Acceptable Loss Rate Heifers Calving

[djinwa]

Ran across this today which relates to this discussion.

http://www.angusbeefbulletin.com/extra/ ... skWejjSnIU

Sires used at the Nevada ranch were obviously short-gestation, calving-ease and low-birth-weight bulls, as only a light pull was required on less than 3% of the AI-sired calves. Many of these assists were due to an abnormal presentation of the fetus and not due to excessive birth weight. Ninety-one percent of the calves weighed less than 80 pounds (lb.) at birth. As birth weights increased to more than 80 lb., so did the assist rate.

Research has shown that there is an 80-lb. birth-weight threshold relative to dystocia in first-calf English-bred heifers. During the last 10 days of gestation, 1-1½ lb. of birth weight per day may be added to the size of the fetus. Within a five-day extended gestation, as much as 8 lb. could potentially be added to the birth weight of a calf. This could mean the difference between an unassisted birth or a dystocia situation.

Interesting that brahman have the longest gestation at 292 days, vs 281 for angus. So if you have brangus heifers, which genetics are affecting gestation length and therefore birthweight?

 

[randiliana]

IMO, I would expect a 2% death loss, and be pretty happy with anything under 5%. I also find it difficult to believe that an 86 lb calf would be big enough to cause the cow an injury bad enough for her to die(or be put down). We have heifers (and no they are not Exotic or exotic cross) that will calve 90 lb calves on their own. I prefer that our heifers have calves in the 75-85 lb range and expect most of those to be born unassisted. I do not care to see a 60 lb calf out of anything, they tend to die in our climate if the weather is poor, or at least require more care.

Cold weather does seem to cause more assists, but I think that it is more that we are watching the cattle closer than any other reason. When you are checking every 2-4 hours because they could freeze to death, you get impatient quicker and tend to intervene because of that, I think. When you are checking every 4-6 hours you often just find the cow with a calf.

 

[Caustic Burno]

This is my first year in the beef cattle business, my ranch is located in east Texas. I don't live there and therefore I have a ranch manger; he is trustworthy, hard working, knowledgeable guy and I've known him my whole life. I bought 40 cows, 20 calves (all in good shape no issues, they are starting make good looking heifers from one ranch, I bought another 20 bred Brangus heifers, AI'ed to an Angus bull. I've been told by my neighbors and my grandfather before he passed that the 20 Brangus heifers were about as good a set of cows as you can buy, paid a premium for a real good set. I bought them off a big ranch with very good stock, I was told they were all due in late March. Well we've already had 7 calves drop. We lost 2 of those calves in birth and a heifer. Both calves that died weighed over 80lbs. My ranch manager did all he could to save that heifer, had the vet out, hope it was some nerve damage but she didn't make it. I really don't think my ranch manager is doing anything wrong, he happened on the last still born right as she was first starting to calf and it still died, he weighed that one at 86lbs!

I helped my grandfather when I was younger but he always had older cows, he never retained heifers so I have no experience with 1st time calves personally on loss rates. It seems odd to me that the Brangus cows bred to supposedly low birth weight bull would be throwing 80+ calves twice in 7 births, both bull calves by the way. Diet of these heifers has been almost entirely hay since November. We supplement with 2 bags of protein twice a week but thats split between 20 cows. Vet who came out a couple days ago said the heifers were in good shape, not overweight but not underweight either, she called it ideal calving condition weight in fact. Also odd that I was told they were all due in late March and we have 7 on the ground already. Do people think this is bad coincidence or intentional decent by the seller? Any recourse with this ranch? Or is this like I suspect buyers remorse and lesson learned.

Heifers are a crap shoot that is why I don't buy them. The 86 pound calf is by no way a behemoth.
Calving ease is more important than BW in my book. Myself I would never buy a breed heifer without seeing the bulls progeny on the ground. I want to see his work not his papers. You have to remember an EPD is expected, there are always some
anomalies within bloodlines.

 

[Jessica06]

I would guess, if the heifers are as nice as you say, that they probably have some birthweight behind them. Even the best heifer bulls can only fix that birthweight "so much" sometimes. Having that many calving this early might warrant a call for clarification, but to expect compensation for lost calves if everything is good on their end is a little unreasonable, impo, without a written guarantee. A heifer should be able to have an 80# calf. How long does your manager wait before assisting? We err on the side of caution and give them about 3 hours or so before jumping in. In general, when calving heifers some years are better than others. Our first group we ever calved out here was a nightmare. The rest have been either okay or smooth sailing. For the most part, we've been AIing to the same bull every season.

 

[ClinchValley]

One of our neighbors consistently has calves drop looking like 50 lb'ers. Not sure if that's exactly right, but they are tiny next to our 80-100 lbers.