keeping cows?

[machslammer]

How long of not having a calf do you wait to sell that cow? If she don't have her next one in eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen months..ect? Let her do that once, twice, ect? Thanks.

 

[cow pollinater]

If they're open when they shouldn't be, they're gone. If you make an exception for the open cow, just plan on making one for the daughter as well.
I try to have everything calve once a year both on my dairy route and in my personal cows. If they can't do it they're going to have a more direct impact on the food chain. Infertility is best handled in the first generation.

 

[bse]

Open cows do nothing but cost you money 28 days after my bull is pulled they are preg checked any opens go on the trailer ive bred for fertility and its paying off now. i dont have that many 24 but all checked bred and get to stay another year.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

If they're open when they shouldn't be, they're gone.

:nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

That's how it is here too.

Katherine

 

[machslammer]

So you all pay to have them preg checked 2 months after a calf is born? My Bull runs with the cows 15 year round. Most of mine calf in Spring, but a few in fall. Just curious as to when you check to see when bred. They come back in heat 21-28 days post calf? And then you check them 28 days after that, so 2 months after a calf if they not rebred you sell them? Wean the calf right then or what?

 

[machslammer]

If they're open when they shouldn't be, they're gone. If you make an exception for the open cow, just plan on making one for the daughter as well.
I try to have everything calve once a year both on my dairy route and in my personal cows. If they can't do it they're going to have a more direct impact on the food chain. Infertility is best handled in the first generation.

When do you consider... "Shouldn't be"?

 

[1982vett]

I don't know....seems to me you would keep em' till they finish raising the calf they just had and not 28 days after you pull the bull and find them open......

I want mine to calve on a yearly average....

 

[bse]

I calve first of Sept thru mid Oct around Dec 1st is A I day bull goes in 17 days later stays around 35 days will remove around 20th of Jan will preg check around 3rd week of Feb i do keep them till weaning if i have any opens but weaning is around end of Mar so there not here much longer and they calve once a yr.

 

[1982vett]

I calve first of Sept thru mid Oct around Dec 1st is A I day bull goes in 17 days later stays around 35 days will remove around 20th of Jan will preg check around 3rd week of Feb i do keep them till weaning if i have any opens but weaning is around end of Mar so there not here much longer and they calve once a yr.

just keeping everyone on their toes....Ya never know if someone will take your response literally.

 

[BC]

I pregnancy check at weaning time (7 to 9 months after the cow calves).

 

[machslammer]

I calve first of Sept thru mid Oct around Dec 1st is A I day bull goes in 17 days later stays around 35 days will remove around 20th of Jan will preg check around 3rd week of Feb i do keep them till weaning if i have any opens but weaning is around end of Mar so there not here much longer and they calve once a yr.

I see. Little harder if you leave the bull with them all year and don't have them synced I guess. But I could have a vet come check them 4-5 at a time and make sure they are bred 2-3 months after calving. As long as they are re-bred by the time the calf is 3 months old, that would mean they are calving yearly. That's a good plan I guess. This will be my second calving season with most of my cows. Few had them at 9 1/2 months, few at 11 months, and 1 at a year. Still have some that are right around a year. Have 2 that are 14/15 months since last calf. Keep thinking they are gonna have a calf any week and hate to sell if they are 8-9 months bred, but hate to keep hanging on to them if they aren't that far along. I would like for mine to have them every 10-13 months. But 14/15 months is too long for me. But, on the other hand, we had one that had hers 15 months the first year and 11 months the next. So what then? Lol.

 

[1982vett]

I calve first of Sept thru mid Oct around Dec 1st is A I day bull goes in 17 days later stays around 35 days will remove around 20th of Jan will preg check around 3rd week of Feb i do keep them till weaning if i have any opens but weaning is around end of Mar so there not here much longer and they calve once a yr.

I see. Little harder if you leave the bull with them all year and don't have them synced I guess. But I could have a vet come check them 4-5 at a time and make sure they are bred 2-3 months after calving. As long as they are re-bred by the time the calf is 3 months old, that would mean they are calving yearly. That's a good plan I guess. This will be my second calving season with most of my cows. Few had them at 9 1/2 months, few at 11 months, and 1 at a year. Still have some that are right around a year. Have 2 that are 14/15 months since last calf. Keep thinking they are gonna have a calf any week and hate to sell if they are 8-9 months bred, but hate to keep hanging on to them if they aren't that far along. I would like for mine to have them every 10-13 months. But 14/15 months is too long for me. But, on the other hand, we had one that had hers 15 months the first year and 11 months the next. So what then? Lol.

Now is the time to get them checked so you know where you are....then make a decision.

 

[machslammer]

Your right. We are working them next week and may attempt to check them... Anyone check their own? Know what to feel for, for the length of preg? Should just pay to have vet come?

 

[1982vett]

Pay someone who know what they are doing.

 

[randiliana]

We calve March-April. Cows raise their calves til late Oct and we preg check them all right around the time we wean. Preg check the replacement heifers about 2 months earlier than that, so we can hit the right market with them. Anything that is open goes to town, they don't get a second chance. Most of the other (bred) 'culls' we will usually hold onto until spring and get the calf out of them. Then they go to town, too.

I preg check our cows, but unless you are prepared to take a course and then have enough cows to check to keep yourself 'up' on it, you are better off paying someone who knows what they are doing. I check between 150 and 200 head of our own a year, and always have a number of 'rechecks'.

 

[randiliana]

Oh, and just to add to that, any cow that can't or won't take/raise a calf in the spring doesn't get another chance either, and she will go to town sometime between April and June.