PDCA - One Blog

Welcome to the first Dexter cattle blog to disseminate information for members of the Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America (PDCA) and for those with a curiosity about Irish Dexter cattle, cattle in general, as well as news from the PDCA. Expressions of opinion are to not be regarded as expressing the official opinion of the PDCA unless expressly stated. Hopefully you will find something here of interest and don't overlook browsing through the archives. Comments are welcomed.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

How old to breed a Dexter heifer?

Someone sent an email this week asking about how early they should breed their heifer and I also received a phone from a breeder wanting to know when she could let her bull out with her heifers. While bulls have been known to jump the fence and breed a Dexter heifer as young as five months old, you want to try to avoid this. This long time Dexter breeder's advice is what I've followed:

"A heifer can be bred at 9 mos. We had a heifer that had her first calf at 18 months and 9 or 10 days. However it might be better to have the calf arrive when the dam is 24 months old. I would say it's your choice when to breed."


So while ideally you may want your heifer to calf at 24 months of age, generally if she calves at 18 months or older you should be okay.


PDCA - One Google