Open 1st Calf Heifers

[redrobin]

Kentucky 31 is the variety in question. God never made a grass any better or any worse.

 

[Faster horses]

There is mineral designed to be fed in fescue situations. I've never sold any because we don't have fescue in our country, but I do know that it really works.In fact, a member here switched to it after I told him about it and he is very, very happy with the results of feeding it. PM me if you would like more information.

 

[Big Swede]

My advice would be to keep twice as many heifer calves as you think you need to and breed them for 1 cycle to start calving 3 weeks before your cow due date. Maybe keep even more than that just to be sure the first time. That way you will be selecting the most fertile females and they will be done calving about the time your cows start. That will give them extra time to cycle and go into the mature cow herd on the same schedule. I think breeding heifers for 60 days is a mistake because the later calving ones are already behind the 8 ball because they can always use the extra time to get cycling again. Weaning early is another management technique that will get those heifers in good shape before winter. Keeping them separated in a different feeding group that winter is also a good idea so that you can adjust their ration if needed. Since I have started managing my heifers this way my breed back has been very good. Last year I had 0 opens out of 90 head and this year I had 1 out of 85. It is very expensive to have open coming 3 year olds so everything you can do to avoid it is worth the extra management. Your environment is different I know but if nothing else works for you it might be worth a try.

 

[PATB]

Is it possible to keep bulls back out of your own herd from your top older cows? These bulls would have a greater chance of siring daughters that has what it takes to make it under your resources and management. It has been my experience certian bloodlines have harder time working under my management style. As stated before we have used an AI sire that his descendants have had fertility challenges across generations. The any future calves from this line will make great feeder cattle until the current females eliminate themselves from the herd.