Unless heifers presented to the classifier older are actually superior genetically, the system should be redesigned to eliminate this bias. Reclassification may influence the final outcome, but most animals are never reclassified. Given good management, there is no indication that lifetime production, longevity or expression of type characteristics is harmed by earlier calving. The second most common reason heifers are not bred is that heifers eligible for breeding are not identified. The third common reason for delayed first calving is that many heifer management systems make heat detection and artificial insemination of heifers inconvenient.
Inconvenient activities are the first to be neglected when more pressing tasks interfere.
In many herds heat detection in the heifer barn is a chance event since farmers and employees spend very little time there. Good handling facilities, combined with either heat detection aids such as KaMaRs, or better yet a programmed breeding approach, can address what appear to be primarily labour and management issues. Perhaps fourth on the list of reasons for delayed first calving is inadequate size at breeding age. When the goal is calving at 24 months, I suggest that it is most important on most farms to change attitudes, facilities, and management approaches and less important to change nutritional or health status of the heifers. When the goal is reducing age at calving from 24 to 22 months, nutrition and health become of greater importance since the right attitude is clearly already in place.