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How Well Are Your Heifers Growing This Year?

Weaned calves have always suffered from the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome and the fact that they do not pay their way for their first two years of life.

By Department of Primary Industries - 12th April 2006 - Back to News

These animals and your milk-fed calves have the highest genetic merit in your herd and so should never be underfed between weaning and first calving.

Growth rates should be maintained, otherwise heifers will not reach their target live weights for mating and first calving. Undersized heifers have more calving difficulties, produce less milk and have greater difficulty getting back into calf during their first lactation. When lactating, they compete poorly with older cows for feed and because they are still growing will use feed for growth rather than for producing milk. They are more likely to be culled for poor milk yield and/or infertility.

Targets

The optimum pre-calving live weight of 2-year-old heifers varies with their target milk yield as mature cows. This can range from 500 kg at 5000 L to 560 kg at 7000 L.

Heifer target weights (and wither heights for Friesians) in well managed herds are:

Friesian heifers should be managed to grow at an average of 0.7 kg/day from weaning to first calving, although this can vary from 0.5 to 1.0 kg/day depending on seasonal conditions. Heifers should be regularly weighed, at least every 3-4 months, with wither heights recorded at each weighing. Wither height is an important measure of bone development in growing heifers.

Feeding and management

A good quality diet must be provided for the first 12 months, containing 10-11 MJ ME/kg DM of energy and 12-16% protein. High-energy supplements are often required to achieve target growth rates of young heifers (up to 6 months of age), particularly during their first winter.

Grazed pasture is generally the cheapest feed, but it must be in sufficient supply, at least 1500-1800 kg DM/ha. If insufficient pasture is available, only feed top quality supplements, preferably concentrates. Any hay or silage fed must be of good quality, at least 10 MJ/kg DM of energy and 14% protein.

If young stock are allowed to lose weight or grow very slowly for lengthy periods, they will not achieve their potential frame size. Low mating live weights can lead to calving difficulties 9 months later. Excessive feeding after mating can also result in dystocia (calving difficulties). Dystocia reduces milk yield and increases days to conception.

Economics

Despite sometimes high feed costs, it is nearly always profitable to feed your replacement heifers properly, to achieve the above target weights.

Contract heifer rearing costs $4.50 to $6.50 per week. When considering this option, take into account all the costs of rearing heifers on-farm, such as feed, labour, health and using pasture otherwise available for milking cows.

It is false economy to underfeed heifers because the costs of older age at first calving, losses in potential milk yield and reduced longevity in the milking herd will outweigh any reduction in feeding costs prior to mating.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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