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farmerjan
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We want our heifers to have their first calf at somewhere around 24-28 months of age. So a heifer calf born today 3-20-20 will get bred no earlier than June of 2021 to have her first baby no earlier than March of 2022. I do not like to calve out heifers until between 26-30 months. They have a little more growth, and are a little more mature and seem to do a little better job of "being a mom".....
It's like a 15 yr old girl may be able to have a baby, but being 18 or 20 is much more preferable...... Same thing.
I have had a few heifers over the years get bred and calve at 18-20 months..... but they will never reach their full potential if they get bred too young. Their growth will be stunted, and they don't produce much milk and the calf doesn't get the growth because it doesn't get the needed nutrition.
I have a heifer that got bred while she was still nursing her mother. She just came in heat and being out to pasture I never saw it. By the time I realized she was bred, it was too late to abort her so she calved at about 17 1/2 months old. Bless her heart, she has been a good mother in as much as taking care of and mothering the calf. But she is short, her growth is stunted and she will probably never amount to anything and the calf is small and is not worth much. They are in getting fed better than the unbred ones of the same age, getting silage, and got some grain for the most of the early part of her lactation. But neither is worth much.
Just like everyone that preaches about pulling the ram lambs or the buck kids by 3 months or so. If the ewe lambs or the female kids come in heat, the males can breed at that young age. If they get caught, you usually don't know it until they are well along in the pregnancy and it is more dangerous to abort them at that point than to let them finish their term. Most people that I have heard or read, don't like the females to have babies (lambs in particular) until they are a year old. But you have to deal with a body that is not grown enough to have babies yet. The pelvis can be too small, they usually don't come into milk that good because the mammary system is immature. The baby can be too big, and you can have trouble getting it delivered. And no matter the breed, the first time momma in any breed of mammal, is still going to grow during that period. So if it is too young, they just can't grow and sustain feeding a baby at the same time so they just don't grow well. So neither is worth much, if you don't lose one or the other outright.
We don't have strangers come to the farm. We have always been very restrictive of people who come to the farm due to bringing in a "bug" that the cattle can pick up that they have had no contact with. The commercial farms are very restrictive. My dairies are being careful and not allowing anyone that they don't know and know what their travel situation has been. Anyone that has been there to ours the last few weeks, and I can think of maybe 6, are familiar friends or people who have worked for us in the past. Going to the auction is exposure to more people yes. But you have to realize that most of the time is is not that close a quarters, and most of the farmers, and their families in this area, do not travel, are very "tied to home" and have very few contacts with too many others that might have traveled elsewhere. Yes I understand the whole, his uncle's best friends' kids were exposed to the neighbor that just got back from XX...... or someone's parents just got back from a cruise that they went to on their 50th anniversary... Still they are putting restrictions in place also. We don't have small kids that get exposed to other kids, so not as big a problem there either, since kids bring home everything....
I appreciate the concern and yes we have talked about it. One of the reasons I will not be going to the sale tomorrow, because of the restrictions and for simple common sense. There are alot more of the "weekend" farmers that go to that one, but the talk is about allowing only one person per family who is selling..... most are families that bring all their kids and all that with them.... But the one on Monday has about 25 people there regularly and most are all older farmers..... and I mean real "off the back forty" kind of farmers that never go anywhere except to the feed store and the farm and the stockyard sale.
I think that as farmers, in general, we usually have a better immune system because we are exposed to a multitude of different bacteria and "bugs" and we then have a better build up of immunity from all the exposure.
It's like a 15 yr old girl may be able to have a baby, but being 18 or 20 is much more preferable...... Same thing.
I have had a few heifers over the years get bred and calve at 18-20 months..... but they will never reach their full potential if they get bred too young. Their growth will be stunted, and they don't produce much milk and the calf doesn't get the growth because it doesn't get the needed nutrition.
I have a heifer that got bred while she was still nursing her mother. She just came in heat and being out to pasture I never saw it. By the time I realized she was bred, it was too late to abort her so she calved at about 17 1/2 months old. Bless her heart, she has been a good mother in as much as taking care of and mothering the calf. But she is short, her growth is stunted and she will probably never amount to anything and the calf is small and is not worth much. They are in getting fed better than the unbred ones of the same age, getting silage, and got some grain for the most of the early part of her lactation. But neither is worth much.
Just like everyone that preaches about pulling the ram lambs or the buck kids by 3 months or so. If the ewe lambs or the female kids come in heat, the males can breed at that young age. If they get caught, you usually don't know it until they are well along in the pregnancy and it is more dangerous to abort them at that point than to let them finish their term. Most people that I have heard or read, don't like the females to have babies (lambs in particular) until they are a year old. But you have to deal with a body that is not grown enough to have babies yet. The pelvis can be too small, they usually don't come into milk that good because the mammary system is immature. The baby can be too big, and you can have trouble getting it delivered. And no matter the breed, the first time momma in any breed of mammal, is still going to grow during that period. So if it is too young, they just can't grow and sustain feeding a baby at the same time so they just don't grow well. So neither is worth much, if you don't lose one or the other outright.
We don't have strangers come to the farm. We have always been very restrictive of people who come to the farm due to bringing in a "bug" that the cattle can pick up that they have had no contact with. The commercial farms are very restrictive. My dairies are being careful and not allowing anyone that they don't know and know what their travel situation has been. Anyone that has been there to ours the last few weeks, and I can think of maybe 6, are familiar friends or people who have worked for us in the past. Going to the auction is exposure to more people yes. But you have to realize that most of the time is is not that close a quarters, and most of the farmers, and their families in this area, do not travel, are very "tied to home" and have very few contacts with too many others that might have traveled elsewhere. Yes I understand the whole, his uncle's best friends' kids were exposed to the neighbor that just got back from XX...... or someone's parents just got back from a cruise that they went to on their 50th anniversary... Still they are putting restrictions in place also. We don't have small kids that get exposed to other kids, so not as big a problem there either, since kids bring home everything....
I appreciate the concern and yes we have talked about it. One of the reasons I will not be going to the sale tomorrow, because of the restrictions and for simple common sense. There are alot more of the "weekend" farmers that go to that one, but the talk is about allowing only one person per family who is selling..... most are families that bring all their kids and all that with them.... But the one on Monday has about 25 people there regularly and most are all older farmers..... and I mean real "off the back forty" kind of farmers that never go anywhere except to the feed store and the farm and the stockyard sale.
I think that as farmers, in general, we usually have a better immune system because we are exposed to a multitude of different bacteria and "bugs" and we then have a better build up of immunity from all the exposure.
What will be, will be.
At least the things I'm watching don't have news.
