Cow-calf systems and seasons

[IluvABbeef]

Been working on a couple posts on calving systems and the economics of how to manage an operation successfully with the goal of being a low-cost producer in the Future Cow-calf Producer.

Now I'm just curious, who calves in which season and why have they chose that season they did? And, do you feel you should switch it or not, and, again, why?

 

[fourstates]

We calve all year long, with the bulk of the calves coming early spring. The worst time of year to calf, here, is late summer because of the heat and flies. I did not intentionally try to calf all year long, but over the years purchased bred heifers, and cows. They calved when they calved. I keep records on Cattlemax, so year round calving hasn't been a problem. If anything, leaving the bull in year round has shortened the CI to under a year. But in a perfect world, every calf would be born late September or October. I have not had the guts to hold off breeding to get them into sync. Now that my herd is growing, I will have a few calves born every month!

 

[msscamp]

Now I'm just curious, who calves in which season and why have they chose that season they did? And, do you feel you should switch it or not, and, again, why?

We have always spring calved. That season was chosen because the colder temperatures helped keep disease from spreading, when the new spring growth came in the calves were old enough to graze it and, back when we ran enough cattle to make a difference, there were special weaning calf sales in the fall. Once the folks retired and our numbers were cut, we simply fed the calves out until spring. If we still had cattle, we would still be spring calving. I should have also added that our calving season was a specific time length - usually 90 days beginning the first of February. Come summer, the cows were moved to distant pastures and it was impossible to monitor them.

 

[bigbull338]

i to calve year round.its alot easier in my climate todo so.an i also have calves of differant ages throughout the year.an i keep records on cattlemax as well.

 

[L Weir]

We have usually 8 spring and 6 fall calves. It works ok for us. There isn't enough room to wean all at one time.

 

[I luv herfrds]

We start calving the first of March. Reason why is it will not get into the middle of the farming we do.
Will not do it earlier due to the length of time that it is cold. Wouldn't mind changing the time to April, but hubby doesn't want to wean in November.
Going to look at Starting our first year heifers in April though.

 

[SRBeef]

We start calving the first of March. Reason why is it will not get into the middle of the farming we do.
Will not do it earlier due to the length of time that it is cold. Wouldn't mind changing the time to April, but hubby doesn't want to wean in November.
Going to look at Starting our first year heifers in April though.

My first calves this past spring were right around April 1st. All calves were born in about a 3-1/2 week period. In WI we still had a lot of snow. I think this was an unusually snowy winter but want to make sure calves are born on grass so have moved calving back about 2 weeks to mid April start for next spring. My most important criteria is successful unassisted calving. That's lot more likely when the cows and calves are on green grass.

As you can see from my avatar there wasn't a whole lot of green this past spring. That cow found one of the few non snow covered spots to have her calf a couple hours before the photo.

I also want them all about the same age so vet visits, etc are all at once. Peak grass in May and June coincides with peak need for mama's milk

Question for you: why does your husband not want to wean in November? Windows are closed for the noise compared to summer. Weaning is also a reason I want them all the same age. I'm fairly new at this so we'll see. I start the fenceline weaning next week.

 

[Mat Man]

We will start calving the 1st of Oct.We will keep the bull out till Jan.1st.Its hard to keep this time
frame with drought 2 years in a row.We will have some calves born Jan.& Feb.

 

[Devin]

We calve from Sep 1 to Nov 1. The bull goes back in in November. Since it is cool here at that time, we feel that the bull works harder and spends less time hunting a shady spot. The temperature is nice too when checking the calving pasture and it is usually fairly dry in September here so if we do have to pull a calf (rare) we aren't in ice,snow or mud. At weaning time the grass is greening up and we get a little free weight gain. The bad point is we us alot more feed throught the winter with the lactating cows and growing calves. I have seriously considered switching to late spring calving to cut down on my feed bill which we all know isthe most expensive part of owning a cow. I think I can get more bang for my buck with my stock pile fescue with dry cows and also decrease my hay expense. With all input costs going up I believe this is the route I'm gonna go.

 

[dun]

We start the end of Feb till about the middle of April. The weather is normally starting to improve, the grass is really startingto get growing wellin mid to late march. Getting cows to settle from July through August is a problem because of the heatwaves that we usually have during that time. Don;t fall calve because I hate trying to AI in the cold. We rarly supplewment so the cows are eating stockpiled fescue over the inter and growing calves require better quality forage then that. In good years, withou extreme ice or snow, we usually start feeding hay january.

 

[hrbelgians]

We calve here in April and May. The reason we chose then was because the grass is coming on strong by then and felt like the nutritional requirements were easier met for the cows at this time, plus no pesty flies yet and the temperature was about right. Just our way, not saying it's right.
Have considered calving in the fall, not sure why?

 

[2/B or not 2/B]

Spring calving, fall calving, year round calving, both, it depends where you live, how many cows you have and what works with your marketing plan. Our main considerations: limited herd size, weather during calving season since we'll be outside checking on them and may need to help, forage quality after calving so our cows can make lots of milk and breed back on time, weather during breeding season, when we want to be able to market our calves for sale or finish them out for butchering. We calve with the seasons, in spring, right before the grass gets going real good. The weather's nice and it's cleaner, no stickers, no flies, no dust. Fall calves do well here too, but we hardly have any forage by then and have to feed hay which isn't economical. Plus, it's dusty and dirty and I worry about navel ill. It's also the time of year that predators like coyotes and mountain lions are hungrier and ranging wider looking for easy meals. We sell weaned calves in the fall or hold some over for fattening the following year. Others do different, but that's what's easiest for us.

 

[Limomike]

My cows calve year round also. I leave my bulls in with them all the time, have rarely had an open cow 3 months after she calves. The majority of our calving occurs in the spring. I must admit I would not mind fall calves; but do not want to pull the bulls off for any length of time.
One of the problems with leaving bulls with the cow/calves, is what I have now: a 7 month old heifer (that I was going to keep as a replacement) was bred yesterday. So I will now either have to have her aborted or just sell her.

 

[grannysoo]

We have them year around. Very seldom anything in winter, but winter doesn't mean much here anyway. Works out good for us year around, because it gives a more steady supply of beef to sell.

 

[rockridgecattle]

-We calve in March April. We pull the bulls so nothing calves after May 30.
-we want to spring vaccinate all the herd
-we have other farming jobs that need tending to at other times of the year so March, April afford us to spend alot of time in the calving area.
-Working off farm, so we try to calve the majority during spring break...school bus drivers need some sleep
-Frozen ground allows for better disease management and easier to walk on hard ground than in mud
-We can make the most of our pasture when it is ready, less hay to feed than if we calved earlier or in the fall...
-Majority of breeding takes place before the July/August heat.

 

[IluvABbeef]

Thanks for the responses, they were all interesting.

 

[grubbie]

We calve in mid march for 60 days max. Usually ends up 30 days or so but we leave the bulls in for 60. The reason for mid March is mostly weather. Don't want newborns on the ground when it is -10 outside if we can help it. Every now and then we'll hit that big spring blizzard at that time but usually we are pretty safe there.

 

[EAT BEEF]

I start about the first of march and am mostly done by april 15 th,When we moved from Ohio we had to bump them up a little because I liked calveing about april 1 to mid may in that climate.In Oklahoma they just don't seem to get that good of a start if they calve after april 15th and like Dun said the heat can cause problems getting them breed back starting here about mid june.In a perfect world everything would calve the first twenty days of march.I do run the bulls most of the summer though,but any thing that doesn't preg check close to are calving window goes to town.Alot of people seem to like fall calving here and I guess that makes sense if your running them on wheat pasture,but other wise I think the supplemental feed would cut into your profit to much.I don't like to feed mature cows much hay or cake unless it snows and that doesn't happen that often in this part of the country.