# Should I keep or sale



## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

I have two jersey Holstein x heifers 13 months old. The issue I have is they seem to be really small. do you think they will grow any more and be able to calve? They are the two on left the Holstein is 6 months old next to them in first pic.


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

They will continue to grow. Do you have any shots of them from behind? Would help to see how wide they are. 
What are you planning on breeding them to?
What have you been feeding them? 
Do you provide minerals?


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## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

They had calf starter when they were younger then 12% sweet feed grass and hay. We have a mineral lick block. We were going to breed them to a young angus bull.


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## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

Hit reply to soon sorry


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

I have a beef cow that is the same. She will be 8months this month and she isn't growing. I got her on grass and that has helped with her pot belly but she still doesn't seem to be growing. I had hoped to breed her but I dont think shes gonna be cut out for it.


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

kdixon said:


> I have a beef cow that is the same. She will be 8months this month and she isn't growing. I got her on grass and that has helped with her pot belly but she still doesn't seem to be growing. I had hoped to breed her but I dont think shes gonna be cut out for it.



8 months old is a minimum 6 months short of when the earliest breeding should occur. 
Is your beef calf a bottle calf by chance?


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

Krooked_S said:


> They had calf starter when they were younger then 12% sweet feed grass and hay. We have a mineral lick block. We were going to breed them to a young angus



I think your worrying about nothing.  One looks a hair small to be bred but a few more months should fix that. Add some grain and high quality hay if your in a hurry.
Were these calves bottle calves?
I'd urge you to not breed to a young angus bull. Choose a PROVEN low birth weight bull. Especially is your this concerned about calving problems due to size.
Also I'd highly recommend ditching mineral BLOCKS. Go with loose minerals. They actually consume what they need with loose instead of not consuming the amount they need due to a sore tongue from licking a lot. Just a thought


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## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

Yes they were bottle calves they were real small when we got them below average


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

Krooked_S said:


> Yes they were bottle calves they were real small when we got them below average



Thought so.  They have that look . That is why they are smaller. It takes months longer for bottle calves to get to where they are breed-able most of the time. The best way to get them caught up is keeping them on starter then grower for a lot longer. Also a good quality hay free choice. We have small stem alfalfa and starter (then grower) available at all times for our bottle calves.


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## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

Post #4 1st pic it's heifer to right


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

DoubleR.. we dont breed until 15 months. My point was just that she hasn't grown at all. And I'm not sure she will. Which makes me sad. I've had her since she was a week old and her mama died. I had plans for that girl! Lol


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

kdixon,

I wouldn't give up yet.  You may be surprised.  She may just not be a tall girl. She might just be developing other areas that your not noticing. Sometimes when we see them a lot we don't notice the changes. 
Nature doesn't normally stop growth unless they are stunted and she wouldn't look normal if that was the case.
Do you have any pics?


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

Krooked_S said:


> Post #4 1st pic it's heifer to right



She's cute  I think you'd be wise to wait a few more months. She's on the leaner side which will slow her development a bit. Pretty common for bottle calves. 
Bottle calves are tough. Like I said before. They are generally behind unless you push the feed to them hard all the way threw. That gets costly quick. I'd just give her a few more months. Maybe up her feed intake if you can. 
I personally wouldn't sell her because of this in particular. It's not her fault  She's a bottle baby.


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

DoubleR I would post a pic of her... if only I had a brain! How would I do such a thing???


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

kdixon said:


> DoubleR I would post a pic of her... if only I had a brain! How would I do such a thing???



Lol! No worries! Are you on the app (which app?) or Internet?


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

Android app


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm working on getting information on posting photos via android. I'll get back to you ASAP.


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

Here you go  Let me know if this doesn't help you 




cattle said:


> Here are the instructions for the apps.
> 
> 
> How to upload photos from mobile devices
> ...


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

Here is a pic of her today. The one she is near is just over a year old.


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## DoubleR (Jan 15, 2014)

I was expecting a whole different pic  I certainly wouldn't give up on that heifer! 
She looks good. A month of two behind MAYBE but that's a big maybe. The typical bottle calf belly's not there. She looks good. She really doesn't look that far off of where she probably would be with a momma. She'd be a bit more filled out but she doesn't look bad from the photo.


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## Dion (May 7, 2014)

Wow, as I was reading this post I had a completely different idea of what your calf looked like. That is a good looking calf. What you might do, when they are 15 months old, is run them by the Vet to see if if the Vet can check them and see if they are going to be able to adequately develop physically to produce and give birth to a calf.

Sometimes a bargain bottle calf heifer isn't such a bargain. About 14 years ago purchased a real nice looking black heifer bottle calf at a local livestock auction for $125. I really thought I had a great bargain and the start of my own cattle empire at a cheap price. Very shortly after I acquired her, I purchased two weaned registered Angus heifers. All three heifers got identical feed and lived under identical conditions. I didn't have a bull yet. 

I could always tell the two registered Angus heifers from the sale barn heifer on sight at great distance. She had a rump and build like some of the bottle calves in your pictures. But I kept feeding her and "she was standing in feed". Eventually I thought she got to be a decent looking heifer. 

When they were of age I took all three to get them AI'ed. The technician glanced at her and said something like "uh oh". He gloved up and checked her out. He soon advised that she was not fully developed and wouldn't ever produce a calf. 

On the way home with my stock trailer I stopped at a sale barn and unloaded her. For a while I wondered how much money I wasted on that sale barn heifer for feed and care. I didn't wonder too awful long because I didn't keep her around where I had to look at her.

Sometimes its just better to spend a little bit of money and get something good and especially reliable.


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## Krooked_S (Nov 4, 2013)

My two heifers came straight from farm for $25 apiece not twins so that's a + all together I might have $200 apiece in both of them.


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## Dion (May 7, 2014)

You can't hardly go wrong for $25 a head. Thats way under market price. Good job.


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## rene (Mar 14, 2014)

kdixon said:


> DoubleR.. we dont breed until 15 months. My point was just that she hasn't grown at all. And I'm not sure she will. Which makes me sad. I've had her since she was a week old and her mama died. I had plans for that girl! Lol


them Holstein and jersy cross at work are throwing a calf b by their side at 400 pounds. these crosses are very hardy. but stick to low birth weight. what's happened is they got more Jersey then Holstein.


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

Rene
Mine is a charlois x. She has started looking better since being on grass but her head is still tiny for her body. We'll see what happens in a few months.


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## rene (Mar 14, 2014)

Krooked_S said:


> I have two jersey Holstein x heifers 13 months old. The issue I have is they seem to be really small. do you think they will grow any more and be able to calve? They are the two on left the Holstein is 6 months old next to them in first pic.
> View attachment 154
> View attachment 155


These girls will stsrt breeding early. Like i said before they got these Crosses at work they throw a calf down at about 400lbs


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## kdixon (Mar 25, 2014)

Haha I follow now. I can be slow sometimes. Lol


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