08/31/05 Replacement heifers

Replacement Heifers Some fall jobs are just around the corner. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute to talk about one. Weaning the calves from the cows isn't that far away on most ranches and even closer for areas still in drouth conditions. One of the important jobs at weaning is picking replacement heifers to go back into the cowherd. These heifers will be counted on to be the backbone of ranch production in just a few years. This is where Daniel Kniffen, extension beef associate and assistant professor of animal science at Pennsylvania State University, says not to follow fads and trends. Now you might wonder what a professor from Pennsylvania would know about replacement heifers for a western range. Well, he kind of caught my attention when mentioning some producers only select for, say, carcass traits and not all traits that produce a live, weaned calf every year and still yield marketable carcass traits. There it is againmost successful cattle producers and knowledgeable students of the industry keep referring to multiple trait selection. One trend I have heard of over the years is picking replacements from younger cows because these carry the newest and best genetics in the herd, but Kniffen reminds producers not to overlook replacement heifers from older cows since these cows have the genetics that have survived all the environmental and management challenges of your ranch and have always had a calf year in and year out. I think we need to remember profitability starts with a high percentage of live calves born and raised to market age. I'm Jeff Keane. Beef August 2005