Freemartin heifers

[FarmerDanny1989]

Interested to know peoples thoughts on these heifers and if they are worth the chance?
Iv always put them straight into my fat pen so never been given the chance of the bull but Iv two extremely good heifers out of very good consistent breeders one of which has only had bull calf’s (7th calver) so I’m keen to keep them, but am I wasting my time and better just heading to the fat pens?
They are are going to be weaned tomorrow so I run though what’s for keeping and killing.

 

[Kiss]

Try not to keep them ourselves but if she slips the net and gets reared and is determined at pd she ends up in our freezer, no loss

 

[Flatlander]

Rear it as you would any other heifer the run with the bill if she doesn’t get in calf finish fattening her to sell or freezer. Won’t know until you try.

 

[unlacedgecko]

Interested to know peoples thoughts on these heifers and if they are worth the chance?
Iv always put them straight into my fat pen so never been given the chance of the bull but Iv two extremely good heifers out of very good consistent breeders one of which has only had bull calf’s (7th calver) so I’m keen to keep them, but am I wasting my time and better just heading to the fat pens?
They are are going to be weaned tomorrow so I run though what’s for keeping and killing.

Approx 10% of freemartin heifers will be fertile. Vet can tell by scanning them. Get him to check next time he's in PDing cows.

 

[Suffolksucklers]

We had one in the fat yard that kept coming on stock, had the vet check her and she is still in the herd about six calf's later, one of our best cows

 

[borderterribles]

I have always reared heifers born as a twin to a bull,with other heifers as we have always been dairy farmers, rearing our own replacements. Some don't breed, but a surprising amount do. The last one I had , I had never seen bulling ,so assumed that she was a non breeder, but being out of a good cow,decided to get a blood test done ,just to be sure. On the morning the Vet was coming, I had a suspicion that she was bulling, so got the AI man to try her with a straw too. Blood test said that she should breed, and she held to the service anyway. She's currently milking with her third,and has only ever had three services!

 

[upnortheast]

Had a few over the years. Never worked it out accurately but between 10 & 20% will breed

 

[FarmerDanny1989]

Approx 10% of freemartin heifers will be fertile. Vet can tell by scanning them. Get him to check next time he's in PDing cows.

Iv put them in the breeding pen I’ll get the vet to check them in the spring when there PDing the cows and getting them to pelvic score the breeding heifers for the first time. Has any one noticed a difference when doing this to not doing it?

 

[Yonlass]

Had a few over the years. Never worked it out accurately but between 10 & 20% will breed

Our vet reckons 5%.
I went through a phase of DNA testing any twin to bulls at birth, as everything gets sold at weaning here, and I didn't want to sell freemartins as breeders.
Not one came back as a breeder, although I only did a few as it's £60 a pop. Now all twin to bulls go through the calf ring as freemartins rather than the dairy ring, and someone might get lucky for a tenner
When we reared our own replacements, we had 2 freemartins breed in 20 years.

 

[Whitepeak]

We've one due with her 2nd in the spring.
When it was born the mother parted with 2 cleanings, one for each calf. Think this increases the chance of breeding as the developing calves don't share a blood supply.

 

[unlacedgecko]

We've one due with her 2nd in the spring.
When it was born the mother parted with 2 cleanings, one for each calf. Think this increases the chance of breeding as the developing calves don't share a blood supply.

Yes, it's the shared placenta which increases testosterone in the developing heifer and makes her sterile.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Make great pets, and taste good

 

[unlacedgecko]

Make great pets, and taste good

Tasty pets are the best kind of pet.

 

[borderterribles]

Yes ,as above. If you are in attendance when they are born , it is the twins in a separate placenta that will breed.

 

[sheep breeder]

One of the large calf exporters son buys all the dairy free martin heifers he can get usually around 50 / 60 are reared each year, they are run with a dairy bull and sells the incalf ones and fattening the rest, numbers each year vary between 10 and 20.

 

[Rogstores]

They always finish well I think anyway , abit like a heifer that’s spat it’s calf, they get to a good weight