Might be spring one day.

[gcreekrch]

Where's the dogs and sled.

Snow too deep and fluffy for them. Had to snowshoe.

 

[Dave]

The old rule of thumb here is corral calving works well with temps above + 20 F, so you don't need to worry about chilled calves. Wet weather is usually more of a problem.

A traditional calving start here is late March to April 1, and then hope for a dry spring... Is it different in the west?

Everyone starts calving in February. Need to be done by April when brandings happen. Calves need to be branded before turn which is late April.

 

[GoWyo]

The old rule of thumb here is corral calving works well with temps above + 20 F, so you don't need to worry about chilled calves. Wet weather is usually more of a problem.

A traditional calving start here is late March to April 1, and then hope for a dry spring... Is it different in the west?

We started calving the last few days of February. I had to move my A.I. dates up a week in June 2022 because of other schedule obligations. Heifers were first and I calved most of them through the barn, which is not my preference, but we were around 0* for a couple days and the wind was ugly. Cows started March 1 (set up for March 8-10) and they are pasture calving. Half the calves born so far have pulpy ears, so I have not been tagging those ones and half the others I can't catch. Kind of a mess as far as that goes, but my calving book at least has DOB and sex. Due to drought last summer, we did not have a very good forage stockpile (about 4 inches of grass versus 8-10 inches normally), so with the cold (about 10* below normal on average) and wind, the cows have to work pretty hard to get their calves up and going. Have had to warm up a couple chilled ones and dump some starter fluid (colostrum) in them, but they seem to be fine now. Looking forward to some 40s and 50s after Thursday.

 

[gcreekrch]

Main herd starts in early April. Dislike winter calving immensely, would go later if it weren't for predators on the range. We lose enough as it is.

 

[faster horses]

In SE Montana we learned to wait to calve until after March 15. Before then, you were asking for problems. After March 15 the weather was better but with new calves born in April with much moisture, then they were dealing with MUD. Gumbo mud is awful!! They have a problem standing up and you can't get the mud off them very easily. When it dries, it turns to concrete.
It didn't happen much, but we hated it when it did.

 

[Rancher]

-25 here

-37 last Friday morn

 

[50/50Farms]

To hell with that. -37 and you wouldn't even find my tracks heading south.

 

[wbvs58]

Snow too deep and fluffy for them. Had to snowshoe.

Your good tennis rackets Dave?

Ken

 

[farmerjan]

We had "summer like" temps for a couple of days... 81,84,82 with 2 nights at 60+... today was supposed to start the cool down... temps in the 50's and rain with not much warming... WELLLL; it was just 40 this morning and with the rain never got above 55... I had to go to work and it is down to 40 now.... rain should clear out tomorrow... but night time temps may get down to a possible low 30's and SCATTERED FROST... then back into the 80's by mid-week and sun for the next 5 days after the rain leaves tomorrow...
This is only APRIL.... we are not supposed to have 80's in mid-April.........