A Guide to Calving Heifers

Age at first calving can have a large impact on the profitability of suckler herds, mainly due to the increase in management costs as the age at first calving increases. By successfully calving heifers at two years of age, costs in suckler herds can be reduced leading to an improvement in profitability.

Calving the heifer for the first time is a critical part of the whole reproductive lifecycle, any difficulties or dystocia at first calving can lead to subsequent fertility and reproduction complications. This can then have a negative knock on effect on productivity, margins and carbon emissions.

This video demonstrates best practice for calving heifers and Bruce Wyper, stocksman at SRUC research farm, Easter Howgate tells us how they manage 60 heifers calving at 2 years old.

Related FAS Materials
https://www.fas.scot/publication/colostrum-for-calves/

https://www.fas.scot/publication/preparing-for-calving-and-maximising-live-calves/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v7nOubFZmw

Related External Materials
https://www.sruc.ac.uk/media/tpwj0vlv/a-brief-guide-to-calving-the-cow.pdf