Otherwise, the cow may end up open or calving late next year. It can be a challenge to get heifers rebred without losing ground in their calving schedule.
The 2-year-old is generally the most valuable and expensive animal in the cow herd; it has not yet generated any income (its first calf has not yet been sold), but money has been invested – to raise or purchase it. If the 2-year-old fails to stay in the herd, this is a significant loss. It often pays to invest more management (to get it rebred) than to start over with another heifer.
‘A little pampering’
Mark and Della Ehlke raise purebred Herefords and Angus near Townsend, Montana, and have an advantage with two calving seasons. “With our spring group, we put heifers in a separate pasture so they don’t have to compete with the older cows. That way, we can feed them a little extra,” says Mark.
“A little pampering at that stage pays back in a longer life of good production. It never pays to short-change them. One old-timer told me years ago that for every dollar you take from that cow, she will reach out and take two dollars out of your wallet. He was absolutely right.”
These young cows are kept in their own pasture groups until they wean that first calf and into their second gestation. “We can make sure they have adequate mineral or any other supplement,” Ehlke says. These 2-year-olds are still growing and need a little different nutrition than older cows.
His spring calvers are still on hay when they calve and haven’t gone to pasture yet, so the first calvers are fed a better-quality hay. “We also give them some additional protein. We use a lick tub formulated for younger cows, to help with breedback.
These heifers are well grown already because they were selected out of the group that was born from the first calving cycle.” Their mothers settled quickly and calved in the first part of the calving season.
“Our fall-calving group is a little different situation,” Ehlke says. “We don’t have to worry about keeping them separate from other cows as first-calvers because they are calving on grass and have adequate nutrition.”
Balance seasonal plans
Buddy Westphal from Valley View Charolais Ranch raises registered cattle near Polson, Montana. “We try to prepare first-calf heifers long before they have that first calf. You need to select the right genetics (fertile cattle that reach puberty quickly and settle early in the breeding season) or you will be disappointed, no matter how good your management is.
The right genetics for many ranches may also include hybrid vigor. But after you have the right genetics, feed is also important,” he says.
Heifers need to be in good shape when they calve so they can recover quickly and rebreed. “They only have 82 days between calving and rebreeding to calve at the same time next year, so they need to start out in good shape,” says Westphal.
“Choosing a calving date is a factor. I have some customers who calve in June on green grass and don’t have scour problems, and their heifers breed back easily. I think more people need to look into calving in sync with nature, when young cows have good nutrition on green grass.”
“Some people want to wean bigger calves by having them born earlier, maybe even January. But that takes a lot more feed and labor, and they may lose some calves to cold weather, so there may be no gain in total pounds to sell at weaning. The extra feed and labor may not allow any more profit. You are challenging a heifer’s ability to rebreed when she’s standing in snow and eating hay that may not be adequate for lactation, plus continued growth and protection against the cold,” he says.
“Heifers that calve early in the year need more feed and management than heifers calving later on grass. “I calve in April, so I can use green grass to flush our cows to start cycling again. If you are calving in January, you have to feed them well. Young cows need adequate feed to grow and gain weight, plus a good mineral supplement to keep them healthy.”
His rule of thumb is to only keep heifers that calve in the first 30 days of the calving season. “If she can’t hit that mark, she shouldn’t stay in the cow herd. She will continue calving late and may end up open, so she is not worth the original investment. A calf born one cycle late will wean 50 pounds lighter, and pounds are dollars,” he says.
You don’t want anything that might hinder speedy recovery after calving. “Little things like salt and mineral, fly and lice control, shade when it’s hot, windbreaks when it’s cold, make a difference,” says Westphal.
Approach to health
Vaccinations before and after calving are also important, and you don’t want any stress when working cattle. “Handle them gently and have a facility that works smoothly and quietly. Don’t attack them with dogs and cowboys and chase them to the corral to vaccinate; it might be better to lead them in with feed, with no stress. Reducing stress for cattle and handling them the proper way will increase conception rate.”
Vaccination should be done no less than three weeks before breeding.
Westphal says you need everything working properly to get first-calf heifers rebred on time, and this means being bred to a bull that sires easy-born calves. A difficult birth usually means the calf is slower to get up and suckle, and the heifer slower to recover from calving, and therefore slower to rebreed. 
PHOTO: First-calf heifers on the Valley View Charolais Ranch, with their calves, in a breeding pasture. Photo by Buddy Westphal.
Heather Smith Thomas is a freelance writer based in Salmon, Idaho. Email Heather Smith Thomas.
Let Mother Nature sort them
R.J. Hoffman, a rancher near Salmon, Idaho, keeps all his heifers until yearling age, then selects what he considers the best 75 percent to breed and sells the rest. His heifers have a very short breeding season, and the few that don’t breed are also sent to market.
This creates a very fertile herd, and first-calf heifers rebreed quickly. Any that don’t are sold. He sees no point in having heifers calve three weeks ahead of the cows, as some ranchers do (to ensure adequate recovery to rebreed) because his heifers are fertile enough without that crutch. The efficient and early maturing heifers are the ones that get to become cows on his place.
Scott and Kim Ford (Cross Diamond Cattle Company) raise Red Angus near Bertrand, Nebraska. Heifers are bred in a tight timeframe with no second chances. “The most important economic trait is fertility,” says Ford. All their heifers are kept until yearling age and sort themselves out.
“We calve in May and wean in late September. Heifer calves are then on winter range or cornstalks, never confined. You can see which ones are truly easy fleshing, not just because the mother gave more milk,” says Ford. This is an important trait for a cow.
There’s a big difference in being able to manage on range versus putting on weight in the feedlot. Heifers can be developed slowly and efficiently and with less expense. Ford feels this makes a difference in mature weight. “If you put a heifer calf in a feedlot and give her everything she needs, she grows faster and ends up bigger.”
Research at Miles City, Montana, looked at heifers grown in feedyards versus heifers on range. “They had the same genetics, but the confined heifers reached larger mature size with increased metabolism, needing more resources the rest of their lives. They had more frame, and this isn’t what you want – having to maintain a larger animal from here on out,” he says.
PHOTO: Heifers that calve early in the year will need bedding, windbreaks and adequate good-quality feed to rebreed on schedule. Photo by Heather Thomas.
