SweetPro Cattle Video Testimonies

"Heifers which failed to rebreed with their second calf dropped from over 20% to zero or less than 2%."

Dennis Mayer, Gackle, North Dakota.

Heifer Breed-back Improves Sharply With SweetPro Tubs

June 2000 • In 1997, commercial cowman, Dennis Mayer of Gackle, ND, was wrestling with a common problem - getting first calf heifers to re-breed for their second calf. As he selected for more milk and maternal traits in his Simmental based-Gelbvieh-cross herd, the number of open first calf heifers had climbed to between 20% and 25%.

Nearby SweetPro dealer, Duane Nester of Streeter, ND, recommended extended use of SweetPro 16-24. Results were dramatic. The first year Mayer had only 8% opens out of 180 cows in the entire herd and 2% opens the following year. "It's the only thing we've done different," Mayer noted. "It really made a difference."

Heifers are put on the SweetPro tubs one month before breeding and they stay on the tubs until Fall. "They'll typically eat a pound to a pound and a quarter a day, per head," said Mayer. He added that it solves a nutrient problem. "These young cows are having a hard time raising a calf and growing and changing teeth and still getting enough nutrients strictly from grass. This (SweetPro) helps - it helps a lot! The cow that milks a lot will raise you a bigger calf so you have to provide the nutrients for her so she can re-breed."

Mayer also said that the breed-back improvements have also helped in his overall herd management, changing culling decisions in an operation where all heifers are home raised. "We don't buy any, so we've got two years invested in that cow. They're the future of your herd, so if you start throwing them away as opens, it's not very good economics and it doesn't improve your herd."

Mayer also added a pragmatic note about culling when all your cows come in bred, "Now you can pick out the one that's got the bad feet or the one that chased you over the fence right after she calved - all those things we as cattle producers tolerate in the interest in having the numbers around to fill our pastures."

On mature cows, Mayer is also using SweetPro for improved breeding. As with the heifers, tubs are put out a month before the bulls go in, but rather than keep tubs out until Fall, as he does with the heifers, cows are only on the tubs two months.

SweetPro Dealer, Duane Nester, can be reached at 701-424-3370.

• New "Tool" nets $110 more per calf - Jan.1996
• Faster Pasture Gains with Tubs - Mar.1997
• Golden Glover - Not Your average Cow Puncher - Dec.1997
• Fresh Start for Stress Calves, with Sweet Pro Kaf Starter - June1999
• Straight From The Horse's Mouth! - Jan. 2000
• Heifer Breed-back Improves Sharply With SweetPro Tub - June 2000
• Stressed Calves Never Look Back, with SweetPro¨ Kaf Starter. - Jan./Feb.2001
• Weaning Bigger, Healthier Calves After Year 'round Supplementing with SweetPro¨ Lick Blocks - Sept./Oct.2001
• Breedback and weaning at the 7P - March 2004
• Stalwart Ranch - September 2004
• Dairy Cows recover from DA - March 2005
• A.J. Starr's Story - July 2005
• Milk Production came up and stayed up - August 2005
• Dairy Calves recover and mature faster on Fresh Start - May 2006
• Double O Charolais - June 2006