Okay, thanks for the response about the dogs, but now I need some heiffer advice. I have a heiffer that is about 7 months old. I have a place to breed her I think, but WHEN? I heard if she is breed too soon it could kill her birthing the calf. She is a angus/holstein cross. Thanks! I love this forum!

-- julie britt (jbritt@ceva.net), January 06, 2002

Answers

Response to how do I breed a cow...

Our vet says they need to at least two years old when the birth! It takes nine months--so you can figure that they need to be around 15/16 months old when you take them to be bred. We are waiting on ours to delivered--It's exciting and scary! Good luck with yours.

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), January 06, 2002.

Response to how do I breed a cow...

She should be at least 750 lbs .And generally the bull breeds them if you actually want a calf ! Sorry couldnt resist.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), January 06, 2002.

Response to how do I breed a cow...

Patty you read my mind.I believe it was in The Red Pony by John Steinbeck that the young fella takes the milk cow over to the neighbors farm to get her in the family way and only the young daughter is there,so when the bull is going about his business the boy says to the girl "I wish I could be doing what the bull is doing" and the girl replies "Go ahead its your cow!"

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), January 06, 2002.

Julie,

Usually the British breeds such as Angus, Herefords, and Shorthorns will breed at 650 to 750 pounds (preferably the latter weight), and the Holstein will be a little later because they usually do not mature quite as early. It's best not to calve any earlier than fifteen to sixteen months of age.

I've had better luck using a breed of bull(Jersey,Guernsey,Angus)that usually make a smaller calf on a first calf heifer, to lessen the chance of calving difficulties.

Hope this helps.

-- DocMac (mccartney-ct@chouteautel.com), January 10, 2002.

many yrs ago, I was going to have my holstein/angus heifer bred when she was 18 months old. she had different ideas and jumped 4 fences to get to my brother-in -law's hereford bull when she was 15 months.. no problems. howsomever, her best calves were from a jersey/brangus bull. did not grain the calves for butcher - just mama's milk goood [no chemicals] pasture and hay. meat was so sweet and you could cut it with a fork!

-- carol (kanogisdi@yaho.com), January 10, 2002.

I grew up on a cattle ranch and we raised our own replacement heifers. Our calves were born in the spring and we turned a bull out with them in June/July/August of their yearling year so they would normally calve at the beginning of their 2 year old year.

We always used a "smallish" Angus bull for the heifers, who were Herefords mostly. With the Angus a polled breed, the head was smaller and they were lighter boned, so we rarely had any problem. We watched closely and had to help some but I don't every remember actually having one that we had to do a cesearean on ...

-- SFM in KY (sportpony@yahoo.com), January 11, 2002.