Cow Breeding
A Few Facts About Cow Breeding
If you want to get into the cow breeding business, even if it only involves a small number of cattle, the best advice is to get plenty of good advice from someone who knows the business well. There's just too much that needs to be known to attempt to learn by a step-at-a-time-process. Purchasing 25 female cows and one bull (not too bad a ratio by the way) might seem to be a good first step, but if you don't know what you're doing, you've probably inherited all the trouble you'll ever need.
Among the things you'll need to know is when a cow is cycling, which means you need to figure out when it's time to introduce the bull (the cow has to be "ready"), and stand a decent chance that the cow will conceive. Trying to figure that out for 25 cows will be a big challenge, too big if you don't know what you're doing. You can always start small of course, with one heifer (a female calf at least six months old, preferably somewhat older), and a bull that is at least one year old. The bull may have a problem with that arrangement, since the gestation period is 283 days, and it will have lots of time on its hands until you need its services next.
A better approach to get started in cow breeding would simply be to purchase a pregnant cow, one that is just a few months pregnant, so you'll have time to learn what you're going to be dealing with when delivery time arrives. When calving time does arrive, you may well need some help. There are times when a heifer cannot deliver the calf, and the calf has to be "pulled", which requires some special tools, and someone who knows how to use them.
Now people who are in the business of cow breeding for profit will have a large number of cows, and will attempt to get everything to work out so a cow will produce a calf on an annual basis. This can be a tricky business, and does not happen 100% of the time, so the breeder in his business plan will have to determine what the percentage of successful conceptions will average out to be, and at what point in the calving season to expect births to occur. This is part of a business plan, and the economics involved in the entire operation, including beef futures for example, must be taken into account. There is also the cost of running the operation, the availability of the proper feedstuffs, and a host of other details.
Most breeders are going to stick with one breed, and one they are very familiar with. A breeder may spend his entire life working with Holsteins, if in the dairy business, or with Herefords if in the beef industry. The next step up, and a very interesting one, would be cross-breeding, with the goal of discovering a new and improved breed of cow. The Holstein, as an example, was bred over a long period of time, with the goal of improved milk production, and is now the best milk producing dairy cow of all of the breeds. If you are bound and determined to get into the cow breeding business, learn as much as you can up front, find a good mentor, and start slowly at first. Then, you have a reasonable chance of doing just fine.