Can a heifer be too old to breed?

[PattySh]

We just bred our heifer for the first time in aug and she was 3 in Nov
Neither our vet nor any local farmers voiced negative opinions.Rather that she being larger was beneficial
We did make sure the hereford bull sired small calves.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Our red heifer did not get bred until she was 3 yrs old(didnt have a bull for that time), the birth was a bit problematic, Calf got stuck and she wouldnt let us pull, took her over 24 hrs to pass it and of course the calf was dead at that point. Vet said its because she was bred so late in life and her pelvis didnt have a chance to stretch when it was still all flexible....
Wasnt that big of a calf either.
Almost lost the cow too because the 3 days after she wouldnt get up, she'd just lay there not eat or drink.

So no, we wont let a heifer sit unbred for that long again.

The calf she had the following year was a breeze since she was all "stretched out" for it.

You still have a chance of a heifer getting calving problems even if she's bred at the right age/weight...and even more so if she were bred too young. But I can see the vet's reasoning, for sure.


Dragonmorgan, I don't think I or anyone else here yet mentioned this: if you have Brahman-type cattle, you will have to expect your Brahman-type (cross, hybrid, whatever) heifers to breed a bit later than the non-Brahmer type cattle. A lot of the time they won't get settled until they're around 24 to 30 months of age. So if the heifers you have have even a little bit of Brahman influence in them, then that may be the controlling factor as to when they are to be bred or when they should be bred.

 

[dragonmorgan]

I did not know that about brahman cattle and that is good to know because our new bottle baby has obvious brahman in her. Her mom looked like a reg ol mutt cow and i think her daddy was a white angus cross or something. Not sure since we sold him about a month or 2 after we get him because he was always jumpin the fence so i never really studied him. Anyway she has the big droopy ears and pudgy eyebrows that make her look squinty lol. She's adorable.