What to do with 7/08 angus heifer?

[jBlaze]

So, if you read my "not a steer" thread, you will note that what we bought as a steer and never really checked (duh! slap forhead) is actually a heifer.
I was going to eat that steer next year sometime depending on size and such. but, now what?

We will breed the 15 month old hereford and 14 month old milking shorthorn in about 3 weeks. Not sure what to do about the angus heifer. Do we breed her later and get a summer / fall calf? What to breed her to - angus?

I am just stuck on the fact my steer is a heifer and I don't know what to do with a heifer 12 months in July. Any ideas??

[myersfarm]

eat her you will not taste the difference in a steer or heifer


tjm

[james dilley]

Breed her, or Sell her and buy A steer, And you can breed her to A decent quality bull, for A fair price, you might want to breed her then sell her.

[jBlaze]

but when to breed her to calve when???

[james dilley]

That will depend on when you would want the others to drop calves. look at thew gestation tables and count forward to the best date (s) for you to manage, that would be my thought on this.

[jBlaze]

gonna breed the other two in about 3 weeks. She is not ready yet, hence my dilema, lol.

[JKB07]

I might be missing something, but what is the dilema?? Breed her in three months for a summer calf, or wait a few more months and breed her for a fall calf...


Justin

[jBlaze]

well, the delima would be, that being a new cow person, I don't know if that is an OK thing to do. I am not sure if I want to breed her for then.

[Karin L]

What are you breeding the Hereford and Milking Shorthorn to?

You may breed the Angus girl to the same bull as the other two. Plus there's nothing wrong with getting a summer/fall calf; better than a winter one. At least where I am.

But, do make sure you breed her when she's about 15 months...makes for less worry about calving problems. Since she's 12 months now, you'll want to breed her in September/October, so she calves in June/July. Breed her any later you could have the calf born in fly season, which is never good.

[jBlaze]

Having the Milking Shorthorn AI'd milking shorthorn. May try to AI the hereford, but she is not tame, so not sure if we can, and not sure what breed yet. We have a hereford rent a bull available in august, too soon for the angus. We will have to seperate her if we do that. October would be the soonest I would feel is safe for her to breed. My concern being a late calf.
It may be fine to calve her in August, but I have not done late calves, and I was totally unprepared , not even thinking of doing so, so I am even more uncomfortable about it just yet, lol.
That is propably the best option though. Angus sounds yummy. beef prices are looking low about now, so I don't think I would get far selling her. I would sorta hate to eat her if she can make another yummy calf. I just don't know, need to mull it over and I appreciate everyones thoughts to help the mulling.

[haypoint]

Calving in the summer shouldn't be anything to worry about where you are. Some places the intense summer heat is hard on calves, but you should be alright. After all, she was a summer calf and she turned out fine.
I like your plan to breed shorthorn to shorthorn. I don't see much difference in breeding the Herford to Angus or Herford. Both good beef breeds.
Around here Deacon calves (week old or less) sell cheapest in February and August. The higher mortality due to temperatures is the reason.

[jBlaze]

excellent points, thank you.

[Karin L]

I agree with haypoint. Where you are, summer calving is nothing compared to that down in the southern, more warmer summers of the states.

I don't have a problem with breeding MS to MS; but wouldn't it be feasible even to breed both your MS and herf heifers to an Angus bull, and then you'll be able to breed the Angus heifer to that bull as well? Just a thought.

[jBlaze]

We are having them AI anyways. only know a herf rent a bull, and would rather not. Also, I do not want to wait on the first two.
I will say that for being 3 months older the hereford and the MS are much larger than the angus. age or breeding, I don't know.

[DJ in WA]

Only you know what you want, but one idea is to breed the angus to Jersey in hopes of a good dual purpose heifer. This is assuming she has decent disposition.

[jBlaze]

LOL, I thought about breeding the angus to jersey, but DH would shoot me!

[jBlaze]

She let me scratch and pet her last night!! She is very soft.
Wonderig if we should keep her and eat the hereford? hummm what to do, lol.
(I don't like the herefords feet, they need trimmed and she is not ever 18 months.~)

[KSALguy]

i would keep the angus and eat the herford, but thats me lol,

[Karin L]

I agree with KSAL. The herf's feet might prove to be a major problem down the road should you decide to breed her.

Do you have a pic of her feet btw?

[jBlaze]

Well, I talked with a few folks. Suggested her feet grew too much because she was getting too much grain, (very true! I made DH stop graining her when she got so fat)

We have a guy comming out to trim the herefords feet today and we'll see what he says.

I feel a bit silly for my post title now, duh. It was just that it was so surprising, threw me for a loop, lol.
The angus is a nice mellow heifer, we will probably breed her angus later. Now not sure about the herf still, she is pushy about feed, but so is my new shorthorn. I hate to be feeding each seperately. I will be graining the shorthorn in the milk stand after she freshens, so that will be easier.
Hope the feet trimming goes ok today, never even seen that done! (a matter of getting her in the thing worries me)