Commenting on the comments…
Two readers of our blog (see the Roundtable below and the comments added) have prompted a response from Bill Roberts of 12 Stones Grasslands Beef.
To comment on both thoughtful comments to the blog:
We work with top grass fed cattle producers coast to coast. Several run grass cow/calf operations in the thousands and several finish fats in the multiple hundreds. Other than genetic potential, the three most common issues concerning limitations of grass cattle to grow and breed early or finish early are
1) Total nutrients available for the daily grazing
2) Adequate energy to meet animal requirements in the volume consumed daily
3) Mineralization
1 – is obvious. There needs to be enough total feed in the area the animal can cover in a day. This is more limited in the west arid regions and can be an issue. However, it is often an issue in other areas due to overgrazing, poor diversity, poor soil fertility etc.
2 – energy is a key issue. The person commenting from Vermont has a very high maintenance energy requirement in the cattle during the winter. When you consider stockpile or hay can run from 2 brix to in the 20’s, the energy per pound consumed varies greatly. Poor forage cause grass cattle to go backward in the winter because of not enough energy. Some grasses do not supply adequate energy even in the growing stage in monocultures. Energy is more often than not the limiting factor.
To get a heifer to breed at 14 to 15 months (which incidentally is what they will do in a continuing herd environment – ask Ian Mitchell-Innes) they have to have the genetic capability and the energy to grow to that maturity. Quality forage as mob grazing builds and faster moves allow the cattle to get that energy.
3 – proper mineralization to build the endocrine system that “drives the the train” is absolutely key as well. A poor endocrine system will cause late breeding and non-breeding heifers as much as anything.
Once all these factors are addressed and in alignment, the performance of the animal will tell the producer if they can successfully breed early or not.
The purist with capital may say whenever heifers breed routinely efficiently and can calve and be in condition to rebreed efficiently, that is the age I will breed and be happy. The commercial man who has money borrowed from the bank to buy bred heifers will want the animals that can breed early in his environment and generate a return rapidly enough to meet his cash flow requirement. That is why animals who do not effectively breed early efficiently are rarely used in large scale operations. Right or wrong, short sighted or not, economics are a huge part of management decisions.
One Comment
Red Ruby Heifer
As I kinda set the ball rolling here, may I add my twopenny’s worth please?
We started putting heifers to the bull a year younger than a lot of British Devon breeders for two reasons: (a) heifers in the Kew Herd calving down as 3 year olds were too fat – more on this in a moment, & (b) we were delighted that this lead us (amongst some others) into proving the commercialisation of the breed.
Our farm is naturally good fattening ground, even with the majority of pasture being old leys (maybe 25 years!) which are now being considered for a reseeding program. Having said that, we actively manage the pasture to encourage wild/natural clover (topping, harrowing and grazing management – aided by the complimentary grazier: sheep). Meanwhile, we regular soil test for not only the main nutrients NPK but also trace elements so we put dung (from sheds) on the right fields (not just where we judge to be right). Soil testing has thrown up an iodine deficiency, which we’ve bolused for this winter for the 1st time: we await this spring’s calving to see if this eases ‘lazy’ cows at calving and the occasional non-vigourous calf at birth.
But I have gone off on a tangent, sorry. As our stock ‘does’ so well on grass, we felt maiden heifers were forward enough to be put in-calf early – the photos you saw on You Tube. British figures (from EBLEX) say heifers are fit for 1st service at 65% of mature weight (for any beef breed), & they should be 85% mature weight at start of 2nd breeding season, & 95% mature weight at start of 3rd breeding season. This ties in with my personal opinion (wouldn’t you agree?) that a young Devon bull doesn’t hit his prime until about 5 years old (allowing for work & final fleshing-out) and a good cow looks her best from 3rd calver onwards. Remember one of the Devon traits is supposed to be early maturity – so why wait till 3 years to calve down?
There can only be 2 possible reasons: (a) Devons are being farmed in harsh conditions where growth takes time, or (b) the breeder is concerned about ending up with small cows (I hope this worry is about frame, not condition…)
Because ‘over-conditioned’ (fat) cows is why we started down this road, with all the complications that can bring. ‘Working condition’ is so much at the forefront with us at the moment, we’ve been feeding our cows this winter (in the shed): alternate days hay with straw on the other days. They are looking plainer in the run up to calving (desired effect). We also plan to turn them out early (precalving) so foraging creates excercise.
I have just one admission: we do ‘corn’ calves (just a couple of British pounds) for a few weeks over weaning so growth isn’t checked. If you want them to be big enough for the bull as yearlings…
Meanwhile, we’ve yet to get to the stage of what size cows we end up with from these heifers put to the bull as youngsters.
Another point: we don’t put a senior bull on yearling heifers (either a young bull or AI – there’s another story, I only reckon 60% hold to AI!)