You can upgrade the genetic quality of your beef herd the old-fashioned way by buying better bulls and saving those heifers. Alternatively, you may be able to speed up the process by purchasing replacement heifers. Here are three programs to help you do just that.
F1 bald heifers from Hereford Elite Ranch
Topp Herefords of Grays City, North Dakota sells registered Hereford bulls, many of which go into commercial Angus herds, producing some high quality bald calves. Ryan Topp said they provide added value to their bull clients by helping them market the calves through several different contract programs.
One of these schemes involves Topp Herefords buying back first-calf heifers sired by Topp bulls for use in a heifer development and marketing programme. Topp explained that for calf raisers, the buyback premium can bring the price of a heifer calf to the same price as a lead calf.
Topp Herefords bred and bred these heifers with heifer partner Bill Pitz of Farley, Iowa, and the following year they were F1 Hereford-Angus Bald Breeding Heifers for Sale. Some are registered Angus bulls and some are registered Red Angus bulls.
Top said most days they breed 2,500 to 3,000 heifers and sell them to producers across the country. They go through a rigorous selection process. We go to the pasture where they are raised for the first cutting and usually select about 60% of the heifer calves. As we develop them, they’ll go through another two or three cuts, he said.
Most heifers are sold after breeding and pre-calving. They are divided into two to three week calving periods. Topp says when you buy them, you’re getting a quality heifer that’s been sorted into a very neat calving window.
Some heifers were sold direct from the artificial insemination tank in May with no confirmed pregnancy. In this case, you have to clean up. Some heifers are sold in August after a pre-calving visit and a smaller number may be available later in the autumn after a second pre-calving visit.
Topp said there is always a high demand for heifers, with some ranch owners ordering what they want early.
Prices vary depending on the time of purchase, but Top promises competitive prices that allow him to make a profit on development and breeding costs.
Missouri Show Select Replacement Heifer Program
This is the granddaddy of the Elite Heifer development program. For 25 years, Missouri cattle producers have been breeding heifers for sale to other producers (in any state). It is operated by Missouri cattle producers with administrative help from the University of Missouri Extension.
The heifers are raised on various Show-Me Select member farms. To qualify for sale, heifers must meet strict health, vaccination and breeding sound protocols. They must be bred to be easy-calving bulls and pregnancy must be confirmed before the date of sale.
Most were sold through a “Show-Me Select” special sale at one of several area auctions in Missouri. Some are sold directly from the farm.
Daniel Mallory is the Missouri Extension Coordinator for the Northeast Missouri Program. He said many of the heifers on offer are synchronized and artificially bred (although this is not required). Mallory said buyers usually know the calving date.
Heifers can be of any breed, but most are Angus crosses. “In our area we offer a large number of genuine F1 Angus-Hereford cows, so you can get the most out of the hybrid vigor of your cows,” Mallory said.
He believes interest in the program is rising, with more commercial producers looking to upgrade herd genetics by purchasing quality heifers rather than raising them at home. Mallory said it eliminates the management of saving, selecting and breeding heifers.
He knows of one producer who has purchased Show-Me Select heifers every year except one since the program began. Mallory said this is his entire herd replacement strategy.
Show-Me Select heifers averaged $2,705 per head at the most recent sale in Northeast Missouri.
Buy heifer embryos
TransOva Genetics has a product line called ProGentus that provides a more technologically advanced replacement heifer strategy through embryo transfer. With this program and their expertise, you can purchase or produce high-quality heifer embryos for implantation into your dairy cows for rapid genetic upgrading.
TransOva business acquisition expert Cary Crow explains that there are several options.
A program called GenPlus offers embryos that you can purchase directly from an elite group of males and females. The ProGenus genetics team creates F1 (50-50) crosses from these breeding lines to excel in maternal characteristics. Hereford-Angus or Brahman-Hereford are common crossbreeds. These embryos are produced from sex-sorted semen and are restricted to female calves.
Crow says you get excellent maternal characteristics from both sides, plus the added benefit of locking in 100% hybrid vigor in the F1 embryo. If you control both sides, you can achieve giant leaps in genetic change within a generation. You can make F1 women the best mothers in the industry.
TransOva will help you implant embryos into your own cows, who will become surrogate mothers for your calves. The cost starts at $160 per embryo, and additional costs may apply depending on the technical assistance you need to implant the embryos.
Another ProGentus product is more of a custom program for creating and flushing embryos from the best cows in your own herd and then implanting them as surrogates into your other cows. Likewise, with sex-sorted semen technology, you can only produce female embryos. You can choose bulls that are good at producing offspring with top maternal characteristics.
The cost of the program may vary depending on the size of your herd and the technical expertise you require.
To transfer the embryos, you put your cow through a thermosynchronization process, just like you’re doing timed AI. One week after the normal artificial insemination time, the embryos are implanted.
Typically, about 60% of embryo transfers result in pregnancy. It is also important to know that sex-sorted semen has a 90 to 95 percent success rate in producing calves of the desired sex.
Why buy replacement heifers?
Purchasing replacements allows you to add some quality genetics while also maximizing the productivity of your herd and pasture.
Ryan Topp of Topp Herefords says if you’re not rescuing heifer calves from your herd, you don’t have to consider the maternal characteristics of the bulls in your herd. You can look for higher-performing bulls in areas such as calf production, he said.
He added that by not retaining heifers for development, forage and feed resources can be saved.
Missouri Extension agent Daniel Mallory, who works with the Show Me Select Heifer Development Program, said another factor to consider is the outcome rate of the heifers you rescue from the inside. . Some of them fail to reproduce or maintain a pregnancy, some get injured or sick, and some just don’t make it through their first calving. But if you buy from a program like Show-Me Select, he said, the heifers are already developed, bred and confirmed to be pregnant when you buy them. There are no consequences.
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