My heifer - too plump?

[Creamers]

Is my girl too plump? lol

She looks a wreck in this pose - she was going up the hill to greener pastures!

Read more: http://familycow.proboards.com/index...#ixzz1Ju9xY9OW

[tinknal]

She doesn't look too fat to me, but I'm a beef guy. How old is she?

[Creamers]

She will be 2 in July - we aren't breeding her until June because I wanted to avoid milking in the winter . . . just don't want her too heavy to make conception hard with sexed semen

[Nyx]

I don't have cattle...and honestly the only stuff I remember is from the cattle judging contests back in my highschool FFA club.

But, she looks in real good condition to me - not fat but not too skinny either. She's got a nice smooth curve between the hip and pin bones, and you can just see her last few ribs. Should take just fine, and that condition gives her some body fat to draw off for the pregnancy and milking later on. Heifers are usually a bit plumper than cows, they haven't been milking all that extra energy off yet!

[francismilker]

Looks good to me! With the drought I'm in, I could only wish some of my girls looked that good!

[Creamers]

ok - thanks!

[basempires]

She can't be more than a 5.5 to 6. Of course the exertion could throw it but check the 2 mid dark stripes at midsection. Looks like it shows minimal 1 rib proj.

[Ronney]

Apart from the fact that like me, you wait until you can take the crappiest photo imaginable of your stock:happy0035:, she looks in excellent order for a little Jersey and she is certainly not to plump. In fact, if she were mine, I would say she was in ideal condition and with your summer coming on, you should be able to keep her that way.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[Alan G]

She looks OK. Check her udder. If she's not bred yet but has a fat udder, she's getting too many calories. No big deal though, just 10% decreasse in milk production the first lactation.

Alan

[postroad]

Originally Posted by Creamers

She will be 2 in July - we aren't breeding her until June because I wanted to avoid milking in the winter . . . just don't want her too heavy to make conception hard with sexed semen

I am a little confused. I had a Dexter heifer give birth to a nice big(for a Dexter) bull calf this morning. She will be turning two years old on the 26th of April. So this makes her five days shy of two years old.

Is there some benefit to waiting as long as you have before the first breeding?

[Ronney]

Originally Posted by postroad

I am a little confused. I had a Dexter heifer give birth to a nice big(for a Dexter) bull calf this morning. She will be turning two years old on the 26th of April. So this makes her five days shy of two years old.

Is there some benefit to waiting as long as you have before the first breeding?

Yes, there is if you have the time and grazing to carry them that long before calving. Ideally I like to put my heifers to the bull at 20 months plus meaning that they are R3 when they calve. This allows the heifer to do her own growing without having to grow a calf and then begin the laborious task of producing milk, all of which will be done before she herself is a mature animal. Most heifers that have been done well from birth will cope with going to the bull at 15 months and calving as 2 year olds but they cope even better if they are left those extra few months.

Cheers,
Ronnie

[postroad]

I suppose my Dexter only has to worry about producing milk for her own calf as opposed to producing upward of four or five gallons like a dairy cow, so that would make a difference.