# Selecting Replacement Heifers.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Growing TN.

Regards, Mike

http://tennessee.growingamerica.com/news/2018/11/zoetis-selecting-heifer-replacements-2018-11-05


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## KYhaymaker (Jun 7, 2018)

I appreciate all the articles you post.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I do not put a bull with the heifers at 55% expected maturity weight. I guess that may be the norm now. Our Vet always said 80%, which may be over kill.

As a general rule, we breed heifers during their second December of life. That gives us calves starting the next September.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Similar to Tim, 15 month old heifers, when the bull gets turned out.

Larry


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

Really the guideline works out to breed them at 11-12 months so they can calve at 20-22 months old. In theory a 700 lb heifer should be ready to handle that. If you can't get a calf to 650-700 lbs in a year then you need to adjust something. People run into problems when maintaining appropriate feed rations, they feed them like seasoned cows or overload the heifers on feed. A bred heifer still needs help as she is still growing, too much feed is also bad.

I will second the don't keep heifers treated for BRD as I've have worse luck with them staying open. I would say 1 in 3 have gotten bred. Not sure if that is conicidence or if it's my luck.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

One thing i have always done is to not treat the bred heifers any different than the cows. I dont calf them early. They are with the cows over the winter feeding period and calf together. If they cant make it doing that and breed back a second time i dont want them. 
Iam also starting to have a real short breeding season for the heifers. Like 30 days. That way iam breeding and keeping the most reproductive ones. The ones that dont make the cut make for some nice butcher beef.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I attended a clinic last year that endorsed breeding heifers (AI) at 12 month. The stats showed that you got an extra year and calf out of that cow.

The question came up about the heifer being stunted by feeding a calf and growing herself. The answer was to feed the first calf heifers. To me that would mean keeping those young mothers in a separate pasture. That is not feasible for me as I only retain 5-10 each year depending on how many momma cows I plan to move.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Tim/South said:


> To me that would mean keeping those young mothers in a separate pasture. That is not feasible for me as I only retain 5-10 each year depending on how many momma cows I plan to move.


Ditto, except some years (this one) I'm only keeping one, instead of 4-8 heifers.

Larry

PS she is being kept with the 4H steers for awhile, so I suppose I could breed her, but then I would have a different calving time, than the rest of the herd. :mellow: I'll stick with the 14-15 month breeding, I think.


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