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<blockquote data-quote="rockridgecattle" data-source="post: 738228" data-attributes="member: 6198"><p>Sorry Backhoe that it took me so long to get back to you!</p><p></p><p>The neighbors have bulls that run along side our fences. However, the fences are hot. As well, with the tight breeding season,i would say we get about 97-99% catch rate in that breeding time. Out of 70 cows, 10 of which were hiefers, only 1 open. I know this cause we preg check at two months +1 day from pulling the bull. Any cow that is open or 2 mo or less bred gets her walking papers. In these tough times we keep no free loaders EXCEPT for one reason. A second time calver gets a free pass, if and only if her first calf was a reall good one, and thus she did not breed back. The following fall, she will be the first one preg checked. This is my hubby's idea. Mine would be NO free loaders...however compromise.</p><p></p><p>We like a tight season. We like uniform calves. We like that out of 50 calves sold, half hiefers, half steers, we can get a lot of 13 steers and a lot of 14 hiefers , as well as two lots of 9 and the rest singles or two or three. We like that this certain block of time in a year is dedicated to calving. We like it gets over and done with so we can get on with the rest of the farm work. We like that everyone gets vaccinated at the same time. Once calving is done, we can turn our attention to fencing, vaccinating, land work, bees, machinery repairs, haying, fall work. If we were still calving during haying, we would have to shut down and tend to the cow and calf, even if it meant, just watching and making sure no problems.</p><p>Lastly since we devote 4-6 weeks to just calving our death rates, sickness rates, have dropped significantly. 2008 calf crop out of 105 cows we lot 2. 2009 calf crop, out of 60 we lost 1. Some years our death rate is 0. When our calving season was all year, out of 50 we would loose 5 calves, and most of our calve sold we not be in any lots over 3 in a sale.</p><p></p><p>Don't know if this was the answer you were looking for.</p><p></p><p>Oh yeah, when we pull our bulls, they go in a small pasture and stay there the other 9 months of the year...leaving the cows on the other fence line alone. In our area, it is generally practiced to leave bulls in for a period of time and then pull them. 90% of us farmers in the area calve all about the same time give or take a week or two.</p><p></p><p>Finally, and as an after thought, even though we only use the bulls three months out of a year, we would never think of renting or leasing for fall calving. To much in the risk of disease, on farm biosecurity, and the knowledge that most don't think of treating your equipment with respect, returning in the same if not better condition that when the renters first got it...in laymans terms, the bulls come back run too hard, costing us more money to get them back into shape for summer breeding on our farm.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rockridgecattle, post: 738228, member: 6198"] Sorry Backhoe that it took me so long to get back to you! The neighbors have bulls that run along side our fences. However, the fences are hot. As well, with the tight breeding season,i would say we get about 97-99% catch rate in that breeding time. Out of 70 cows, 10 of which were hiefers, only 1 open. I know this cause we preg check at two months +1 day from pulling the bull. Any cow that is open or 2 mo or less bred gets her walking papers. In these tough times we keep no free loaders EXCEPT for one reason. A second time calver gets a free pass, if and only if her first calf was a reall good one, and thus she did not breed back. The following fall, she will be the first one preg checked. This is my hubby's idea. Mine would be NO free loaders...however compromise. We like a tight season. We like uniform calves. We like that out of 50 calves sold, half hiefers, half steers, we can get a lot of 13 steers and a lot of 14 hiefers , as well as two lots of 9 and the rest singles or two or three. We like that this certain block of time in a year is dedicated to calving. We like it gets over and done with so we can get on with the rest of the farm work. We like that everyone gets vaccinated at the same time. Once calving is done, we can turn our attention to fencing, vaccinating, land work, bees, machinery repairs, haying, fall work. If we were still calving during haying, we would have to shut down and tend to the cow and calf, even if it meant, just watching and making sure no problems. Lastly since we devote 4-6 weeks to just calving our death rates, sickness rates, have dropped significantly. 2008 calf crop out of 105 cows we lot 2. 2009 calf crop, out of 60 we lost 1. Some years our death rate is 0. When our calving season was all year, out of 50 we would loose 5 calves, and most of our calve sold we not be in any lots over 3 in a sale. Don't know if this was the answer you were looking for. Oh yeah, when we pull our bulls, they go in a small pasture and stay there the other 9 months of the year...leaving the cows on the other fence line alone. In our area, it is generally practiced to leave bulls in for a period of time and then pull them. 90% of us farmers in the area calve all about the same time give or take a week or two. Finally, and as an after thought, even though we only use the bulls three months out of a year, we would never think of renting or leasing for fall calving. To much in the risk of disease, on farm biosecurity, and the knowledge that most don't think of treating your equipment with respect, returning in the same if not better condition that when the renters first got it...in laymans terms, the bulls come back run too hard, costing us more money to get them back into shape for summer breeding on our farm. [/QUOTE]
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