Fast-Track Heifers

SIDEBAR: Weighing the benefits

Lower replacement costs and increased profits are the result of a heifer growth program no dairy producer should ignore. Mich Etchebarne, a Modesto, Calif.-based nutritionist promotes a controlled breeding program calling for careful monitoring of growth.

Rations higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates make for a heifer that gains bone and muscle rather than unnecessary fat, especially in the mammary system. Extra fat gained early in a heifer's life can hinder mammary development. Later in life, her milk-production levels will not be as great as they should be.

Etchebarne's replacement-heifer program works around a few beliefs:

• Allow heifers to reach genetic potential at the right age with the least amount of cost.
• Feed and time are the most expensive costs.
• As long as they are built for it, calving at 22 1/2 to 23 1/2 months of age is best.
• A heifer does not have to be big or old to be profitable.
• As age at first calving increases, production per day of life declines as does profitability.
• Severe undernourishment can be detrimental to production potential, but lower milk production is probably from greater fatness during the growth stage of life.

Etchebarne says there is no reason not to begin breeding some heifers at 10 months of age, and that they should certainly not be more than 12 to 14 months. Breeding age depends on the heifer's rate of growth, body weight and body condition, says Etchebarne. Large breeds should be bred at 770 lb., smaller breeds at 640 lb. As he figures it, the daily feeding cost of a Holstein weighing over 1,250 lb. is about $1.40. At 30 days per month, that is a $42 expense. If average milk production is 65 lb. per day and the net low milk price is $10.30 per cwt., a dairy producer is conservatively missing another $200 for each month's delay in getting an animal bred.

Jake Van Vliet, Elscalon, Calif., is a dairy producer with heifers that grow quickly, calve out early without problems and peak fast in their lactation.

"We feed a milk replacer that is 22% protein and 18% fat, formulated by Mich," says Van Vliet. "At five days the calves are put on an 18% protein TMR and are fed Number 1 milk-cow hay; you can't say it's a cheap ration, but they gain an average of at least 2 lb. per day.

"We raise them here until they are about 750 lb. and then we send them out to a feedlot until they are about three months bred," adds Van Vliet. "We don't have corral space on this facility to accommodate all of them for the whole time."

Until five months ago the heifers were at the feedlot until a month prior to calving, says Van Vliet, who milks 500 cows averaging 22,800 milk and 840 fat, on 3X.

"After calving they would lose a lot of body condition, and it would take almost 45 to 60 days before they would come up to 70 to 80 lb. of milk," notes Van Vliet. "Now it is not uncommon to see these heifers peak at 80 lb. within 10 days. They are coming on to feed much faster and are more aggressive. We've been calving heifers at about 22 months [1,300 to 1,350 lb.], and I think we may be able to go down a little."

"Research that we are using has been around for the last 10 years, with emphasis on growth and production," says Etchebarne. "The information was defined by the beef people 40 years ago. They took two groups of heifers--one group was put in a very poor pasture at breeding, the other in a better one. Heifers grown on the poorer pasture showed greater milk yield after freshening. As a result, their calves had larger weaning weights."

Studies have shown that dairy heifers fed high-energy diets to achieve higher average daily gains grow faster and reach puberty sooner, but they become excessively fat and produce less milk than heifers fed for lower gains. The key to this is understanding mammary development. Etchebarne notes two phases of mammary development: isometric, from two to three months of age when the mammary glands grow as fast as the rest of the body; and allometric, occurring from three to nine months of age when the mammary gland development is much faster (3.5 times) than the rate of body growth.

This is an important growth time, says Etchebarne. This is when overfeeding has a big effect on udder development. Excess adipose (fat) deposition during this time will reduce secretory tissue development. And the less secretory tissue, the less production later in life.

With this example in mind, Etchebarne goes about formulating rations for his clients that prescribe controlled steady growth with correct mammary development.

"We want frame growth, with a minimum of fat," he says. "Dairy industry economics dictate that we figure rations carefully, use home-grown feeds to their best advantage, and buy just what's needed of outside commodities.

"There are no magical feedstuffs," says Etchebarne. "Supplements should be used to balance the growing ration, but should not be fed in excess." Typical feeds include milk replacers [Etchebarne has developed his own for his clients], calf starter, alfalfa and oat hays, hay corn, grain and Sudan silages, pasture, protein and by-products. What-ever mix is used, forage and feed analyses are necessary to formulate the correct diet.

Etchebarne recommends that heifers be broken into groups by size, with as many groups as facilities and labor will allow. One group scenario follows:

	Age	Crude protein	TDN
Gp. 1	3-6 mos.	16.7%	71.6
Gp. 2	7-12 mos.	15.3	64.0
Gp. 3	13-15 mos.	14.5	63.0
Gp. 4	16 mos.-2 mos. before calving	13.0	62.0

Heifer raising is often a love 'em or leave 'em situation. After taking great care to make sure heifers get a good start on life, they are put out to the "back 40" until calving time. Paying close attention to your replacement ration could make a big difference in your future profitability.

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SIDEBAR: Weighing the benefits

John Fiscalini, Modesto, Calif., dairy producer, not only adheres to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet for his heifers, he also checks their growth rate by weighing them at intervals through their lifetime.

Heifer weighing began 1.5 years ago as part of an effort to figure out why calves were not gaining as much as they should during the first two months. The goal was to check efficiency.

His electronic scale can be moved anywhere on the dairy by picking it up with a front-end loader. The electronic "brains" of the scale are stored in the office. The unit is taken to the scale and connected to a car-battery power source.

In the weighing process calves are weighed at birth, 60 days (weaning) and six months. All weights are entered into the dairy computer. At 10 months they are weighed every two weeks. At this point heifers are ready for breeding.

"The scale is one of the best investments we've ever made. It doesn't take much time, you just have to stay on it. Twice a month I give my employees a list of animals to be weighed," he says.

Ideally, Fiscalini waits until the heifers are 750 lb. before breeding. If a heifer reaches this group and she is not heavy enough, then she is held back until her next cycle before being bred. The average age for heifers to reach the 750-lb. mark is 13 to 14 months. Fiscalini thinks he will try to get that down to 12 to 13 months.

"If I could, I'd weigh them at different times, maybe four, six, eight and 10 months," says Fiscalini. "I think a gap of two to six months is a little bit too long to wait. Ideally, I would like to have a catch-up pen for calves that don't gain as fast, and give them an even hotter ration than they are getting now.

"As research comes in from DRPC, it appears that the younger you calve that animal the more money you make on her, not necessarily with high production, but with cost effectiveness. We are now down to an average of 23-24 months at calving, and we think that that is theoretically optimum. Our average weight after calving is 1,200 lb.

"The younger heifers appear to be coming on with contemporaries that are a few months older," Fiscalini continues. "I think they are peaking at a little bit less than the 24-month-olds. But we will be getting more production on the life of the animal by starting out early. If you peak at 4 to 5 lb. less but you pick up that extra few months, then I'll assume that it's still a real advantage.

"Overall the calves look almost identical to the calves that were not on the program. It's just that they went through it faster," says Fiscalini. "There is no difference in the condition of the heifers. I would assume the only health-related problem you could see would be increased problems with calving, but we really haven't seen that at all."

What Fiscalini has seen are bigger heifers calving at an earlier age, moving into the herd with relative ease. The greater amount of attention and a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet seems to be making profitable sense.