Suckler heifers calving as two year olds...

LivInt20

As we are in the breeding season, what are people's thoughts on two year old calving?

Are more of ye moving towards younger heifers calving?

If you have moved to two year old calving what are your thoughts now?

redzerologhlen

LivInt20 wrote: »

As we are in the breeding season, what are people's thoughts on two year old calving?

Are more of ye moving towards younger heifers calving?

If you have moved to two year old calving what are your thoughts now?

Working grand here for us and we are out wintering them aswell. They are plenty big at calving and hopefully it wont take them too long to start cycling again. An extra year is a long time to leave them idle. If you had an autumn and spring calving herd it would be ideal to have them calving at 30 months I would say. The pic is of a heifer that calved at 23 months, plenty big in my eyes and she will stay growing.

Bizzum

We've calved a few at 24 mths, when we had to. Having spring and autumn calvers makes it easy for us not to anymore. I would find a great difference in the extra couple of months between calving at 24mths and leaving them on to say 27mths.
A big growthy heifer going to the bull at 15mths is a different proposition to a small muscular heifer.

blue5000

Calving at two year old here, but they need to be born early in the season so that they will be the strongest heifers at bulling time. Had one this year that wasn't big enough and has calved now at about 30 months.

grazeaway

blue5000 wrote: »

Calving at two year old here, but they need to be born early in the season so that they will be the strongest heifers at bulling time. Had one this year that wasn't big enough and has calved now at about 30 months.

yeah we do the same. keep the oldest heifers as replacements. we usually have them calving at 24 to 27 mths. ideally i we would put them in calf to a AA bull but have left them with the stock LM bull last year and 3 have calved not bother so far this spring, 3 more due in the coming few weeks. left them late enough last year so give them as much of a chance with the big bull. They fill out a lot in the few months after calving and are fine big cows as 2nd calvers

pakalasa

I try to calve them at 2 years, but it isn't easy. You do need to pick the early calving heifers and let them grow an extra few months so in reality they calve at about 26/27 months. Not a bad idea either to seperate them after calving and give them a bit of meal to get them bulling quickly again for the second year. A young heifer after calving, that is still growing will need a lot more energy going into her especially if she is milky. I go with a very easy calving AI lim bull too, the first time.

yellow50HX

if i can i also try to have them calving at 24-26 months but not much older. If you leave them too long then its very hard to get them back in calf quick enough to have early spring calves, the following years. If i can i try to get hold of a scrub AAX bull and let him with them. I have tried to keep them separate from the main herd until after they have calved for a few weeks but easier said then done.

Bleating Lamb

This is one question which divides opinion but I would be of firm opinion heifirs should be at least 30 months at calving.Main reason is the heifir will always be a bigger scopier cow,has less problems at first calving and you end up with a far stronger cow if anything ever goes wrong and she has to be killed in factory.

redzerologhlen

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

This is one question which divides opinion but I would be of firm opinion heifer should be at least 30 months at calving.Main reason is the heifer will always be a bigger scopier cow,has less problems at first calving and you end up with a far stronger cow if anything ever goes wrong and she has to be killed in factory.

I had a few heifers calve at 3 year old's this year and I dont think I will ever do it again, they are way to big for my gig. A man once said to me if a heifer isint big enough to calve at a 2 year old should you be breeding her at all.

yellow50HX

redzerologhlen wrote: »

A man once said to me if a heifer isint big enough to calve at a 2 year old should you be breeding her at all.

excatly, hence fellas use AA or HF bulls on 1st time calvers

LivInt20

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

This is one question which divides opinion but I would be of firm opinion heifirs should be at least 30 months at calving.Main reason is the heifir will always be a bigger scopier cow,has less problems at first calving and you end up with a far stronger cow if anything ever goes wrong and she has to be killed in factory.

There is the argument that it does not stunt growth and the cow will end up the same size anyhow.

I have a cow calved as a two year old and she is the biggest cow on the farm.

reilig

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

This is one question which divides opinion but I would be of firm opinion heifirs should be at least 30 months at calving.Main reason is the heifir will always be a bigger scopier cow,has less problems at first calving and you end up with a far stronger cow if anything ever goes wrong and she has to be killed in factory.

There's some interesting research done on it - ICBF have published.
-It is recommended that easy calving bulls be used on heifers calved down at 24 months.
- You are keeping a heifer for less time without a calf - more profit for you.
- heifers calved at 24 months go back in calf sooner (on average) than 30 month heifers.
- Heifers calved at 24 months will on average not be smaller or lighter at 4 years (when a cow is considered fully grown) than a heifer calved at 30 months.
- Throughout their life, Heifers calved at 24 months tend on average to be more fertile than 30 month heifers. ie. They have shorter calving intervals and more calves per cow per year.
- Recorded calving difficulties for heifers calved at 24 months are less than those calved at 30 months.

All of this info is available from ICBF with excat figures and % - it was given to us at BTAP meeting.

Lastin

The reason a high percentage of sucklers calve at 36 months is we tend to source them from the dairy herd. If heifers are to calve at 24 months(average) some will be only 22months it can be hard for bucket reared stock to reach bulling weight. The heifers are the key to holding your calving pattern, they must calve in the first half of the calving season.

adne

reilig wrote: »

There's some interesting research done on it - ICBF have published.
-It is recommended that easy calving bulls be used on heifers calved down at 24 months.
- You are keeping a heifer for less time without a calf - more profit for you.
- heifers calved at 24 months go back in calf sooner (on average) than 30 month heifers.
- Heifers calved at 24 months will on average not be smaller or lighter at 4 years (when a cow is considered fully grown) than a heifer calved at 30 months.
- Throughout their life, Heifers calved at 24 months tend on average to be more fertile than 30 month heifers. ie. They have shorter calving intervals and more calves per cow per year.
- Recorded calving difficulties for heifers calved at 24 months are less than those calved at 30 months.

All of this info is available from ICBF with excat figures and % - it was given to us at BTAP meeting.

My AI man claims its better to have them calving to a real easy bull at or before 26 months as he claims that the longer they are not gone to bull from 16 to 17 months they start putting on fat and lose some of their matnernal hotmones hence harder to get back in calf in subsequent years

tim04750

The argument against 24 month calving of sucklers that pops up most frequently is the issue of stunting growth, and if your worried about it sell the calf and dry off the heifer or let her rear it for a few months and then wean it , either way she's making a few bob for you twelve months earlier than 36 month calving.

1chippy

I wouldnt do it again, i will be giving them an extra few months before they go in with the bull.

pakalasa

adne wrote: »

My AI man claims its better to have them calving to a real easy bull at or before 26 months as he claims that the longer they are not gone to bull from 16 to 17 months they start putting on fat and lose some of their matnernal hotmones hence harder to get back in calf in subsequent years

My AI guy has said similar. I've had older heifers before that wouldn't go in-calf and he reckon it was because they had too much condition.

Dampintheattic

pakalasa wrote: »

My AI guy has said similar. I've had older heifers before that wouldn't go in-calf and he reckon it was because they had too much condition.

I've had that problem, letting them go too long. They do put up too much condition.
Can be hard to get them in calf to AI.
Stock bull, will sort that out though.

Still I'm not a fan of 24 month calving. They need a few more months on them. Stands to them in the long run.

manjou

Have always calved down at 24 months anything that does not go in calf at this age is culled because if they are not big enough at 15 months then they are not going to produce calves that are big enough either.If a dairy farmer can bucket rear a calf and get them calving at 2 years old and a suckler cow cant get a calf to do same then would be better of buying sucks.Sold cows last year that reared calves all last summer and no feeding only grass and they averaged 750 kg and had calved at 2 and every year after until they were 9 and 10.Never have trouble calving them but get them straight to grass before cows to keep them going.

blue5000

A lot of suckler farmers still believe that a big cow is better. Therefore they leave them till they are 3 years old to calve. Big cows eat more, and poach more. The only time a big cow is better than a small cow is when she is on the hook, usually due to not going in calf.

Grecco

I think its too early at 24 months, your not guaranteed that the heifer will be fully developed, plus if she`s a beef breed then the milk supply could be next to nothing

redzerologhlen

Grecco wrote: »

I think its too early at 24 months, your not guaranteed that the heifer will be fully developed, plus if she`s a beef breed then the milk supply could be next to nothing

Bull**** on the milk front anyway, I have 10 2 year old lim heifers calved here in the last few weeks and theres none of the wanting for milk, every bit as milky as the few 3 year old heifers that calved with them. If they are going to have milk they will have it at 2 year olds, keeping them an extra 12 months wont make one bit of difference that is ever known.

pakalasa

There was an arrticle in the journal a while back about a well known suckler farm in Cork.I think the name was Linnane, husband and wife team. They had a very good system, I thought. Calving at 2 years and feeding some meal to young cows to get them back bulling. Continously culling the late calvers. All animals were finished on farm at a young age. They were really pushing output with meal feeding at the right times. All cows were muscley red linousin types going back generations on the farm.
Well worth a read if you can get your hands on it.

ordinary farmer

id be more inclinded to bull around 24 months. 30 months i think is ideal for calving. just my opinion but heifers are stronger for calving and less hassel.

Bleating Lamb

Bizzum wrote: »

We've calved a few at 24 mths, when we had to. Having spring and autumn calvers makes it easy for us not to anymore. I would find a great difference in the extra couple of months between calving at 24mths and leaving them on to say 27mths.
A big growthy heifer going to the bull at 15mths is a different proposition to a small muscular heifer.

Have to say I agree.hence rather calve around the 30 months....Teagasc spent last few years pushing younger calving age, have seen several neighbours who follow teagasc bible ending up with C sections....even on supposedly strong 2 yr olds calving to light bulls.