Struggling to get your show heifer bred?

This weekend, I had several conversations with people about getting show heifers bred in a timely manner.   Here are a couple of things to consider when breeding cattle.

Timing

We shoot to calve heifers the in first part of February.  Over the years, Frank and I have debated about the timing of breeding the show heifers.  His highest priority has always been to get them bred regardless if they might miss a show the next year.  

There were times that we had heifers who had been competitive as calves that we felt confident would make even better bred heifers.  So, like most of my lessons, I had to learn the hard way.

We’ve had show heifers come in a good natural heat, but breeding them would have them calving at a time that would conflict with the next year’s shows.  

I lobbied to wait to breed them and guess what happened? I messed up…when we synced them, we couldn’t catch them in a good heat again and they ended up bull bred and calving late. We get the best results breeding cattle early in the year.

My desire to avoid missing a show set them back for years because it isn’t necessarily easy to catch them up once they are late.  Unfortunately, I may have done this more than once over the years.

Not anymore…if we have one in a good heat, we breed her, even if it has her calving in the middle of January.

For us, a January calf is much better than a May calf because of the heat. Depending upon where you are in the country, this may not be as big of an issue for you. But in the North Valley of California, we get heat spells in May and then stay hot… We end up losing early pregnancies every year.  The earlier we can get them bred, the better.

Condition

You can’t feed your show heifer like a fat steer and expect her to breed.  The more internal fat they get, the harder they are to breed. I recently had a discussion with someone who told me they thought their heifer was getting a little fat.  

When I asked what the heifer was eating, she told me a steer finisher. Well, I would guess that would get her a little fat. Breeding cattle can be tricky. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but there is a reason that feed companies create heifer development rations.  

A heifer’s requirements are different based on what they are expected to do in the end. We like our heifers to be well-conditioned but not overly fat. By feeding a diet that is low energy and high in fiber, we can keep them fresh. The only exception to that is if your heifer is truly a market heifer, you have no intention of getting her bred but showing her as a terminal animal.

As a breeder, it can be frustrating to sell a heifer that is fed incorrectly, gets way too fat and then it takes months to get bred.  If you are in question that they may be getting a little fat, pick up the phone and call the person you got her from or a leader who is savvy about getting females bred.  Send them a video and pictures of her. Probably they’d be happy to help you keep her fresh with a long life of production.

Protect Your Investment

Chances are that you’ve made a significant investment in your show heifer.  I can tell you from experience there is a special pride in breeding cattle that go on and have success.  

You’ll feel that same pride when cattle you’ve raised do well.  However, none of that can happen for you if you don’t get her bred in the first place. If you follow the advice in this article, you should find success in getting your heifer bred.

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