see in regards to their heifers catching on the first try.
Thanks,
Red (always learning)

 

[RSC]

Red,  I believe most people try to calve their heifers 1st to give them a little more time to recover before they breed them to fall into the calving season of the rest of their herd.  If they don't breed back right away and you are trying to have your cowherd fall into a 60 day calving period, by the time you are breeding her for her 3rd calf you may get towards the end of that 60 day period if she doesn't cycle right away.

JMO
RSC

 

[ShowStopper]

A few of our heifers that we have had calve earlier is because we wanted to show the calf. If they calve earlier it gave the calves more time to grow and get bigger. (cow)

 

[DL]

In most big commercial herds (like I know about that with my 21 cows! - but I do read  ;D
I think the idea is to get them to calve early so like RSC says to give them more time to recover to get "in synch" with the rest of the herd. Heifers, cause they are growing and may loose more condition while nursing a calf generally take longer to get bred back.

I try to have my heifers calve somewhere between Jan and March - with all AI I have a wider calving season than many who use a bull. Usually Jan is a good month to calve - sure was better than Feb!

Haven't figured the whole new board thing yet but having fun trying.  (cow)
DL

 

[Show Heifer]

I also think a lot of folks calve heifers first because THEY (the cattleman) is well rested, and ready to tackle the world. After calving for 30 days, the newness and wariness settles in and the heifers don't get the undivided attention they need.
I calve everything together, but I only have 40 head!!!

 

[genes]

Yeah you guys covered the reasons I have been told.

1) To give them extra time to recover between calving and rebreeding, so they don't get late on you for the next year.
2) So the farmer can watch them a little more closely, and when they are fresh and excited about calving, ready to tackle the sleepless nights.  Not at their burned out end of the season.


We've never really done it at our place.  I know my dad isn't nearly as concerned about a tight calving season as some people, and we don't have problems with the second calvers coming back ok.