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Age at Breeding

S

sic 'em reds

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Aug 22, 2006
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Location
WA
Just curious how young you guys will try to breed 1st calf heifers. The reason I ask is that lately I have been seeing that you shouldn't breed until they are 14 months old.

Most people go by 65% of mature weight, but what is everyones take on age?

The main reason I am curious is that we picked up a couple head of March 06 heifers (born 3/1 to 3/10) and I want to AI them with the rest at the end of March. Do you think I am pushing it or would it be fine? Everything else will be Jan/Feb heifers, so I would like to try and AI them all together and not wait a cycle to catch the younger ones.
 
We breed NOTHING before it's 24 months old. Most reg. associations won't recog. a birth if the heifer/cow is less than 18 months.

Yeah we wait a bit longer but it gives the cow time to mature herself BEFORE trying to grow a baby. Pelvic structures are well developed by then thus cuts down of problems with calving.

This works for us and has for many many years.
 
I often breed 10-12 month old heifers as long as they have enough groceries.

Angus calves will be eligible to register as long as the sire and dam are registered.

If heifers can't weigh 1000 pounds at calving they aren't getting enough to eat or are from pretty small genetics. A 1000 pound heifer should be able to have a 70-80 pound calf pretty easilly.

Saving them till 2 makes for fatter heifers, but not always more profitable.
 
We breed at 14-15 months, but I wouldn't worry too much about breeding a 12-13 month old heifer if she weighed enough. Can't afford to keep them around for 2 years before we breed them.
 
I haven't weighed them yet, but by going by some of the older calves, I would guess they'll be big enough by the time I breed them. They are also SimAngus heifers that should be pretty growthy. I am pretty excited about them since they are the first Sim genetics I have messed around with.
 
Don't worry about it, if they have had enough feed to grow out they will be cyclic at even 9 to 10 months. The heterosis will also allow them to reach puberty a little earlier than straight breds and they will probably be a little bigger at calving. I would rather breed at 14 or 15 months but I have also had some of these GVs calve at 16 months, that means they got bred at 7 months, or weaning time.
Kraven, if we waited to breed animals at 24 months of age, we would be non-existant, after three years and no pay check from a cow like that we would all be broke. There is a program I think it is on the NCBA website, that you can put your heifer development costs in and it will give you a return on investment over the life of a cow. If you do not breed them until 24 months of age they will NEVER show a profit, unless you never put any money into them. If it is not on the NCBA site it should be in CSU, they developed the program.
 
Yeah, I have seen that report SW about the breeding at 24 months instead of for breeding for calving at 22-24 months like most do now.. I don't know if the one I saw said they would never make money but it took a lot, lot longer and unless the cow would be productive 5-6 years longer for you..... (Of course the study I probaby saw was circa 1970 and with inputs having gone up so much since than it probably is even worse than it used to be).. Might have been in Verl Thomas book that I got while I was at MSU.. Still around here somewhere, lol.

I have seen critters calve at 18-20 months without a problem and I have seen 36 month olds calving for the first time have problems. So much is going to be genetics of the heifer and the bull you breed to her. Saw a Dexter pop one out at 15 months unassisted and have heard of 14 months as well. These were Oh Crap moments when they happened, not planed.
 
sw said:
Don't worry about it, if they have had enough feed to grow out they will be cyclic at even 9 to 10 months. The heterosis will also allow them to reach puberty a little earlier than straight breds and they will probably be a little bigger at calving. I would rather breed at 14 or 15 months but I have also had some of these GVs calve at 16 months, that means they got bred at 7 months, or weaning time.
Kraven, if we waited to breed animals at 24 months of age, we would be non-existant, after three years and no pay check from a cow like that we would all be broke. There is a program I think it is on the NCBA website, that you can put your heifer development costs in and it will give you a return on investment over the life of a cow. If you do not breed them until 24 months of age they will NEVER show a profit, unless you never put any money into them. If it is not on the NCBA site it should be in CSU, they developed the program.
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Agreed. Two-year-old heifers of moderate frame and moderate condition seem to calve easier than a three-year-old big fat heifer that gets held over. They go on to make better mothers, also. We had two heifers that had new babies back in December (by mistake). They were both March heifers from the year before, so they would have been twelve months old at conception and twenty-one months old when they calved. They both had nice bull calves unassisted, and they have turned into ideal little mothers. They give plenty of milk, and the calves are looking good.

Back in the days when most of the area ranches raised strictly Hereford cattle, quite a few outfits sold two-year-old steers. Most of them didn't calve a young cow until they were three years old. If a cow had a heifer calf, and you kept that calf for a replacement and calved her when she was three, and if she had a steer calf that you sold as a two-year-old--it would be five years before you ever got a coupon to sell from that original cow. Many of those outfits are still in business, but you sure don't see any of them calving three-year-olds for the first time, or selling two-year-old steers. They had to change with the times.
 
Thanks for the posts everyone. That's one of the bad things about this interent, you get to reading stuff that makes you start second guessing your original plan.
 
We have bred heifers between the yearling and 2 year old stages. Our best results are from the 18 month old heifers being bred. They have the size and aren't terribly fat to handle a calf. Yearlings are two much of a gamble, particularly if you use a heavier calving bulls. 2 year olds get too fat, period.
I don't buy the 'no profit in heifers that calve at 3' idea. If you end up turning your cows around at 6-7 years, then I can understand. The majority of our cows however, last well past their 10th birthday, with some in their mid-teens. I don't believe missing one calf to gain a little growth completely dooms a cow to being worthless.
 
sic 'em reds said:
Just curious how young you guys will try to breed 1st calf heifers. The reason I ask is that lately I have been seeing that you shouldn't breed until they are 14 months old.

Most people go by 65% of mature weight, but what is everyones take on age?

The main reason I am curious is that we picked up a couple head of March 06 heifers (born 3/1 to 3/10) and I want to AI them with the rest at the end of March. Do you think I am pushing it or would it be fine? Everything else will be Jan/Feb heifers, so I would like to try and AI them all together and not wait a cycle to catch the younger ones.
Click to expand...

You should be fine if they are fed enough, you should know if they are cycling before you breed them if they are bulling.
 

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