BIrth Weight

[BRAFORDMAN]

I have a mytty in focus son that i use on mostly brangus cows, i have some herefords bred to him as well.
We calve december through march. LAst year he just bred brangus and the calves averaged about 60-65(I do not weigh calves but it is a pretty close estimate) lbs i had a few smaller ones. Cows were on hay salt and trace mineral black for the winter.

This year my calves have been alot smaller. I know because i pick them up to tag them and ther is a big difference in alot of their size. I have some that i say are about 30-35 lbs a few are around the size they were last year. I have a 50lb dog and i know most of the babies calves are nowhere near as heavy at birth. Calves are healthy and full of energy and are functioning normal. I also had a beefmaster cross bull on some of my cows that calves are in the 60-70 lb range but i had a heifer born friday that is super small, but healthy.

Cows were on hay, cottonseed hull and meal, salt trace mineral blocks and protein tubs this winter because of a hay shortage. Cows are all fat and are in excellent condition. I would have thought that with the extra feeding calves would have been bigger, but calves are smaller.

I have no problem with the small calves, they are all healthy. And are growing fast.

Just curious why are the calves smaller this year?

I will get pics this weekend.

I have no reason to BS about the size of my babies, there is honestly a big difference in size of the calves this year.

 

[Kingfisher]

How do you know what your dog weighs? You really need a " scale" if you want any sort of real data for the future.....

 

[KNERSIE]

At the very least get yourself one of those hooftapes, its still not very accurate, but much better than the bag of feed or dog comparison method.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

How do you know what your dog weighs? You really need a " scale" if you want any sort of real data for the future.....

Dog is weighed at the vet clinic every year, she is 50lbs i and i pick her up sometimes. I do not use a scale because i do not live at my farm i am not there everytime a calf is born so recording weight would be useless if i cannot not weigh all calves.

BUt some of the calves are lighter than the dog i am sure of it. I do not know why there is a big change in the birthweight from this year to last year.

 

[dun]

Whay was the difference in weather in late gestation between the 2 years?

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Whay was the difference in weather in late gestation between the 2 years?

This year the weather was alot colder. We had ice the last two weeks and a week in january. Temps have been below freezing and we are just now starting to warm up. Last year the winter was milder had one snowstorm, but other than that winter was not as bad last year. Cows started calving December 30th this year and that is around the time the temperature started dropping. Last year the cows started calving in NOvember, but the majority started calving the second week of December and temps were not as cold. During the eight month(december since cows calved around the last day of december) of gestation temps were very cold . I am in northeast texas if that helps some.

Cows were supplemented more this winter.

 

[dun]

Extreme cold weather during late pregnancy will route the cows blood supply to her interior (the calf) and will cause higher BW

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Extreme cold weather during late pregnancy will route the cows blood supply to her interior (the calf) and will cause higher BW

I guess it worked the opposite for me. Calves are smaller this year,The majority of the cows with babies still look pregnant. Moms are in excellent condition. I went from having 60-65 lbcalves to getting some that are around 35 lbs. First calves i have ever had to just walk right through the rails of our pen without effort.

I wonder does it have anything to do with the diet of the cows this winter.

Cottonseed hull mixed with cotton seed meal and stock salt. Salt and trace mineral block and all natural 18% protein tubs. Cows were on this until the end of january, before the weather got really bad. They are on hay and salt and trace mineral blocks now, because of the bad weather it was not safe to pull a trailer with feed.

I would have thought the feeding would have increased BW but the calves turned out smaller than last year. BUt they are growing fast and filling out.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

That is strange.
Feed & cold weather SHOULD have made the calves BIGGER. Never know.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

I have had some "normal" ize calves, but the majority are smaller than usual.

I have no problem with the small babies just a little confused on why they turned out smaller.

All i can say is that the babies are full of energy at birth and are healhy little boogers. And moms have good udders and lots of milk.

That is all I can ask for is healthy babies.

 

[TexasBred]

Whay was the difference in weather in late gestation between the 2 years?

This year the weather was alot colder. We had ice the last two weeks and a week in january. Temps have been below freezing and we are just now starting to warm up. Last year the winter was milder had one snowstorm, but other than that winter was not as bad last year. Cows started calving December 30th this year and that is around the time the temperature started dropping. Last year the cows started calving in NOvember, but the majority started calving the second week of December and temps were not as cold. During the eight month(december since cows calved around the last day of december) of gestation temps were very cold . I am in northeast texas if that helps some.

Cows were supplemented more this winter.

December wasn't cold. Seldom below freezing for a short period early morning a few days. Only cold weather has been last 2 weeks.

 

[angus9259]

December wasn't cold. Seldom below freezing for a short period early morning a few days. Only cold weather has been last 2 weeks.

This was my thought. My calves were small this year - it's been a mild winter contrary to some apocalyptic weather reporting and to a few rather intense storms. Obviously I'm in MI and not TX so that's just me.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

Whay was the difference in weather in late gestation between the 2 years?

This year the weather was alot colder. We had ice the last two weeks and a week in january. Temps have been below freezing and we are just now starting to warm up. Last year the winter was milder had one snowstorm, but other than that winter was not as bad last year. Cows started calving December 30th this year and that is around the time the temperature started dropping. Last year the cows started calving in NOvember, but the majority started calving the second week of December and temps were not as cold. During the eight month(december since cows calved around the last day of december) of gestation temps were very cold . I am in northeast texas if that helps some.

Cows were supplemented more this winter.

December wasn't cold. Seldom below freezing for a short period early morning a few days. Only cold weather has been last 2 weeks.

The weather has been a little colder in my area than other parts of texas. My area had the bad temps the last two weeks, but we had some winter storms the end of december and beginning of January too not just the last two weeks..

 

[Victoria]

I'm still trying to imagine what a 35 lb calf looks like..... :shock: We had a 68 pounder and I thought she was tiny. Ask any Canadian - cold weather makes calves larger not smaller.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

When Texans talk about cold weather, that is NOT the cold weather that puts pounds on newborns.

 

[BRAFORDMAN]

When Texans talk about cold weather, that is NOT the cold weather that puts pounds on newborns.

Cows are all fat and are in excellent condition the newborn calves mothers still look pregnant.

All i can say is this is Texas anything can happen here.



I am thankful for these little healthy babies.

 

[Victoria]

When Texans talk about cold weather, that is NOT the cold weather that puts pounds on newborns.

I wouldn't think so, their cold would probably be our balmy.