Selecting your Replacement Heifers to Meet Long-term Herd Goals

By  Carolyn Ihde

Selecting replacement heifers using production records, herd goals, and available resources can ensure the correct females are staying in the herd.

As the seasons come and go, the production cycle of the beef herd also changes. Cows calve, calves grow, and replacement heifers are selected. Selecting replacement heifers using production records, herd goals, and available resources can ensure the correct females are staying in the production system.

Just as purchasing a new herd bull can directly impact genetic improvement, selecting replacement heifers that match your production goals and available resources can impact the bottom line. Production records are one tool in the selection process. Maintaining herd records on cow productivity could include; calving date, birth weights, weaning weights, calving assistance, calf survivability, cow BCS, cow characteristics, calving intervals, and temperament. Heifers born from dams needing assistance with calving and nursing because of teat or udder defects or poor temperaments should not be retained. Knowing 50% of a replacement heifer’s genetics come from the dam, analyzing the dam’s collective data before you head out to . . .