first time Holstein heifer

[john in wa]

I got a 14 month old Holstein heifer today. with the weight tape she should be right around 800lbs. I would like to breed her with my Brahma/Angus cross yearling bull. the bulls birth weight was 65 to 70 lbs. I am thinking she should be able to handle this with ease for a first time heifer. I want to use her for a nurse cow and nothing more. She was the heifer calf from a private party and born from his Holstein cow who he had AI to Holstein bull so he guaranteed she is breed-able. what are your thoughts.

 

[jhm47]

Should work great. If she's 800 lbs, she's ready to be bred immediately. One caution is that sometimes when you cross several breeds like this, you will get calves that are much larger than the parents were when they were born. Doesn't always happen, but sometimes it's a disaster. I crossed a couple breeds two years ago, and wound up with a huge calf and lost the cow too. This was a big 4 yr old cow, and the calf had to weigh around 150 lbs.

 

[john in wa]

I don't think she should have any trouble. I also have access to a nice Charolais bull i can use, but he is older and well over a 2000lbs and i don't want to break her down. I know she will do alot of growing over the summer and fall and cant wait to see how she turns out.

this is a pic of her its not good and dont really show her body type to well.

 

[jhm47]

DO NOT use a Charolais bull on a first-calf heifer. DO NOT! DO NOT! I cannot stress this enough. You will run a very great chance of losing your heifer if you do. Charolais are NOT for use on 1st calvers.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

Any way to breed her/AI her to a mini bull? Those are all the craze right now.

 

[jason_mazzy]

I would totally go with a mini. If it is a heifer than you may have a smaller cow with more milk with less feed cost!

 

[cattlecait]

It sounds like the Brahma/Angus would be a great cross on her. I've heard that Brahma/dairy crosses have great milking abilities (weird?).

I agree, DON'T use the Charolais!

 

[john in wa]

I will go with my little bull. He is mature enough to get the job done. I really dont want to breed her with any type of mini bull. They just dont sale well around here. It seems to take a while to sale them and we all know that eats into any profit you might make off the calf. If its a heifer calf i will keep her to replace one of the smaller cows i have now.