Selecting replacement females in a commercial beef herd should be logical. Let’s assume it’s the first cut and the heifers are yearlings. Assume too that all the females are from the same contemporary group and have been managed responsibly. The premise being that one has a set number of females to keep.
- Remove any heifer that has an environmentally unadapted phenotype. Cattle need to fit their climate and environment. Latitude and altitude will play a big role as to which phenotypes are appropriate.
- Remove any heifer with poor body condition or fleshing ability. These are nutritionally unadapted and/or high maintenance.
- Remove any female showing a hormonal imbalance (e.g., masculine characteristics).
- Remove heifers with poor skeletal structure (feet, legs, jaws, shoulders, spine, etc.). This will be dealt with in more detail in a future article.
- Remove all heifers with a bad temperament. Life is too short to put up with idiots.
If you still have more than you need, peel off your least favorite until you get to your desired number. A good indication at this point is to remove the ones that look the least like the others.