How soon to breed back?

[Nicki]

Hi,

I have been trying to get info on what is best when breeding back cows I have had horses forever and generally if you just want babies you breed back during the foal heat usually a week or two after giving birth basicly keeping the horse always pregnant. I am wondering if anyone does this with cows with there gestation period being shorter instead of getting one calf a year you could get a bonus calf every couple years because you gain a few months by breeding them right back. I so far can only find a little info on dairy cows which is a little different as they are looking at milk production. I would love to hear the pros and cons anyone has one bonus for us is we would not have to take our bull out every year. We only have two cows so getting the most out of them is important.

Thanks in advance Nicki

Just a little added info we raise Scottish Highlands and from the VERY little I have had a chance to read on it the registry recognizes cows that produce calves at certain intervals or so many within so many years of there life.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Most dairy cows are open for roughly a month before they're bred back. Most beef producers are calving in certain times of the year, so they breed back to coincide with their preferred calving times. It really depends on when you want calves. I personally wouln't breed back right away. True, you want to get your "money's worth" out of the cow, but you don't want to run her into the ground.

 

[herfrds]

It depends upon the care and nutrition.
Our cows will start cycling around 3 weeks after calving.
We will put our bulls out around the 3rd week of May to start calving the first of March.
The calves are weaned the first of October. That give the cow a chance to get ready for winter and not take anything away from the growing calf. We also hate trying to wean and ship in snow.

 

[jhm47]

When I breed cows, I like to have them cycle at least once before breeding them. That is usually about 2 months after they calve. If you breed on the first heat, their reproductive organs have usually not returned to normal, and they often don't conceive anyway. I would guess that the pregnancy rate for breeding on first heat after calving would be less than 30%. Second heat around double that, and third heat, 75 - 80%. That's for cows that are raised commercially, and are on pasture, nursing growing calves. Drylot cows that are being fed grain would possibly do a bit better.

 

[Gregg]

The sooner you get her bred back the better production. Wait until 2nd heat and bred that will be 45 days post calving. Which will give you apox 7 to 7 1/2 months of milk before she starts going dry. The cow needs 45-60 days rest to finish growing the unborn calf. Also gives her time to replenish her udder and mammary glands before calving again. If I was milking her watch for production to go down each time she is in heat if not bred , also if her production goes down the closer she get to dry off time below what you feel is profit margin then dry her off as she is not really costing you out in the dry cow pasture.
If you can or want milk 365 per yr have another cow ready to freshen when you dry off the other cow, that way you have milk yr round.

 

[amysflock]

Hi Nicki,

Based on what I've read/heard, I concur with jhm. One hard lesson we learned is that calving in fall/winter like we did in 2008 (calves 1 week before and 1 week after Thanksgiving) is that nursing over winter drains the mamas further than it would if they were nursing during spring/summer, which can delay their ability to breed back. In our case, our cows didn't breed back until July, which was a huge bummer given we'd borrowed and fed a mature bull for 16 weeks in early spring. Grr. We won't do that again.

This time we expect the cows to calve in April and will hope to breed back as early as June, although with all the mud we've had here so far this year, if we calved later than April in 2011 I'd be happy with that.

(And yes, our chances for either of our cows hitting the Impact or Elite Impact Dam statuses are blown. Bummer, man.)

 

[Nicki]

Thanks for the info

 

[clarmayfarm]

Actually, most dairy cows are first bred back at 60 days at the earliest. This allows for a calf every year and a two month "dry" period or vacation.