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| With cull cow prices you can cull an old cow and come out about th same as selling the heifer.
If they are paid for now you should be able to keep all the heifers you can feed. I’d keep all of them you can stand to. If you want to grow 12 head, I’d keep another 10 and cull 10 old cows. If your close to calving let them calve and sell them with month old calves, they may go as pairs or they strip the calves off and get cull cow $ and maybe 400 for the little calves.
The risk there is if you haven’t been keeping heifers you don’t know what you may get into calving them out the first time. I bought some really pretty heifers back when they were cheap from a guy and had nothing but hell with them. The guy had some really nice cows, but he wasn’t keeping heifers and I didn’t think there could be any issue. I still have a few of that set still and don’t keep heifers out of them no matter how fancy they look.
I’m keeping 80% of mine this year. In a few years the steers may not pay the bills like they do today. It’s the best time ever to grow from within or replace old with young cows if you can handle the heifer risk.
Edit to add: a good vet can check and give you an idea of any that for sure will have calving issues. I don’t know how young they can do that, but someone here will.
Edited by Notofthisworld 9/25/2024 11:26
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Retaining Heifers
