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Breeding / Calving Issues
Calves Dropping Year Round
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<blockquote data-quote="WalnutCrest" data-source="post: 1206800" data-attributes="member: 21715"><p>I'm one guy with one opinion, so take it for what it's worth. If they were my cows, here's what I'd do with your new herd:</p><p></p><p>* Estimate your calves ages; everything over 6mo gets weaned (if its not already). Any bull calf that you don't want to keep as a home-grown bull gets castrated.</p><p>* Decide which calves you want to ship, and put wheels on them (regardless of age). You're trying to simplify things, and, if I'm in your shoes, I go ahead and start doing just that as quickly as reasonably possible.</p><p>* Preg check all your females; any cow that is open and has a calf that is over 5-6mo grows wheels.</p><p>* Estimate the status of your calving windows by trimester. Figure out (roughly) when you think the pregnant cows/heifers are going to calve next. If any are set to calve in the worst of the winter or the worst of the summer, I strongly consider shipping them. I'd make that call on a cow-by-cow basis ... better cows stay, worse cows get shipped. In this first year, you (ideally) want to end up with two groups of cows for two different calving seasons ... one in the fall and one in the spring and having outliers that might need special help in lousy weather would be high on my list of possible cull candidates.</p><p>* Once you get your cows situated into a fall group and a spring group, after they calve this first time, decide if you prefer fall or spring calving, then ship the cows that don't fit into that window.</p><p>* Put the funds received from the calves you shipped previously, plus the funds received from your first group of culls and the cows that are queued to calve at the 'wrong time of the year' towards the best cows you can find (preferably in your part of the country) who are already queued up to calve in your preferred window. [For me, the main reason I'd want to get down to calving in one period of time is that it reduces your management time / effort, and since I have off-farm obligations, that is a big consideration for me.]</p><p>* Regarding your heifer calves, I'd keep all of them set aside to be bred for the first time as a group with either your spring or your fall calving group (which ever one you are most likely to continue utilizing). If you're going to keep two groups, then put the heifers in the group that's most age appropriate for them.</p><p>* Put your current bull in with your steers (plus any bull calves who you keep in tact) until you're ready to release the bull into a group of ladies for breeding season...or sell him and buy a bull when you're next ready to put one to work.</p><p></p><p>**********</p><p></p><p>If you want any thoughts about how to decide which bull calves (if any) warrant being kept as a home-grown bull, LMK. If you want any thoughts about how to decide which heifers (if any) need to be culled, LMK. I don't want to get your thread too bogged down or off your main topic.</p><p></p><p>Hope this helps! Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="WalnutCrest, post: 1206800, member: 21715"] I'm one guy with one opinion, so take it for what it's worth. If they were my cows, here's what I'd do with your new herd: * Estimate your calves ages; everything over 6mo gets weaned (if its not already). Any bull calf that you don't want to keep as a home-grown bull gets castrated. * Decide which calves you want to ship, and put wheels on them (regardless of age). You're trying to simplify things, and, if I'm in your shoes, I go ahead and start doing just that as quickly as reasonably possible. * Preg check all your females; any cow that is open and has a calf that is over 5-6mo grows wheels. * Estimate the status of your calving windows by trimester. Figure out (roughly) when you think the pregnant cows/heifers are going to calve next. If any are set to calve in the worst of the winter or the worst of the summer, I strongly consider shipping them. I'd make that call on a cow-by-cow basis ... better cows stay, worse cows get shipped. In this first year, you (ideally) want to end up with two groups of cows for two different calving seasons ... one in the fall and one in the spring and having outliers that might need special help in lousy weather would be high on my list of possible cull candidates. * Once you get your cows situated into a fall group and a spring group, after they calve this first time, decide if you prefer fall or spring calving, then ship the cows that don't fit into that window. * Put the funds received from the calves you shipped previously, plus the funds received from your first group of culls and the cows that are queued to calve at the 'wrong time of the year' towards the best cows you can find (preferably in your part of the country) who are already queued up to calve in your preferred window. [For me, the main reason I'd want to get down to calving in one period of time is that it reduces your management time / effort, and since I have off-farm obligations, that is a big consideration for me.] * Regarding your heifer calves, I'd keep all of them set aside to be bred for the first time as a group with either your spring or your fall calving group (which ever one you are most likely to continue utilizing). If you're going to keep two groups, then put the heifers in the group that's most age appropriate for them. * Put your current bull in with your steers (plus any bull calves who you keep in tact) until you're ready to release the bull into a group of ladies for breeding season...or sell him and buy a bull when you're next ready to put one to work. ********** If you want any thoughts about how to decide which bull calves (if any) warrant being kept as a home-grown bull, LMK. If you want any thoughts about how to decide which heifers (if any) need to be culled, LMK. I don't want to get your thread too bogged down or off your main topic. Hope this helps! Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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