South devon heifer weights
- Thread starter Cowslip
- Start date
exmoorromney
Member
I'd say they should be calving down at 2 especially if they are that weight. We calve all our Angus at 2 and if they aren't big enough to bull at 14-15 months they get fattened or sold store.
- Location
- Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
all depends how big of a cow you want to end up with, weighed my South Devon breeding heifers in March and I was pleased how heavy they were, all gone to bull now to calve at 3. I like a big cow as I find longevity in them, got cows in the herd over 14 years old and if you do end up culling cows then they have the weight behind them, I have many cows over 500kg deadweight at slaughter. All my breeding heifers I kept as replacements weighed between 780-890 kgs. Most of my heifers that I didn’t want were slaughtered at 22 months weighing 380-415 kgs deadweight, all u grades.
Most of my cows would be around 800kgs majority culled over 12yrs old many upto 15yrs, all have topped the market every time. These are my first batch of heifers by my newest south Devon bull which we purchased to add a bit of size as my previous one was shorter but added a bit of shape and length to them, was just a little surprised when I weighed them today.
All depends on the year, quality of silage made to feed them and last autumn was particularly wet and there was nothing but water in the grass, no goodness so that may have an affect on their weights. Have they been fluked after the wet autumn. I find with a new bull It takes 3 crops of calves before you are know what you are really getting, a bull produces better calves the older he gets, don’t really know why as it’s the same genetics.
It's all relative.
Calve em earlier, you'll have smaller cows to feed, but lighter culls come the end.
Bigger framed cows will push out bigger calves mind.
I've found those that steal the bull as yearlings are often very good breeders subsequently, but thats coupled to the risks of calving em smaller.
it's no good using my example, as my poor beggars struggle to persist where I make em live anyway.
I'm glad if I can get them straight back in calf for their 2nd. Managed it this year very well, but only cos we've a new bull, while still running the old one.
The newbie went with the 3 yr first calvers, and a few oddments, onto a spare newtake and were caked -a bit-all summer.
The labour input was several hundred quid (more than the cake) but the bull grew on, and the hfrs went back to bull.
I understand on proper ground matters might be different.
- Location
- Buxton, Derbyshire
Know nothing about South Devon weights for age. But all the literature states bulling beef heifers at 60% of your average mature cow weight.
However this is assuming you have the feed and resources to maintain that growth through pregnancy and first lactation.
- Location
- South Devon
I'm still calving at 3 like the majority of S.D breeders , but like you keep thinking about calving at 2.
What weight are your yearlings likely to be when you bull the rest ?
If we use @Whitepeak 's 60% figure then a 800kg cow would need to be 480kg at bulling.
15 months @ 1kg /day is 450kg ,add 40kg birth weight and your up to 490kg.
Lets say you want to bull 1st June - your heifers should have just had their best 2 months of grass ,so I think 500 kg would be a good target to aim for.
@Bullring David your yearlings must be 600 kg allready
We only graze marshes, creep feeding of any kind of feeding is out of the question. We have calved saler x south devons this year for the first time at 2yrs old and it has been very successful and they are the same size, I'm making sure these have gone onto the best grass once calved. Trouble is the pedigrees I'm a little bit wary of. Our saler bulls calves average around 32kg birth weight where as the pedigrees would be around 45kg.
I'll keep you an entire if you want reliable SD genetics from commercial hill herd - sans pedigree.
(herd established some decades -or very possibly some centuries before the herdbook.)
problem with that is they're then out of sync with everything else.Calve at 2 and a half
i have calved em a few months earlier, giving them a bit of time to come back bulling again....but that means calving in deepest winter
T
If you keep your SD's in over winter I would have thought calving in October would be good turn them out and they grow on
We normally house week before Christmas. We calve around 30/40 cows in the Autumn all outside but these are all to lims as we run a two strike out the herd. Not in calf to calve in spring go into autumn herd, not in calf again out the herd. Heifers get one chance only.
most cows live out year round, minimal housing kept for odd autumn/winter calvers (and weanlings etc)
The calves that winter in are £100 better than others...but cost that much extra and then some!
The benefit of having a split herd - calving in Early Spring and Autumn - is that you have the ability to calve heifers at either 24 months, or 30 months or 36 months. Not all heifers are suitable to calve at 24 months, so it gives added flexibility.
And take note of what Cowslip, 3 posts above, says.
And take note of what Cowslip, 3 posts above, says.
- Tags
- calf calves deadweight fluke