Daytime calving

[docgraybull]

An interesting newsletter article from Dr. Glenn Selk at Oklahoma State University that I wanted to share with y'all. They send a monthly newsletter via email. Enjoy.

Merry Christmas to All!!

We want to wish all of the readers of the Cow Calf Corner Newsletter a very meaningful Christmas. We hope you can gather with your family and friends to celebrate the true meaning of this holy day. If you have loved ones in the military, serving our country, we particularly send prayers and sincere appreciation in their direction. May God Bless them and protect them.

Sincerely,



Derrell and Glenn



Thinking Ahead to Calving Season



It is generally accepted that adequate supervision at calving has a significant impact on reducing calf mortality. Adequate supervision has been of increasing importance with the use of larger beef breeds and cattle with larger birth weights. On most ranching operations, supervision of the first calf heifers will be best accomplished in daylight hours and the poorest observation takes place in the middle of the night.

The easiest and most practical method of inhibiting nighttime calving at present is by feeding cows at night; the physiological mechanism is unknown, but some hormonal effect may be involved. Rumen motility studies indicate the frequency of rumen contractions falls a few hours before parturition. Intraruminal pressure begins to fall in the last 2 weeks of gestation, with a more rapid decline during calving. It has been suggested that night feeding causes intraruminal pressures to rise at night and decline in the daytime.

In a Canadian study of 104 Hereford cows 38.4% of a group fed at 8:00 am and again at 3:00 pm delivered calves during the day, vs 79.6% of a group fed at 11:00 am and 9:00 pm. A British study utilizing 162 cattle on 4 farms compared the percentages of calves born from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm to cows fed at different times. When cattle were fed at 9:00 am, 57% of the calves were born during the day, vs 79% with feeding at 10:00 pm. In field trials by cattlemen utilizing night feeding when 35 cows and heifers were fed once daily between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, 74.5% of the calves were born between 5:00 am and 5:00 pm. In the most convincing study to date, 1331 cows on 15 farms in Iowa were fed once daily at dusk, 85% of the calves were born between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. Whether cows were started on the night feeding the week before calving started in the herd, or 2 to 3 weeks earlier made no apparent difference in calving time.

On many large ranches, it is physically impossible to feed all of the cows after 5:00 pm. In those instances, the ranch manager should plan to feed the mature cows earlier in the day, then feed the first calf heifers at dusk. The heifers, of course, are the group of females that are of greatest need of observation during the calving season.

Various means have been employed to effectively reduce animal loss at calving time. Skilled personnel should be available to render obstetric assistance and neonatal care to maximize profits in the cattle operation. Currently, evening feeding of cattle seems to be the most effective method of scheduling parturition so assistance can be available during daylight hours.

 

[Bez]

We run almost 100% daylight calving. We started feeding our grain once a day - at 1800 hours several years ago because of this. Old wives tale? Maybe, but it did make a difference for us.

Merry Christmas

Bez

 

[Campground Cattle]

Our operation is also 100% daylight calving operation cause thats when we find them. Cow that needs assistance has no place on our ranch. If we have to pull a calf you are salebarn bound at the next sale. If I have to help the cow she is not doing her job and she is fired.

 

[dun]

Our operation is also 100% daylight calving operation cause thats when we find them. Cow that needs assistance has no place on our ranch. If we have to pull a calf you are salebarn bound at the next sale. If I have to help the cow she is not doing her job and she is fired.

So, you've never had a mispresented calf? A leg back and she still goes down the road?

dun

 

[Campground Cattle]

Our operation is also 100% daylight calving operation cause thats when we find them. Cow that needs assistance has no place on our ranch. If we have to pull a calf you are salebarn bound at the next sale. If I have to help the cow she is not doing her job and she is fired.

So, you've never had a mispresented calf? A leg back and she still goes down the road?

dun

Correct one in the last seven years and she was shipped. I got tired of the crap years ago, went to low birth weight bulls and easy calving cows. I look at any calving difficulty as a genetic flaw and it has no place here.

Merry Christmas Dun


Dun to carry it further a cow must produce a live healthy calf every 12 months or she grows wheels.
Cow has a still born calf she is gone
Cow looses a calf she is gone
Cow doesn't produce a calf every 12 months she is gone
Cow has delivery problems see is gone
I went to this strategy years ago I have lost 2 calves in the last seven years one still born the other to dogs.
Pretty good track record over the last seven years must be doing something right, I believe in ruthless culling of the herd.
I cannot afford or make money without a live healthy calf every 12 months.
And I have found a line of cattle that produce the results I am looking for.

 

[CattleAnnie]

We heard the same thing about feeding later in the day corresponding with calving during daylight, and shifted our feeding time to see what the results would be. Turned out to work quite well in most instances, although we still do get some that calve in the wee hours. Not nearly as many as previously, and I sure appreciate it, as I do all the checks and assists at night during calving season.

Take care.

 

[jcarkie]

i have done this too for several years. i found some cows calve during daylight anyway and maybe they are the ones who calve at night reverses both ways. just a thought.

 

[dun]

On the other place during the drought we fed late in the afternoon, the only time it was convenient. We'ld get an occasional calf around 7-8pm, but most were from 5am to about 3 pm. I was doing it strictly for convenince but it did help with the night calving.
I may start giving them a mouth full or two of grain in the evening just to keep getting those daytime calves.

dun

 

[TheBullLady]

Hmmm.... if I give them a few range cubes at night, do you think I'd get daytime calves? :roll:

 

[Jake]

Hmmm.... if I give them a few range cubes at night, do you think I'd get daytime calves? :roll:

yup, you should

 

[Caustic Burno]

Hmmm.... if I give them a few range cubes at night, do you think I'd get daytime calves? :roll:

Mine have the option to eat grass or hay morning evening or night to calf when it happens. Just count em when I go to the pasture. Really don't care if they come day or night.

 

[Craig-TX]

Our operation is also 100% daylight calving operation cause thats when we find them. Cow that needs assistance has no place on our ranch. If we have to pull a calf you are salebarn bound at the next sale. If I have to help the cow she is not doing her job and she is fired.

Me too. I generally won't know a cow is calving until after the fact. If she’s due and laying down away from the herd I leave her alone and don’t bother her. But normally I wouldn’t know it unless I happened to be checking them at the right time. The only way you can get away with doing it this way is to not run any bred heifers.

Craig-TX

 

[greenwillowherefords]

Our operation is also 100% daylight calving operation cause thats when we find them. Cow that needs assistance has no place on our ranch. If we have to pull a calf you are salebarn bound at the next sale. If I have to help the cow she is not doing her job and she is fired.

Me too. I generally won't know a cow is calving until after the fact. If she’s due and laying down away from the herd I leave her alone and don’t bother her. But normally I wouldn’t know it unless I happened to be checking them at the right time. The only way you can get away with doing it this way is to not run any bred heifers.

Craig-TX

I've got one cow that has calved in the afternoon every time! I have bred heifers in the mix at my place, and I always find them after they are born, don't have time to play 24 hour nursemaid. I'll just say I've been blessed when it comes to calving problems. Thank God we haven't lost a calf yet. The 092 bull threw calves in the seventy-five through ninety-five pound range depending on the cow, but we never pulled one. I couldn't say he was a low BW bull, but he was a calving ease bull, regardless of what his EPDs stated on the subject. About half of those calves were out of first calf heifers!

 

[cattle_gal]

We tried the later feeding (pre dark) feeding 20 years ago and didn't find it any different than feeding during the morning. Went back to morning feeding. We calved mostly in the day, but a couple of years ago for the heck of it and to find out exactly how many, I wrote down when time period of birth. 66% calved in the day and 34% in the night. Last year we moved the cows 2,500 feet elevation lower for the winter and also fed in the morning same time and 62% calved during the day and 38% at night. Heifers were about 50/50.

 

[jcarkie]

i found out because i worked during the day and didn't get home until after dark to feed. problem then was i wasn't there during the day so my wife watched