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Heffers

S

Stretch

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 19, 2006
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199
Location
Se Nebraska
Been calving for a couple weeks and some calves from both cows and heffers. Out of the heffers we are only 3-5 two of them have lost their calves. The first loss was a heffer that was walking down a small hill in the calving pen stumbled and fell while she was walking down the slope toget to a better spot. She ended up having the calf laying on her side headed down hill. She did have the calf but I am sure it was a real deal for her. She had it between checks late the other night... :mad: The second one was tonight I came home from town and found her trying hard and needing a pull. By the time I got the calf out it was to late. :mad: I realize it is a shared fault between myself and mothernature but dang it anyway.... On the bright side and I had one that was backwards and caught it and save it last sunday afternoon and it is fine. I realize that things do happen but dang my smaller numbers any loss is a huge percentage of the years crop and I hate to loose.... My question is do I keep them or sell them. First calf heffers and both tried hard and showed signs that they were going to care for even a lost calf. Both are good natured and come from cows that I expected good things from the heffers but now I don't know if I should just cut my losses or give them a second go.. Thanks
 
If they were mine, they'd stay. I'm always one for giving critters a second chance. I lost two calves last year, both my fault because it was getting near the end of calving season and I was getting lazy. I carried both cows over, one has calved and is raising a fine calf, the other (which was a first calf heifer last year) is due near the end of this month. We'll see how it goes with her, hopefully all will be good.
 
I don't have any economic proof for what I do, but if the heifer has a calf and looses it they get a second chance. If a C-section or prolapse is involved, there isn't a second chance but every other situation gets a second chance.
 
Stretch sorry to hear about you bad luck!!! :(

I would sure look at how they were breed, where the calves too big, what condition the heifers are in, ect when concidering keeping them for another year. If you are trying to grow your heard you need to ask yourself if any of it was related to her that she lost her calf then she won't do your heard any good in the long run. Hope your luck changes. :)
 
Stretch said:
Been calving for a couple weeks and some calves from both cows and heffers. Out of the heffers we are only 3-5 two of them have lost their calves. The first loss was a heffer that was walking down a small hill in the calving pen stumbled and fell while she was walking down the slope toget to a better spot. She ended up having the calf laying on her side headed down hill. She did have the calf but I am sure it was a real deal for her. She had it between checks late the other night... :mad: The second one was tonight I came home from town and found her trying hard and needing a pull. By the time I got the calf out it was to late. :mad: I realize it is a shared fault between myself and mothernature but dang it anyway.... On the bright side and I had one that was backwards and caught it and save it last sunday afternoon and it is fine. I realize that things do happen but dang my smaller numbers any loss is a huge percentage of the years crop and I hate to loose.... My question is do I keep them or sell them. First calf heffers and both tried hard and showed signs that they were going to care for even a lost calf. Both are good natured and come from cows that I expected good things from the heffers but now I don't know if I should just cut my losses or give them a second go.. Thanks
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I don't know if this will give you any comfort....2006 we lost 3 sets of twins in 2 days. Since they were older cows we sold them. Give them another chance...if they screw up the next time get rid of them! We go by this rule: Our fault, give them another chance... Usually our fault is not catching them when they were having trouble. IMHO
 
Thanks everyone it does help to hear that you aren't the only one that has bad luck. I am not going to pull anyones leg I am a one bull operation for now and hoping to get up to a second in the next couple yrs. I work in town and hustle to keep up around here. I need every live one I can get and things like this really hurt. I had an idea last summer to try adding heffers to get fresh blood in the herd. I had high hopes and still do as to the things that the group can bring to my herd. The bull I used has a good long body and about an 85lb birth weight. His body has a nice stretch to it and his head is nice and stream lined. This is the second year that I have used him and the calves out of him have always been in the 70-90lb range and some of the easiest calving we have ever had. Heck I don't know what the answer to the keep or get rid of them but one thing I do know is about the time I think I have it figured out things fly to pieces.... :roll: I am to stubborn to give up but sure hope this is the end of the tough luck for the year for sure.... :wink:
 
no calf = no chance
I don't care how expensive a purebred cow is, if she doesn't have a calf to go to pasture with she gets a ride to town. By keeping cows that lose calves you are not selecting for desirable traits. Whether it is mothering ability, pelvic size, temperament. If you want to improve your genetics keep only cows that raise a calf every year. Second chances allow the possibility of spread of disease or genetic faults. Mother nature has a good way of culling bad genetics , let her do her job!
 
Work Hard and Study Hard Wrote:
It's of my opinion that if you can't spell heifer then you shouldn't be allowed to calve them. Buy bred cows.
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It's of my opinion if you can't be nice (like everyone else has been) I don't need your opinion.... :!:
 
Quote from Work Hard and Study Hard ......

"Soapy, why don't you part with some of that moldly money and but a portable hydraulic chute? By the way the cattle look very nice."

This would lead me to ask.....if one can't spell "Soapweed", "moldy" or "buy", and neglects the proper placement of a comma, can they really be taken serious when they point out the errors made by another individual?
 
Since they are heifers and you are just as much to blame as they are,i would give them another chance.If they were just average cows,i would say just sell them.Thats how i try to run my farm.
 
If you could buy a couple good healthy beef type calves, it is probably not too late yet to graft them onto these heifers. Then for sure it would be justifiable to keep them on, if they would be raising a calf.

Most of the old ranches in this country that ran Herefords never calved them until they were three years old anyway. Even if you kept them over another year and bred them again to calve when they are three, they would still be just as efficient as those Herefords from yesteryear.
 
I say say sell them. I figure that a cow has to generate a revenue of some sort on my place. It is either raise a calf or pay for it through your own hide. If the heifers were bred to an appropriate calving ease bull, I feel they should be able to do it without my my help and if they can't, I figure I have saved trouble down the road.

I don't bring any outside calves in either as I hate to introduce a new bug to my herd. I test for Johnes and BVD Pi's every year and hate to ruin my neg. status.

Soapweed, are there many people who still calve them out as 3 year olds in your country yet or have they all shifted to calving twos?'

Brian
 
SMN Herf said:
Soapweed, are there many people who still calve them out as 3 year olds in your country yet or have they all shifted to calving twos?'

Brian
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Some of the old straight Hereford outfits sold two-year-old steers and didn't breed their heifers until they were two years old so they would calve for the first time at three years of age. I suppose the last of these ranches changed their program at least 10 or 12 years ago. I don't know how those outfits made it. For example, if a cow had a calf and that calf was a heifer, and that heifer calf was kept to become a cow, you would wait three years until she had a calf, and if that calf was a steer, you would wait another two years until it was sold. Under that scenario, you could conceivably wait for five years before you ever reaped a cash coupon from the first cow's calf. Good thing those old ranches were paid for and that things weren't as technical as they are now. :roll:
 

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