On suckler farms aiming to calve homebred replacements at 24 months of age every year, early April is an ideal time to weigh maiden heifers to see if animals are likely to hit target breeding weights.

Hitting target breeding weights is key to ensure heifers are properly developed by the time they calve down at 24 months of age.

Well-developed heifers are better equipped to cope with calving, lactation and going back in calf again next year.

Target weight

Liveweight is more important than age when it comes to breeding heifers for the first time.

A good target for breeding heifers is a minimum of 60% of mature cow weight at first service.

The next weight target for replacements to hit is 90% of mature cow weight when heifers are ready to calve down.

So for a herd with an average mature cow weight around 700kg, this means heifers need to be at least 420kg when served.

The more heifers above this minimum weight target, the better.

If breeding is due to start on 1 June, maiden heifers should weigh 360kg to 380kg at the start of April, if replacements are to make the target breeding weight by 15 months of age. By the time heifers calve down, liveweight should be around 620kg to 630kg.

Weighing heifers in early April will give a good indication of which animals will make breeding weight and how many animals will be too light.

Late turnout

The longer turnout is delayed, the less likely it will be that heifers hit the minimum breeding weight.

Feeding higher levels of concentrates while heifers remain indoors may seem like a good idea to increase weight gain.

However, heifers are likely to be overfat and performance will stall for a short period when animals do get out to grass.

As soon as ground conditions allow, try to get heifers out to grass.

If grass is scarce, feeding 1kg to 2kg/day of ration for a short period will keep animals settled and stretch covers.