Two different schools of thought about hiefers

[TYD]

I have heard two schools of thought on breeding heifers the first is if you hold them over a year they will milk better and make better mothers.the other is if they have the size breed them it makes no difference what does everyone do what is there stance on this thank you

 

[flacowman]

I have seen that they CAN milk better with an extra year but you have to weigh this against another year as a money pit and not producing a calf.  And the milk production is only slightly better most of the time and if they aren't gonna milk then they can be 10 when they calve for the first time and it won't help.  We breed as soon as they are big enough.  We breed for them to calve the season they turn 2 and have only rarely had them not cycling naturally when we synced them and those were cull dinks anyways...

 

[MCC]

We have decided to add a fall calving herd. Our thoughts on this is to take the spring born heifers and breed them to be fall calvers and vise versa. That will give them an extra time to grow and mature. Don't know if it will be cost effective but were going to try it. ???

 

[rtmcc]

I must be confused. The ones that don't have a calf by the time they are 24 - 26 months old around here don't get a chance to make it to three year olds.  I understand the clubby deal is different than the real beef business but if you have to stick an extra year of feed in them in addition to their high feed cost to get them to two yrs old, all site of the "beef" business has been lost.  I'm not trying to condemn anybody's management practices.  Every environment is different.  But sooner or later, they still got to be cows.  would think holding them an extra year could be detrimental to their future milk production as it would give them more time to build up fat in their udder and mammary system. 

Ron
<cowboy>

 

[Aussie]

I must be confused. The ones that don't have a calf by the time they are 24 - 26 months old around here don't get a chance to make it to three year olds.  I understand the clubby deal is different than the real beef business but if you have to stick an extra year of feed in them in addition to their high feed cost to get them to two yrs old, all site of the "beef" business has been lost.  I'm not trying to condemn anybody's management practices.  Every environment is different.  But sooner or later, they still got to be cows.   would think holding them an extra year could be detrimental to their future milk production as it would give them more time to build up fat in their udder and mammary system. 

Ron
<cowboy>

Agreed they will be bigger cows but if they lay down to much fat in the udder they will not milk. Management and conditioning are very important.

 

[LostFarmer]

From a dairy background I will say that growing a heifer out on roughage and a little slower makes a better cow.  We sent our heifers to pasture in the summer and only fed hay in the winter.  We also calved at 24-30 months but that was mostly trying to avoid winter.  Those little heifer teats don't handle the cold well.  Rumen development is what you are after.  The pasture and roughage based diet made for cows that could eat and therefore milk.  It seemed like they all got the growth eventually.  The later calvers did milk a little more that first lactation as they weren't also growing as much but in the end the late calver never made up a lactations worth over her life.  We also didn't push production on a first calver.  Get her milking and bred back then pour the coal to her the next lactation.  How does this cross over to beef heifers?  Feed good but not high concentrates, build a rumen capacity, and calve them as close to 2 as possible.  Feed them well to get re bred on cycle. 

 

[kfacres]

From a dairy background I will say that growing a heifer out on roughage and a little slower makes a better cow.  We sent our heifers to pasture in the summer and only fed hay in the winter.  We also calved at 24-30 months but that was mostly trying to avoid winter.  Those little heifer teats don't handle the cold well.  Rumen development is what you are after.  The pasture and roughage based diet made for cows that could eat and therefore milk.  It seemed like they all got the growth eventually.  The later calvers did milk a little more that first lactation as they weren't also growing as much but in the end the late calver never made up a lactations worth over her life.  We also didn't push production on a first calver.  Get her milking and bred back then pour the coal to her the next lactation.  How does this cross over to beef heifers?  Feed good but not high concentrates, build a rumen capacity, and calve them as close to 2 as possible.  Feed them well to get re bred on cycle. 

I agree, very well put, and I agree.. based upon my dairy background..

It's my belief that you can NEVER get a heifer fat, and expect her to be a decent cow, let alone give more milk than a piss ant.  In our eyes, we'd rather have them on the thinner side at breeding time, than way too fat.. You can always feed some grain to work the BCS up right before calving, but it's awefully hard to take it away.  Fat heifers, or cows don't milk worth a shit...  I bet if you were to take the cattle and rank them based off BC at the end of lactation.. the fattest cows, would have the smallest calves. 

Now with that in mind...  A cow (not heifer) who's heavier post calving--  and thins down a considerable amount during lacation...  will have the biggest calf.. She's milked the most.. DUH

anyone follow? 

 

[SeannyT]

I think it's fairly well determined now that leaving a heifer open for an extra year will increase her productivity RELATIVE to her performance if you had bred her at ~14 months, assuming proper management. Will this equate to shorter longevity in the long run, or overall difference in productivity throughout her time at your farm? Who knows. I don't recommend it in any case. Fall calving is a little different as its not the whole 12 months extra open, IMO.

 

[aandtcattle]

In these times of soaring input costs and shrinking margins, I cannot fathom waiting to breed heifers until they are 24-26 months, it's outageous!!  With the genetics available today, it is foolish to raise cattle that arent mature enough to breed at 14-15 months.  My grand-father was the last person to breed 2 year-old virgin heifers on this ranch, that was in the 70's(before I was born).  In my opinion, anyone still breeding beef heifers at 24+ months is not a professional cattleman, and it is even worse if these people are seedstock producers!  How many legitimate commercial outfits do no breed their heifers as yearlings?  Why would anyone buy a bull from someone who still breeds cattle according to the 1956 Animal Husbandry Handbook?

 

[Okotoks]

I suppose if one had both a fall and spring calving program the 30 month deal might work but there is little enough margin to put an extra years feed into a female before you start clipping the coupon. If one selects for productivity I think you will end up with heifers that make great mothers starting at 2 years.