What age do you breed heifers?

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

Just curious at what age do you breed your heifers?

 

[pigguy]

14-15 months so they calve when they are 2 years of age

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

Do you go mainly off of age or size and weight?

 

[Jill]

All of our heifers will calve by the time they are 2.  If they are not big enough to do that, they won't be around long.

 

[showcattlegal]

we go by age and size, most of our heifers will calve when there 2. The late heifers or the ones that are on the small side we let them grow more before we breed them.

 

[TJ]

14-15 months so they calve when they are 2 years of age

14-15 months is pretty standard.  If she wont calve by age 2, I'd do just like Jill suggested & I'd ship her!!    

This following is one of those "don't try this at home posts"...

I bred some 10-12 month old Tarentaise heifers (all the late calves) to a Lowline bull as an experiment & it worked.  The next year 100% of them calved unassisted & the year after that, 1/2 of them bred up a heat cycle (calved 20-30 days earlier).  But, TA's are very early maturing females & Lowlines are very low BW.  It is certainly not the "preferred method", but it worked for me even though I only tried it that 1st year & only on a limited # of heifers.  Everything else has been at least 13 months.  Not sure if I will try it again, but I like experimenting & I am not afraid to do things just a  "little differently", especially if I think it will work!!    

 

[chambero]

We calve from Sep-early Nov.  We keep about 40-60 replacement heifers per year.  We put bulls out with them around Thanksgiving each year.  So, they are bred anywhere from 12-15 months of age.  In general, the older ones are the ones that probably stick the quickest, but almost all will breed within 90 days.  We have very little calving difficulty.

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

Thanks for the advice I have a heifer that is 15 months old and was wanting to breed her but she seems to be small framed to me. I beleive i will have her AIed in the next week or so.

 

[TJ]

Thanks for the advice I have a heifer that is 15 months old and was wanting to breed her but she seems to be small framed to me. I beleive i will have her AIed in the next week or so.

Small framed shouldn't matter as long as she's in pretty decent condition.  Since she's small framed, she could have a smaller pelvis, but not necessarily.  I've seen plenty of small framed heifers with fairly big pelvic areas.  Anyway, be sure to use an AI bull that is proven to work extremely well on heifers & you should be OK. 

   

 

[knabe]

aren't there a couple of maine bulls that advertise as short gestation length and/or early maturing?

 

[DL]

I breed my heifers to calve between 21 and 24 months - the general recommendation is that they are about 60 to 70% of their mature size when bred.

I have recently seen a great deal of calving difficulty related to small pelvic area in small framed show heifers - we are talking C-sections, hard pulls of small calves, dead calves and heifers going to salvage - it might be worth your while to have your vet measure her pelvic area if you are concerned (yes there is a gizmo called a pelvimeter used just for that purpose!)

good luck and make sure you use a known calving ease bull (might want to check the post on calving ease)....

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

The heifer that I am looking at breeding is a heifer that is out of a heat seaker son on the top side and bottom side is a playray granddaughter what calving ease bulls should I look at to  breed her two?

 

[Jill]

Something with guaranteed high accuracy low birthweight numbers, those are smaller clubby lines and I wouldn't take any chances with questionable or unproven bulls.

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

Would Ali probably be the safest bet? It seems like no one has had any problems with him.

 

[chambero]

I'd use an Angus bull if you really want to be on the safe side. 

For club calf bulls, Ali is commonly used of course.  An oldie but a good one is Witch Doctor.  I may try Total Solution on a few this year.

 

[Jill]

Would Ali probably be the safest bet? It seems like no one has had any problems with him.

We have had good luck with Ali, but my niece took a 130 pounder out the side.  I don't care for Angus and normally wouldn't suggest one, but with those lines, I would agree with Chambero on this one, Witch Doctor or a proven Angus

 

[Mcdonald Show Animals]

What are the avg birthweights with witch doctor?

 

[ROAD WARRIOR]

I useually breed my heifers to calve between 18 and 24 months. My theory is that if my heifers are big enough to calve at 18 months, that will give them a little extra time to recover after calving and weaning before winter. But you also have to remember that I like my cows a little bigger than most and therefore my heifers are bigger than alot of them at that age.

 

[Jill]

What are the avg birthweights with witch doctor?

You know I really don't know, we have never used him because we have never been concerned with birthweights.  According the EPD's listed in Genetic Horizons he is a -0.3 with a 93% accuracy and he is a 1992 bull, so he is proven. The thing I like with this mating over Angus would be you would have a registerable calf.  The Witch Doctor is a PB Maine so the least you would have would be a 1/2 blood calf, same with Ali and we have used Ali on 2 heifers our birthweights were 68 and 73.

 

[DL]

I am not a big fan of the Angus breed generically because of the temperament which is usually not to my liking. I did use one Angus bull last year and although he certainly isn't crazy he has a distinctly different temperament than my purebred Maines. I don't like Russian Roulette with my heifers

While there are certainly calves born on either side of the bell shaped curve The Witch Doctor has stood the test of time and is a true calving ease Maine - I have never pulled a Witch Doctor calf from a purebred heifer - mine have been 80 plus or minus pounds; his calves are almost always good all around - they show and they work in the pasture.  - The Witch Doctors son WD40 is also a favorite of mine - little calves on purebred Maines that just get "spit out" - mine averages 78 pounds - and these calves are nothing to look at when born (you curse the person who suggested him!) but they get better and better every day - until one day you say WOW! I also like my WD40s.

Then there is the Red Angus solution - RW can give you names of calving ease Red Angus - I have friends who have used Red Angus on purebred and percentage Maines and had these little bitty calves that bounced up and grew well. I have 3 Red Angus coming so we will see - heifers are always a challenge ....