Heifer Co-op

Broader Veterinary Services for Smaller Beef Producers

Abstract

In our area of the country (Eastern Iowa) we have many family farms that include beef cows as one of their many farming enterprises. Many of these producers find it difficult to justify saving back replacement heifers due to a variety of reasons, namely:
1. One breeding pasture used.
2. Only one bull used on the entire cow herd.
3. Calving problems with heifers.
4. Replacement heifers are sired by current herd bull.
5. Too few heifers to successfully heat detect and A.I.
6. Unable to identify top replacements due to a lack
of records.
7. Poor facilities to make A.I. practical.

So, many of these producers end up buying bred cows to replace their culls, and often times they are buying someone else's culls.