When to breed

piglady · #1 03/31/07, 09:27 PM

We have two jersey/holstein cross females that we raised on bottle. How old will they be before we can breed them?

JeffNY · #2 03/31/07, 10:22 PM

Since they are crosses, it can depend what characteristic they take on more. Are they holstein sized? Or are they more like a Jersey? Jerseys can be bred at a younger age, as they mature faster. Typically heifers are bred at 15 months, some people like to calve them at 22 months old, so you breed those at 13 months. It can depend on size as well. If they are of proper size/weight, then you can go with that as a guage. But as far as age goes, typically 15 months, for a 2yr calving date.

Jeff

Up North · #3 04/01/07, 12:47 AM

Breed by weight, not age. If they are 700 pounds or more, let the breeding begin, LOL.

john in la · #4 04/01/07, 05:12 PM

I agree with Up North.
Age has nothing to do with your decision of when to breed.
If you are feeding daily and pushing for a earlier date you can get it down to a 24 month calf date. Breed at 15 months.
If you have them on pasture only and treating them more like a beef operation would you would most likely have to wait for a 36 month calf date.

A full breed Jersey should be about 585 lbs when breed and about 800 lbs at calving time.
A full breed Holstein should be about 800 lbs when breed and about 1100 lbs at calving time.
For both these breeds you can get these weights at 15 and 24 months with good feeding programs.
For your cross breed I would think 700 lbs at breeding time would be a good goal.

dosthouhavemilk · #5 04/01/07, 07:00 PM

We usually breed our heifers (Jersey and Jersey/Norwegian Red crosses) for the first time around 14-15 months old. Though some of the crosses have been big enough to breed at 13 months. We have a Jersey heifer that is big enough right now and she is 13 months. However, who wants a first freshener calving in January in SE Ohio?! So, we'll hold off a couple more months on her.
We go by weight, but they are usually up to weight by 14-15 months. Also usually out on pasture and minerals only by 13 months or so.....Just can't keep them in and grained....

Haggis · #6 04/01/07, 07:20 PM

The Jersey heifer I'm milking now bred at 11 months, but she was big for her age. She produced a large healthy calf with no problems at all. I had thought to be clever and let her in with the herd and young bull "between" her heats, but he was more keenly aware of when she was on heat than I was.