Calves Dropping Year Round

[GotMyHandsFull]

I was recently given about 45 cows, 20 calves of various ages and one registered Limousine bull from a relative who had grown too old to care for them. However, for the last couple of years, the bull has stayed with the cattle year round, which means I have calves dropping throughout the year. Three were born last week. What would it take to re-establish some sort of program where the majority of calves were born in a 60 or 90-day period, and would this mean that some cows would go more than a year without calving? One local cattleman told me not to worry about it, and said to leave it as is, and just enjoy having my income spread out over the year since I'm sending calves to the sale barn every three to four months right now. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Supa Dexta]

That's quite a gift.

Myself I would have to hold the bull back quite a while to get things back in check - better now than never. You didn't have the cows last year, so what's the difference if some go a while without a calf. Catch it now, and be done with it. It's a pain calving all the time, and always having to work cattle. Not being able to closely monitor their progress and shortfalls.. etc.

Do that and get a respectable group together, sell the late ones and enjoy the ride. You just got into the highest cattle market ever, the cheapest way possible.

 

[inyati13]

I was recently given about 45 cows, 20 calves of various ages and one registered Limousine bull from a relative who had grown too old to care for them. However, for the last couple of years, the bull has stayed with the cattle year round, which means I have calves dropping throughout the year. Three were born last week. What would it take to re-establish some sort of program where the majority of calves were born in a 60 or 90-day period, and would this mean that some cows would go more than a year without calving? One local cattleman told me not to worry about it, and said to leave it as is, and just enjoy having my income spread out over the year since I'm sending calves to the sale barn every three to four months right now. Any advice would be appreciated.

Build a bull pen. Something to keep the bull separated from the cows. Then establish a schedule based on when you want your calves dropped. Release him for 60 to 90 days to achive the appropriate calving period. For fall calves, you could put him with the cows from Thanksgiving until the first week of February as an example.

 

[Mat Man]

Not sure were you are located but we have a fall group and a spring group of calves on differnt farms.
The bull stays with 1 herd while others are calving.
That works for us and keeps bull happy.

 

[Williamsv]

The same thing happened to me with my mother's cows. It was a calf here and there. That is hard to deal with. I now have spring and late fall into January calves. That is much better. I have two good sized groups to sell each year.
You were certainly blessed to have a nice herd given to you. Good luck.

 

[Supa Dexta]

http://www.agweb.com/article/justificat ... s-release/

 

[Dave]

I just pen up the bull from shortly after the first calf is born until my desired turn out date. That way he isn't penned up as much and easier to handle. Any calves born after a desired date get mom and calf a trip to town. The vast majority of the calves will be born in that desired time frame. But for right now you just need to pen the bull up if you want a tighter calving window.

I wish someone thought highly enough of me to give me a herd. That is quite a gift.

 

[bigbull338]

here in texas we leave the bull with the cows year round.our cows all calved pretty much in 90 days last year.we had 4 calves in 8 days right now.still have alot of cows to calve as we have just started calving.

 

[Bigfoot]

Everybodies approach would be different. I'd tighten them to calve from feb-April, and a second group from sep-nov. I'd even give them a couple of calf crops to get in those windows. I'm sure there good cows, that calve every 12 months. Keep good records, and I'd only sell the ones going over a year. Just my opinion. If later, you prefer one calving cycle over the other, you could focus accordingly.

 

[jerry27150]

shorten first year to six months , second year to four months & third year to what you want

 

[GotMyHandsFull]

According to the papers on the bull, he turned seven a few weeks back. Is he too old to breed 45 cows and partly to blame for the calves not dropping in a tighter window? I would have thought in a herd, the cows' estrus cycles would begin to naturally sync to some degree.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

According to the papers on the bull, he turned seven a few weeks back. Is he too old to breed 45 cows and partly to blame for the calves not dropping in a tighter window? I would have thought in a herd, the cows' estrus cycles would begin to naturally sync to some degree.

I think that's too many cows for one bull to service if you're striving for a tighter calving season.

 

[Nesikep]

I have heard of bulls managing it, but they're few and far between I think.. and it's certainly not reliable.. the also do tend to slow down little with age. If you split the herd into 2 calving groups he should be able to do it fine, though since he probably hasn't had a Breeding Soundness Exam (BSE) done in some time, it might be a good thing to do.
I don't know about your experience with cattle, but I'd also look at a good mineral feeding program as well.. I found sub clinical deficiencies in my herd that had probably caused me to cull a lot of the best producing cows because they didn't breed back on time.. I drew blood from one of my heaviest producing cows and got the lab work done on it.. she was very low in Phosphorus, copper, and selenium.. Had I done diligent research on the signs of the deficiencies and gotten a good mineral mix I'd have saved myself a lot of grief.

Good luck with the herd, and welcome to CT

 

[ANAZAZI]

45 cows is not necessarily a problem for one bull to settle in two months.

 

[WalnutCrest]

45 cows is not necessarily a problem for one bull to settle in two months.

+1

 

[Lucky_P]

Depending on how large an area they're ranging over... I'd expect my bull to handle that many cows - but they're always in the same 5-acre paddock on any given day. If he were having to cover 100s or 1000s of acres to find that cow in heat...maybe not.

Before my wife took over management, we were year-round calving. Took a couple of years to get things tightened up to a 60 day window - and we split 'em into Spring & Fall calving groups to get there.

BSE on the bull is probably in order; need to look at nutritional status of the cowherd.

 

[bigbull338]

my bull runs with close to 60 breeding age cows and heifers.i beleive in running 1 bull to 60 or 80 cows.when we milked cows it was 1 bull with up 120hd.right now we have about 6 cows getting ready to calve anytime.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

my bull runs with close to 60 breeding age cows and heifers.i beleive in running 1 bull to 60 or 80 cows.when we milked cows it was 1 bull with up 120hd.right now we have about 6 cows getting ready to calve anytime.

Year round correct?

 

[bigbull338]

yes but even at that we calved most all of the cows last year in 45 to 60 days.plus i culled 2 old cows that wouldve missed a whole year calving.had a very few calve through the year.

 

[lucky7chief]

My dad bought a herd several years ago that were calving year round. We had the vet preg check and sorted into fall and spring calving herds based on the result. Then, we started culling to tighten the two calving seasons.