Calving Season?

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cowgirl_jenna

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Reading through several of the posts down the page I started to wonder why people calve when they do. I have heard people say many times that they have to calve in the winter for various reasons. Also, I know seed stock producers want a proper size bull for their clients breeding season.

I am not looking to change anyone's calving date, but I am just curious if many people have sat down and really thought through why they calve when they do or is it more of a tradition thing? Just curious when some of your calving seasons are.

We have changed our calving date mainly because of a desire to move it away from bad Spring weather. We start calving in April when most of the mud season is gone here. we used to calve in feb march, just because that's how the original herd was when we bought them.
Thanks, Jenna
 
I thought there was only 2 seasons, March 1 and September 1, at least that's what I was always told?... ;-) :lol2:
 
I only get nine inches of rain spread out over five months for green grass and the first two months are pretty week so I have to time it to where my calves are old enough to eat some grass and my cows are hitting peak milk during peak grass. Even a few weeks early can be really hard on the cows trying to raise a calf with dry feed. If I go later, the cow dries up when the grass does and either gets run down or doesn't give me a good calf.
 
With what passes for soil here we really don;t have much of a mud season. We calve late feb through march so that the calves are of a size to start utilizing the grass when it comes on. By july the grass is going dormant and doesn;t break dormancy till usually in october sometimes middle september.
Since we winter on stockpiled fescue there isn;t really enough nutrition for a ggrowing calf or a wet cow without supplementation.
 
We calve Mar 1 to about Apr 30. Our grass starts to come in late April, so it works that the pastures are ready about the same time as we are done calving. Most of our pastures are far enough away that we need to have the calves on the ground and going before they go to pasture. Mud isn't a huge problem here either. And the weather is starting to warm up by mid March usually. And the calves are ready to be weaned before the cold winter weather hits and we have to start feeding again.
 
I don't like my spring calvers to have before March 15. Just too many frozen ears and tails to
look at. Calves with really short ears are docked so bad. I bought a handful of fall calvers
and I like to see them calve before Thanksgiving. Not a big fan of fall calving because you
just don't have the help of the grass here in PA.
 
We calve year round and the bull stays with the herd all the time.

That being said, I prefer not to calve in May, June and July. Have had more difficulty with heat-related stress and pneumonia than wintertime problems. Location matters.
 
cowgirl_jenna":3tw64y8e said:
Reading through several of the posts down the page I started to wonder why people calve when they do. I have heard people say many times that they have to calve in the winter for various reasons. Also, I know seed stock producers want a proper size bull for their clients breeding season.

I am not looking to change anyone's calving date, but I am just curious if many people have sat down and really thought through why they calve when they do or is it more of a tradition thing? Just curious when some of your calving seasons are.

We have changed our calving date mainly because of a desire to move it away from bad Spring weather. We start calving in April when most of the mud season is gone here. we used to calve in feb march, just because that's how the original herd was when we bought them.
Thanks, Jenna

What part are of WI are you in? Unless you are in sandy ground April is still mud season in WI albeit better than March. On a average year not counting last. In my opinion real spring starts when there is at least 6 inches of green growing grass. I like to go with nature and not fight it.

PS don't let some WI bluff farmer tell you March is spring either, lol
 
We were a mixed purpose cattle operation, dairy and beef for almost 20 years. With that in mind, fresh lactations had to come year round to maintain cream (not milk) production, so the herd calved 365. Soon as the dairy cows were gone, it made sense to start making calving 'a season', rather than a 24/7 ordeal.

So we tried the first method of big calves/big check - late January/early February. What a miserable time to calve. Gave up on that after a few years.

Went to Feb/March. Okay on good years. But when a bad storm hits, it's not nice.

Then March and April. Not bad, but water and mud can get nasty. Lots of scours.

Then April and early May. Pretty nice. Calve on bare ground and calves are healthier. Can still get hit by a whopper of a snow storm.

Now it is end of April and 3/4 of May. Absolutely loving it. Sometimes check cows in shorts and a t-shirt. Grass is starting to grow. Calves are healthy and scours is pretty much nonexistent. Calving is now one of the easier things to handle.

We also calve August/September and that is just as easy and enjoyable as the April/May calving. And with the improvements in genetics, we are weaning calves that are nearly as big as those that were born in the past in January/February.
 
There are reasons for and against calving in any particular month(s).

My "spring" herd starts in late january- march. Fall herd starts mid-august thru october.

My full time job requires the most time from the last half of march thru may, and again october thru december. I try to calve around those times. I start my spring herd a little earlier than most, but I winter on corn stalks and some stockpiled grass, and am normally feeding hay by the first of the year. So i am around the cows alot at that time. I also like to wean in september, and this time frame insures my calves are 180-210 days of age. Our summer pasture turn out time usually hits late April-May 1, so i typically AI around the 20th of April. This also gets the cows bred before the sometimes extreme heat of July arrives which makes conception a little more difficult. The downside to calving at this time is of course the cold, but I have a good setup and a small enough herd that I can keep a close eye on them.

My fall herd is also slightly earlier than a lot of fall herds. I like the cows to be bred in novemer-december while they are still carrying their grass shape, and before the cows are battling the winter. This also allows me to sell grass calves in late march-early april that will weigh well onto the 5's.

The reason for two herds? I can get by with only two bulls, where i would need 4 with on herd. The fall herd takes a lot less maintenance, but the spring herd matches up with grass availability alot better.

There are positives and negatives to whenever a person calves, you just have to figure out what works for you.
 
I heard a researcher somewhere promote the "best" time to calve is 30 days before spring greenup. Greenup in SW WI being around May 1 that would put ideal calving at April 1. I use that for a start of calving date. Using the AHA gestation chart that puts bull-in day at June 23rd.

The logic is that this is probably after most severe winter weather and also the lactating cow's peak nutrition demands (30 to 90 days after calving) then coincide with peak grass (May and June).

I was trying to calve in mid March but that is risky weather wise in WI. April 1 start is a lot safer. Emphasis though also needs to be on a tight calving period with most calves born on the first cycle = by about April 23rd? and just a few born on the second cycle. I want to be done calving no later than 45 days after the first calf is born. Any cows not calving within 45 days after the first calf will get sold at some time either as a pair or more likely right after weaning. Weaning is the first week in Nov when the average calf age is right about 205 days.

Not saying its the best system but it works for me. Bulls stay in with cows from June 23 until around Dec 1 when they go to their own pasture from Dec 1 to bull in on June 23 the following year. Having bulls in with cows that long makes them easier to handle and doesn't extend calving since the cows should be all bred already. rotational grazing is much easier with each bull in with his breeding group. fwiw

jim
 
I have two calving seasons, in late January- April. My fall season starts September thru November. Used to only have one spring season, but I like the fact that we have two now. Just works better for out operation.
 
Limomike":2cel128u said:
I have two calving seasons, in late January- April. My fall season starts September thru November. Used to only have one spring season, but I like the fact that we have two now. Just works better for out operation.

This is when we calve also. We are seed stock producers, so we fit a different market. We AI everything, so no breeding age bulls to really worry about except the virgin bulls we are raising and getting ready for sales. But our target dates are usually September 1st and February 1st.
 

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