Newbie to beef cattle

[farmerjan]

WHEN i was saying about the time frame for a beef, I was assuming that if you bred the older heifer then you would be eating her calf not her. Once she gets up to 2-2 1/2 and calves then raises the calf, she will be going on 3. They are more tender and tasty at the 18-30 month range. Once they calve, it seems that the tenderness drops and the steaks and such just don't always have the same tenderness. Ground beef and other cuts are okay. But once they have a calf, and do a good job of raising it, you are going to be that much more attached ( besides she is your first cow) and killing for beef will be far from your thoughts. The younger one could be beef, but let me advise to not keep one cow by its self if at all possible. They are herd animals, and do better with some of their own for company.

If you are thinking to calve her at 2 or shortly there after, you will have to be considering getting her bred at 15-18 months. That's 6 or so months from now. And you will have to have a place to catch her up so that you can have her bred A I or else then you get into the whole thing of a bull and that will be a pain because the smaller heifer will be big enough to also be coming in heat but still too young to safely be bred and so then you have to deal with that. If you take her to say the former owners if they have a bull, or to someone else, then you have to deal with the transportation, and boarding while being bred and what if she doesn't take.....

Alot to think about.

 

[RollingAcres]

@farmerjan Yes, the plan is to breed the older heifer and eat her calf, that's our plan. Thank you for the info on the tenderness change after they calf, we are not aware of that part.
About the herd animals part, we are aware of it, that's why when we got the older heifer, we looked for and got the younger heifer around the same time, so that there are 2 of them.
More questions for you: We are planning on breeding the older heifer but know that we can't just keep breeding her. What is the norm of breeding a heifer? And say after breeding her a couple of times, by then she would be around 5 and would not be as tender as you mentioned. At that time do we keep her around as a companion?

 

[greybeard]

More questions for you: We are planning on breeding the older heifer but know that we can't just keep breeding her. What is the norm of breeding a heifer? And say after breeding her a couple of times, by then she would be around 5 and would not be as tender as you mentioned. At that time do we keep her around as a companion?

Why can't you "just keep breeding her"? (unless it is the tenderness aspect)
I've had several that kept producing calves for over 8-10 years.
I like to breed heifers at closer to 20 months than 12-14 months.
I'm not much on keeping anything other than wife and dogs around just as companions. Everything else has to pull it's weight.

 

[RollingAcres]

Why can't you "just keep breeding her"? (unless it is the tenderness aspect)

Didn't want her to be a breeding machine.

 

[farmerjan]

A beef cow is designed to produce a calf every year. That is their job.
And to clarify, ANY animal that gets over 3-4 years old will get tougher. The meat comes from the muscles, that is what you eat, and it gets tougher with age. Steers, heifers, cows, it wasn't meant that calving would make her meat tough, just that she would be getting older and they get tougher.

Back to the producing a calf every year. For any real farmer that is in the business, a cow has to produce a calf yearly in order to justify the expense of keeping her. Okay, so you are not a full time farmer....BUT, it still costs the same to keep her for the year whether you get a calf or not. So if you go 2 years between calves then that calf costs twice what a yearly calf costs, but you will not get twice the price for it if you sell it..... so that means it is costing you twice as much to get that calf. Besides that, if a cow is not kept on a somewhat regular schedule of producing a calf, she will get fat and then will be a non-breeder and then where are you? She is then worth about $.70 per pound as a cull cow because she will go to slaughter for hamburger..... Or you will have some very costly hamburger in your freezer. Which is fine if you want 2-300 lbs of hamburger. Believe me , calving yearly is what they do, what they really are best at, and when they quit doing that, they "have a big Mac attack" .
Greybeard is right. Cows produce for years. I have several now that are pushing 16 and still producing a calf. We don't keep cows past their productive life as a rule. Have retired a couple ove the 40 years we have been doing this, and they died on the place, but that is the exception. "Lawn Ornaments " cost too much to feed.
I usually try to breed my heifers at about 17-20 months also, as I like them to have a little more size and growth so that when they are calving at 26-30 months, they are a little more mature and have better instincts about raising a calf. The "NORM " according to the cattle industry is calving at 24 months.... but some of us aren't "normal".

The cow carries for 9 months m/l... So you breed her at say 18 months....she calves at 27 months.. then at approx 2-3 months in lactation, you breed back the cow back and she gets pregnant and then when the calf is about 7-9 months, you wean it and the cow has about 2-3 months "dry " period which is her rest and when the calf does the greatest amount of growing inside, then she calves again. The cow has 2-3 months of just feeding the calf, then gets pregnant, then gets a rest period before calving again. YOU HAVE TO WEAN THE CALF and give the cow a break and her body has to have time to make colostrum for the new calf when it is born.

There are variations but this is the basic idea. By the time the calf is weaned, it will be eating grain, hay and grass as the cow's milk will be declining and then it will be easier on her body to dry up. The cow should not be getting any grain after the calf reaches about 5 months so her milk production will fall off. We do not routinely feed any grain except to our "grandma " group of old cows in the winter so they keep their weight and can make milk to feed their calves. We feed a little grain just as an incentive to get our cows to come to call and to be able to get them in the pens when we have to catch them up.
The calf should be eating good when it is weaned. Yes they will moo and carry on for each other but they will get over it. Lasts about a week.

 

[RollingAcres]

I truly appreciate everyone taking the time to share with me your experience and knowledge. I know I'm new to all this and I have a lot to learn, that's why I'm here. Everyone has to start some where and I'm glad I have a nice group of people to help me!

 

[RollingAcres]

Here they are

 

[Alaskan]

They look great!

 

[Baymule]

Nice looking cows!

 

[RollingAcres]

They look great!

Thank you!