Fall vs Spring
- Thread starter Kaden
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
BFE
Well-known member
Spring. Matches the grass better, cows are dry through the worst months of the year. Ideally I like March April calves weaned around thanksgiving or a little earlier. Unfortunately I'm pushed back to fall calving due to a bull problem. I'm shooting for august sept calves in '23. Don't really like them any later our wet winters are hard on cows and small calves alike.
Mat Man
Well-known member
My bulls stay with one herd 6 months then goes to other herd .
So we have spring and fall calves .
One gets out of sequence it gets sold or moved to other herd
So we have spring and fall calves .
One gets out of sequence it gets sold or moved to other herd
bird dog
Well-known member
Fall-- Late August/September best. Weather is stable but hot. Calves wean off into market strength. Cull cows sell into the years best prices, Good grass after weaning if you background your calves. Cows calve in good shape from grazing all summer. Cows breed back well for the same reason. Calves are gone during most of summers heat and cows are dry when the grass starts declining. You can take some time off in the heat of the year.
Cons-- You need to feed more hay and the cows get thin towards the end of winter when they are nursing large calves. This year has been bad because of lack of rain to get the cool season grasses going
Edit to add--- I also have a smaller spring calving herd. What I don't like is selling the calves and the cull cows into market weakness and the lack of anything to eat for weaned calves that I want to background.
Cons-- You need to feed more hay and the cows get thin towards the end of winter when they are nursing large calves. This year has been bad because of lack of rain to get the cool season grasses going
Edit to add--- I also have a smaller spring calving herd. What I don't like is selling the calves and the cull cows into market weakness and the lack of anything to eat for weaned calves that I want to background.
GoWyo
Well-known member
Spring: March-April. Cows are A.I.'ed first week of June then kicked out to summer pastures located between 2 and 60 miles from the home place. Wean in September to early October depending on grass, weather, etc. and bring cows back home for the winter.
Have considered going to May-June calving many times, but neighbors all kick out bulls June 1-10 and we would have to A.I. cows in August when they are scattered on three summer pastures, plus neighbor bulls messing up our breeding plans (we raise and sell Angus bulls). Would be nice to avoid the blizzards, but would be really difficult on other logistics. If we were pure commercial, I would strongly consider May-June calving, but then again would maybe just go to running grass yearlings and only have to deal with cattle from May to October.
Have considered going to May-June calving many times, but neighbors all kick out bulls June 1-10 and we would have to A.I. cows in August when they are scattered on three summer pastures, plus neighbor bulls messing up our breeding plans (we raise and sell Angus bulls). Would be nice to avoid the blizzards, but would be really difficult on other logistics. If we were pure commercial, I would strongly consider May-June calving, but then again would maybe just go to running grass yearlings and only have to deal with cattle from May to October.
I have 1 herd of fall and another of spring calvers. Calving in the fall is a joy.. often less death loss from bad weather and mud; much more enjoyable to check the cows and calves.
Fall calves typically wean around 50-75 # lighter due to nutrition. To offset this, I creep feed fall calves around 1 month prior to weaning.. this is extra cost.
Also, it's amazing how much extra hay a wet cow needs to maintain condition. Small calves can also eat a surprising amount of hay. Our fall herd consumes around 50% more hay than the spring group.
Fall calves typically wean around 50-75 # lighter due to nutrition. To offset this, I creep feed fall calves around 1 month prior to weaning.. this is extra cost.
Also, it's amazing how much extra hay a wet cow needs to maintain condition. Small calves can also eat a surprising amount of hay. Our fall herd consumes around 50% more hay than the spring group.
SBMF 2015
Well-known member
I used to feel the same way. And I now have a spring and fall herd for the same reason ( bull went bad) . Now the longer I have a fall herd the more I like it. Start calving the 1st of Sep. Done by Halloween. September is fairly warm and much dryer than Mar. No mud to contend with. The cows calve out on clean pasture compared to my spring cows that calve in the mud and have to be locked in the barn for a couple days.
It does take a lot of energy for the cows to be milking, getting bred, and maintaining body condition in colder temps. I feed pretty good hay free choice, plus corn silage and commercial supplement & mineral. I have enough bunk space that the calves eat silage with the cows, and I use a creep gate so the calves can get in the bedded barn out of the weather.
The calves get weaned on March and sold in April just as people are looking for grass calves.
wbvs58
Well-known member
From my perspective, I would have thought winter/spring calving is a no brainer, however it is very interesting to read the reasoning of those of you who do autumn calving. Not enough to change me but I can see your reasoning.
Ken
Ken
Spring. Now. Started out spring only, ended up with stragglers (one of my bulls broke his penis) and finally got back to spring only. The market is generally better for spring here and while the weather is unpredictable (there may be mud/cold/snow, there may not), my spring calves always grew better, looked better & were healthier.
On a good place I can calve in fall and sell calves before summer. On a sorry place, you can barely keep a cow going through the winter much less raising a calf.
BFE
Well-known member
My fall calves aren't as heavy but look stockier if that makes sense. They didn't appear to put as much frame on as the spring ones but are better looking I think.
BFE
Well-known member
I'm digging old 210 oil tank houses out of the woods to use as calf houses for next winter. I'll probably bed them every so often just like we used to with hogs.
Lucky_P
Well-known member
We had both Spring and Fall calving herds. As referenced earlier, if a good cow - usually a first-calf heifer - came up open in one group, and we wanted to keep her, she'd just 'bump' to the other calving group. Bull did double duty, so was not just standing around tearing stuff up for 9-10 months.
Loved calving in the fall - even though my wife kept pushing it forward so much that 'fall' calving was starting on August 1st. No mud, no frozen calves. But... it takes SO MUCH MORE feed to get a lactating cow through the winter! Fall-born calves never had the growth and weight at sale time that Spring-born calves did. Guess if we'd fed more, maybe they'd have been heavier... but the ROI would likely have been less.
We had decided to do away with Fall calving, and had dispersed the bottom half of the Fall calving cows and were moving to all Spring... when we decided to disperse, in 2019. Still think, from a feed cost/income standpoint, Spring calving was best for us, and if we were to get back into it... we'd be Spring calvers.
Loved calving in the fall - even though my wife kept pushing it forward so much that 'fall' calving was starting on August 1st. No mud, no frozen calves. But... it takes SO MUCH MORE feed to get a lactating cow through the winter! Fall-born calves never had the growth and weight at sale time that Spring-born calves did. Guess if we'd fed more, maybe they'd have been heavier... but the ROI would likely have been less.
We had decided to do away with Fall calving, and had dispersed the bottom half of the Fall calving cows and were moving to all Spring... when we decided to disperse, in 2019. Still think, from a feed cost/income standpoint, Spring calving was best for us, and if we were to get back into it... we'd be Spring calvers.
farmerjan
Well-known member
We have both... for most of the same reasons as everyone else. Try to not calve 1st calf heifers in the fall because it does pull them down alot. But the market here is a fair amount better for spring calves weaned and ready to go on grass, 4-550 lbs size... and yes, I much prefer they calve on clean early fall grass pastures. If the weather cooperates, then spring calving is great for the cows to go to grass late April/early May and breed back good when the bulls go in 1st of June... but we seem to get real hot fast with little spring weather... so sometimes some slower breeding back... they breed back real easy in Nov/Dec....
We also have had some "bad bull" problems... just this last group had 30-35 in there.... 6 all bred 6-7 months so calving in April.... the rest all open....20 or so, were younger cows... younger cows got put in with 2 bulls and hope to get them caught in 30 days, for Dec calves, 5 old(er) cows got culled and were in pretty decent shape so prices were okay. But we lost basically a year through no fault of the cows... Something happened to bull, but everything seemed to be working fine so did not break the penis..... He got shipped with the cows. If there had been a bunch 6-7 months then some shorter, could have figured he got hurt then recovered... but 6-7 months and NOTHING. These are all checked ultrasound now and the vet is good....bull was good when he went in.... so we took it on the chin and will try to buy a few more with calves by side or ready to calve in the next month or so....to build back up the spring numbers. Easier to calve the spring group as they are all at the barn lots, but again, like everyone else, mud and cold and then we sometimes get these surprise snow storms or cold rain/ice and do not have inside facilities to put them when it's bad.... I'd like to calve in May/early June and then put them out and put bulls in July/Aug... wean calves in Jan, get bunk broke and on silage/feed, and then sell in Mar... 5 wt calves are highest prices overall.... but we are in hay and that is too much to do on any given day.
Never a perfect time and when you think you have it all worked out, you get thrown a curve ball like with our bull going bad....
We also have had some "bad bull" problems... just this last group had 30-35 in there.... 6 all bred 6-7 months so calving in April.... the rest all open....20 or so, were younger cows... younger cows got put in with 2 bulls and hope to get them caught in 30 days, for Dec calves, 5 old(er) cows got culled and were in pretty decent shape so prices were okay. But we lost basically a year through no fault of the cows... Something happened to bull, but everything seemed to be working fine so did not break the penis..... He got shipped with the cows. If there had been a bunch 6-7 months then some shorter, could have figured he got hurt then recovered... but 6-7 months and NOTHING. These are all checked ultrasound now and the vet is good....bull was good when he went in.... so we took it on the chin and will try to buy a few more with calves by side or ready to calve in the next month or so....to build back up the spring numbers. Easier to calve the spring group as they are all at the barn lots, but again, like everyone else, mud and cold and then we sometimes get these surprise snow storms or cold rain/ice and do not have inside facilities to put them when it's bad.... I'd like to calve in May/early June and then put them out and put bulls in July/Aug... wean calves in Jan, get bunk broke and on silage/feed, and then sell in Mar... 5 wt calves are highest prices overall.... but we are in hay and that is too much to do on any given day.
Never a perfect time and when you think you have it all worked out, you get thrown a curve ball like with our bull going bad....
WFfarm
Well-known member
We like spring calving. Calves are hitting their stride right around when the grass is lush and cows are outputting the most milk. They also will graze grass as milk production levels off. Our winters are hard for a nursing cow. Fall calving puts an extra strain on resources for a cow: nursing a calf, trying to keep warm, and eventually growing a fetis. It is doable in our area, but you need to have good facility and feed quality, and you'll still wean lighter calves than spring born.
You should be able to compare fall/spring for us. What do your reproductive rates, weaning weights and sale prices look like between the two?
Think we have discussed this before. Average the calf prices for the last 10-12 years for both spring and fall. See how much difference you come up with. You say the cows calve in good shape, as they should coming off summer grazing. But that grazing is worsening in quality and quantity for the next 83 days when that cow needs to rebreed. That cow's feed requirements are increasing dramatically. You comment that cows are dry when grass starts declining. Late summer, early fall. You need more hay to winter cows with calves, increasing costs. Cows get thin near end of winter, indicating they haven't had enough to eat. There is a market weakness in fall. Why not use that good forage you use to calve and breed on to graze those spring calves to heavier weights? You say there is lack of anything for weaned calves, yet you are calving and weaning on that same grass?
You and your neighbors have identified the appropriate calving/breeding season. Your desire to raise breeding stock is the limiting factor. Dare I ask if the increased profit from a commercial herd calving with your neighbors would exceed the profit from your registered bull program? Maybe you can do both. There is a lot of sense in only having cattle in the growing season in long winter environments.
Thanks for the input!
Your description shows a much higher cost for fall calving. Extra feed, extra facilities, bedded barn, etc.
