Why to Breed Your Own Heifers (And What Bull to Buy)

Fertility and longevity are arguably the two most important traits in a profitable cow herd. When selecting a bull, keep in mind the maternal characteristics in genetics of the bull you purchase. That will be very important long term. Some producers choose to buy their replacements rather than breed their own heifers. Unless they are familiar with the program these heifers come from, they won’t quite know what they are getting.

If the industry is in an expansion phase, these heifers may get very expensive. Assuming that you want to improve your cowherd, I suggest that you select bulls from strong maternal families to use on heifers you’ve raised.

Imagine that you have 100 cows, and you raise 90 calves. This gives you 45 heifers to select replacements from. If you keep your cows until age 10, you need 13 heifers to replace them. If a couple die over the year, you’ll need 15. If you decide you need to replace 5% more for various reasons, you will need 20 replacements each year.

In order to improve your herd, you may select heifers from the top half of your herd. This means that if you get 90% bred in a short breeding season, you have the 20 you need. Since you need half of your heifers, you need to use mostly bulls with good maternal traits, and very few terminal sires.

We have on offer over 80 bulls that are calving ease sires. Whether used on heifers or cows, Ole Farms has the genetics needed to lead to long term improvements in your herd.