Summer is quickly coming to an end, which means weaning time is coming soon. This time of year, producers have already been spending time carefully hand picking heifers to keep desired genetics in their herds.

Picking the right heifers is just the beginning when it comes to raising successful breeding stock.

Dr. John Campbell, Department Head of Large Animal Clinical Studies at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, says often the open cows in a herd, are the 2nd calvers.

"A cow takes on average 50-60 days to recover after she calves before she starts cycling again. But, a first calf heifer when she calves, takes 90-100 days, which is significantly longer. Those first calf heifers, will often start dropping off the back of the herd. If they calve at the end of the calving season, next year they probably won't even be cycling by the time the breeding season ends."

He says to get reproductive momentum in your heifers, it's important to make sure they calve in the first 21 days of the calving season, or even prior to the calving season.

This would mean breeding the heifers earlier than the cows, but Campbell adds, he knows sometimes this isn't always a possibility for cow-calf producers.

Campbell says, a number of studies have shown, if heifers calve in the first 21 days, they wean heavier calves for 6 years, and have one extra calf over lifetime productivity.

They also tend to stay in the herd longer, and continue to calve in the first 21 days of each breeding season.

He says, it's a relatively easy management change, as long as the heifers are reaching puberty at a reasonable time period.

For this to work, the math shows they would need to become pregnant between 388-418 days of age. Therefore, they will need to reach puberty at least 21 days before the first day of the breeding season.

 

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