A beef herd can be 15% more profitable if heifers are successfully mated as yearlings. This fact sheet sets out some guidelines for deciding whether to put yearling heifers to the bull and how to produce a calf without prejudicing the cow’s lifetime production.
A key benefit from heifer mating is ‘economic return on feed consumed’. For example, a mated and calving yearling heifer needs around 850 kg of extra dry matter over a two-year period compared with an un-mated yearling. If she produces a 200 kg calf at weaning, this $100 of extra feed investment would return $700 (at $3.50/kg LW).
Bull selection and fertility testing is pivotal to success.
Choose a bull with EBVs that are high (above average) for Calving Ease. Any growth-rate penalties will be off-set by the reduction in calving difficulties. Check the accuracy of the EBVs with your bull breeder. Many stud breeders do not weigh their calves at birth or record calving ease and this will be reflected in the EBV accuracies (e.g. 50% for non-weigh accuracy vs 70% for those that do weigh).