Developing the Next Generation
Know what you have, and develop those heifers to stay in the cow herd.
March 23, 2025
It’s a picture-perfect day: The sun is shining. Cows are calling in the distance. You can hear the gentle sway of green grass. As you look across the landscape, all you can see are green hills and black heifers. There is absolutely nothing prettier, but it’s a view beef producers know is framed with sweat, blood and maybe even a few tears.
Developing replacement heifers is no easy feat. It takes months of hard work and critical thinking, making decisions reflected in rations and animal health. While there are many ways to grow and develop heifers, there are a few key concepts to keep top of mind.
Develop heifers into cows
Debbie Lyons-Blythe has a long history in the cattle business. She grew up on a registered Angus operation and currently works alongside her husband, Duane; three sons; and their families on the family ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas. The goal? Raise heifers that will stay in the herd and grow the next generation of cows.
“You have to think about what kind of heifer and what kind of cow you want,” Lyons-Blythe says. “You’ve got to raise the heifer and do the things for the heifer that make her a good cow later.”
But it starts much earlier than that with a lot of thought processes and recordkeeping.
“You should be able to fit them into your herd with a little bit more attention and a little bit more feed,” Lyons-Blythe says.
Grow the heifers
The age-old adage and research would indicate we should feed heifers to reach 60%-65% of their mature body weight (BW) by the onset of breeding season. However, recent research at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) indicates postweaning development of heifers to achieve 55% of mature BW before breeding did not negatively affect reproductive performance during first and second calving compared with developing heifers to achieve 62% of mature BW.1
The short version? We may not need to feed heifers as hard as one might think, saving us time, money and still getting the same results at calving.
Zach Thompson, herdsman for Diamond Bar E Cattle in State Center, Iowa, has developed his fair share of heifers. While the main business model is structured around recipient cows for an embryo transfer (ET) program, he maintains spring-calving heifers, as well as dairy heifers for Blood Dairy in State Center.
“Body condition plays a big role in determining how we need to feed the heifer, especially as we lead up to breeding season,” Thompson says.
Heifer maintenance and gestation nutrient requirements can increase overall development costs. The goal is to keep costs to a minimum.
“We want them to grow to their optimum potential, and we don’t want feed to be their limiting factor,” Lyons-Blythe says. “We’re not looking to build a fat heifer and have that impact her fertility through the feed, too, at yearling time.”
Thompson and Lyons-Blythe agree that while heifers are on their winter diets, a slow plane of nutrition is best, with an average daily gain of 1.0-1.5 pounds (lb.) being optimal.
“In my ideal world, I want those heifers at a BCS (body condition score) of 4-plus, 5 at the most,” Thompson says. “It’s OK to see a rib or two, but certainly not any softness, or carrying extra fat.”
To Thompson, this indicates the heifer is ready to be bred and graze the remainder of summer.
Know the heifers
To Lyons-Blythe, recordkeeping is essential and the only way she keeps track of all the moving parts.
“I feel it’s pretty important when you’re looking to develop heifers that we keep accurate records,” Lyons-Blythe says. From tags to freeze brands, vaccinations and comments about the specific female, they have it all recorded.
Along with recordkeeping comes knowing their genetics. They are testing for parentage and any possible genetic defects.
“I want to know everything about these females,” Lyons-Blythe says. “Our registered heifers should have everything in their favor before being selected as a breeding heifer.”
Her decision to keep a heifer as a replacement started months before breeding season — nearly all the way back to when the heifer was on the cow.
“We start looking at heifers when they’re still out on grass, but after weaning is when we start putting our group together,” Lyons-Blythe says. “From there, we start culling, picking out ones that we know won’t fit in the program.”
Their veterinarian serves as their “third party” to help make this decision. They arrive in early spring to calfhood vaccinate and take pelvic measurements, at which point the Blythe family has made the majority of their culling decisions. But they aren’t just there to help make decisions; they are part of the team.
“You’ve got to have that relationship with your veterinarian anymore to do almost anything,” Lyons-Blythe says. “This is a perfect opportunity to get that veterinarian out on the farm while we’re working heifers, to see how we work cattle, and spend some quality time with them. Our vet is a clear part of our team.”
Veterinarians are the people we call when we need a solution to a problem and the experts we consult for management decisions. Establishing the relationship before a crisis helps us in the long run.
Grow the next generation
In addition to thinking about the individual female, we also have to consider what’s happening from a reproductive standpoint.
“The last two months before you want to do any breeding are important,” Thompson says. “The heifer is going to ovulate about 40 days before you want to breed. We want to make the best egg.”
Blythe Family Farms was recognized with the 2022 CAB Progressive Partner Award. From left are Duane, Debbie, Tyler, Eric, Brier and Trenton Blythe.
What does making the best egg entail? Thompson says minimizing stress, completing vaccinations at least 60 days in advance, ensuring the group has enough feed and finding ways to minimize the effects of weather can go a long way.
Synchronization protocols make a difference for the female, too, especially if you’ve not considered one before.
“I want those heifers to show me what they can do,” Lyons-Blythe says. “I will just give one round of prostaglandin, and then we’ll live with those heifers to watch them through a heat cycle.”
By utilizing a heat detection patch, the Blythe crew works to get approximately 75% of the group bred.
On the other hand, Thompson has found his favorite and most time-effective is a seven-day Co-Synch with CIDR® protocol.
“This protocol works great for our schedules,” Thompson says. “It requires two rounds of injections, so we can schedule for a Monday, and we know what we need to be doing a week later [on the following Monday]. We also know we’ll be visually heat-checking the whole next week.”
Thompson says it’s best if you can find a protocol that works for you and your animals.
Handle with care
The way the females are handled also affects them — not only at breeding, but much further down the road.
“We do all our heat checking on foot,” Lyons-Blythe says. “We’ve found this makes a tremendous difference in their disposition for the rest of their life.”
At first the heifers will be shy, she says. However, they don’t even move out of your way by the second or third day. Heifers are still curious at that age, so this is the perfect opportunity to show them that people are not something to fear. This produces positive dividends, not only when working heifers, but when calving season rolls around the following year.
Heifers take time, resources and energy. We must invest, though, as these are the next generation of females that will move the needle for the entire herd.
Editor’s note: Lauren Brinegar is a freelance writer and cattlewoman from Liscomb, Iowa.
1Lardner, et al. “Effect of development system on growth and reproductive performance of beef heifers.” Journal of Animal Science, Vol. 92, No. 7, July 2014, pp. 3116–26.
Topics: Management , Female Foundations , Reproduction , Selection
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
Issue: April 2025
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Current Angus Beef Bulletin
The April issue has a “Focus On Females,” including a special advertising section devoted to herds intent on providing the female foundation.
