Calving window

[bmoore87]

Hi everyone I am looking for some advice regarding changing our cows calving window here in Iowa. I started working my cows in with my dads about a year ago and have been making some changes in how we run them. Currently we calve starting in the end of march and end in late October. The majority of the cows (about 250) calve from March to mid June with the last 70 or so spread out until October. I tried to AI and use some synchronization with natural service on some this past summer to try and help catch some of them born in July/ august up. I was thinking of calving March-June and in the fall September through October which may lead to some more opens than the 4-5 we currently have each year. Also many of those that have fallen behind are older cows of my dads and will probably be culled in the next few years so I am not sure if it is worth trying to make changes at this point with them. So I'm looking for your advice on first if you would make the change and if so the best way to go about it.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Chris H]

1. Pull the bull so no one will be bred to calve in July & August, too late now for next year.
2. Sell all that are due in July & August.

Those steps are immediate resolutions. A slightly slower method is to eliminate the August calving dates by culling any due in August. If you want to move some from fall to spring, keep the July calving date and use it to get some of the Sept calvers moved to spring. Just keep culling/moving out of the July dates.

 

[bmoore87]

Thanks Chris those are kind of the options I figured on. My main fear with doing the change suddenly would be we will have a larger group be open and if they are older ones that we might have gotten another calf or two out of before culling if we had left things as are for another year or two even though watching them most of the year like that is a pain.

 

[Jake]

Thanks Chris those are kind of the options I figured on. My main fear with doing the change suddenly would be we will have a larger group be open and if they are older ones that we might have gotten another calf or two out of before culling if we had left things as are for another year or two even though watching them most of the year like that is a pain.

Open cows aren't necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on how you market your cattle. If you hold every calf until a certain age no matter when they were born then those late calvers aren't costing you much other than a head ache. If you are selling all calves at the same time those late calvers are costing you a bunch of money as their production is so far below the others.

Simplest fixes are cull the late calvers or pull the bulls so you don't calve in July/Aug and put them back in for a fall calving season. You are essentially pushing your late cows back instead of trying to move them forward which is always the easiest form of movement.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Do you want to continue calving twice a year?

I'm not totally sure what you're asking.

If you want to calve 2x / yr, pick two 60-ish day windows that work best for your forage and your other schedule (like harvesting row crops, etc.) ... then ... either have the bull with the ladies for two separate 60-day windows, preg check the cows/heifers and cull the opens ... OR ... pull/push individual animals into your target calving windows over a period of a few years. I'd probably cull the opens if it were me, but both approaches should work.

Oh, and I agree with Jake ... get rid of the July/August calvers ASAP. Hold them out until the fall or sell them.

 

[Jake]

Do you want to continue calving twice a year?

I'm not totally sure what you're asking.

If you want to calve 2x / yr, pick two 60-ish day windows that work best for your forage and your other schedule (like harvesting row crops, etc.) ... then ... either have the bull with the ladies for two separate 60-day windows, preg check the cows/heifers and cull the opens ... OR ... pull/push individual animals into your target calving windows over a period of a few years. I'd probably cull the opens if it were me, but both approaches should work.

Oh, and I agree with Jake ... get rid of the July/August calvers ASAP. Hold them out until the fall or sell them.

I'm agree completely. I don't like this system and don't use it with my cattle, but it is the one my grandfather uses.

 

[bmoore87]

Walnut Crest I was looking at splitting into spring and fall herds. I am thinking starting with an 80-90 day spring and maybe 70 fall window to start with and then tightening those up over the next few years down to around 60 days.

From what has been said it sounds like pushing back will be the best instead of trying to pull ahead into spring like we were.

Jake we do split the calves into two different groups based on age which are then sold together. We have been fortunate in that the guy dad has sold to for the past 7 years doesn't mind the variation is size as much as most and usually only has us hold out a couple for size so that is not as much of an issue. However we have had some issues with weaning calves that are 200- 300 in with 500 pounders and trying to get them on similar rations, etc.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Jake]

I would go with 60/60 from the get go. That would give the herd 120 days to breed and if she can't breed in that amount of time there is no use having her.

 

[ANAZAZI]

A fall calving herd sounds like unnecessary extra work. I would go for 60 days in spring.