Ideal age for 1st calving

Peter thornton · Post by **Peter thornton** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:24 pm

I have been reading the latest isue of the Smallholder magazine. There is an article in which a cattle owner discusses the best aga at which to 1st calve a heifer. He points out that if one calves at the same time each year then a 1st calving will be at either 2 or 3 years.

One would imagine that 3 years would be safer but he has recently been having bad experiences (i.e. dead calves) with his 3 year old heifers (not Dexters). He suggests that they would be better off calving at 2 years - therefore being put with the bull at 15 months. The logic is that an "idling" cow tends to get too fat.

Any thoughts on this?

ann · Post by **ann** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:58 pm

Hi

I think the age depends on the actual animal, most short legged heifers are ready to go to the bull at 15mths and this often is the case with the non short, however as with everything one has to take into account each individual animal and the bull you intend to use, and the time of year you wish the heifer to calve. I find its best to calve heifers inside, this way if there is any problems they are small ones so I tend to calve them in the winter months so they can calve any time between Oct to April.

Ann

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:10 am

Ann's reply covers this nicely. I think any dexter heifer should be able to produce a calf at 2y or just over it. Leaving to 3y I think is too long - they are often over fat and over mature. Some of the most difficult calvings I do in mainstream breeds are older heifers.The mothers are fat, the calves are too big, the passage does not open as flexibly as in a younger hefier and all in all there can be quite a struggle. If Dexter heifers are too small to calve at 2 y then general mangement needs looking at.

Duncan

Issy · Post by **Issy** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 3:27 pm

We were due to have a bull come and stay in Sept to cover our 3 heifers - 2 registered and one not!! due to being in a quite high risk TB area we have decided to cancel him and go down the route of AI. the problem that we have is that the non registered heifer shows no sign at all of bulling -She is 14 months old and was not in as good condition as the others when we bought her. could she just be lagging behind or should I be looking to sell her to someone with a bull?

We are new to keeping dexters so any advice would be more than welcome.

Issy

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 4:57 pm

If you are going to have 3 to serve it may be worth talking to your vet and the AI people about synchronising, and getting all 3 on the one day. Your vet should be able to tell you the approx cost before you decide. That would give the vet the chance to examine the heifer that does not appear to be cycling - eg is she a twin to a bull?, or some other structural abnormality inside. Or you may think that will be too expensive, just do the two which are cycling when they come on and give the other one more time. But not too much time, if a heifer is not cycling or not cycling I would not be inclined to spend too much time or money sorting it out especially if she is not registered - fatten her and buy another one.

Duncan

Issy · Post by **Issy** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 7:21 pm

Thanks for the advice Duncan. I will get the others AI'd next time round and give the little one a couple of months chance - before classing her as Beef! unless anyone wants a halter trained very pretty grass cutter??

Regards

Issy