A few weeks ago, on a thread I can't find right now. someone mentioned something about how protein should a pregnant cow eat. Percentage wise. @Jeanne - Simme Valley posted that too much protein will not do a cow much good..it just passes through the uyrine, but it CAN cause the calves to be HUGE at birth. So, that got me woprried about having Gail and those 3 other haa;f_jereseys, 2 of them 1st calf heifers, on our Kudzu pasture. Got me worried so we moved them all off and put them in a smaller grass pasture. Then today, on a topic called " Simmental Bull" on the Breeds board, April 23, I saw the following post from @simme : "
Their weight curve during pregnancy is certainly not linear. 80% of birth weight is gained in the last 90 days. 2/3 of birth weight gained in the last 60 days. Daily rate of gain goes up each day. So expect weight difference for 10 days overdue is more than difference for 10 days early. A calf 2 weeks overdue adds considerable birth weight.
At 60 days bred, the calf will weigh less than an ounce. At 90 days, less than half a pound. At 120 days, it will be the size of a small cat. At 150 days, the size of a large cat. At 180 days, the size of a small dog - about 12 to 15 pounds. Then gets to birth weight (70, 80, 90, 100#) in that last 100 days.
Just seems to me that birth weight is affected by environment/nutrition, growth genetics of sire and dam, and gestation length. Also leads me to believe that a CE bull due to shorter gestation does not sacrifice weaning weight like that of a CE bull due to less growth."
Gail will calve in December to a Brahma bull, so it is probably good that we moved her. The Guernsey-Hereford cow, the Jersey-Brown Swiss and the Jersey- Guernsey heifers, were all AI'ed in July., to calve in April. We always moved the Corr cows over to the harvested row crop fields in November when the crops are in and quail/rabbit season opens, and we left them there til February, when the season is over and they calved in February. They were on that 26% Kudzu the whole time they nursed. We weaned end of August. So, I am thinking we'd be ok to leave those 3 on the Kudzu til November, then move them over to the cut-over row crops, and leave them on that til they calved in April. If any of the row crop fields needed plowing before they calved, we could just put those 3 over in the dove field til they calved, then move them to the Kudzu. What does everyone think? I have never worried about any cow calving in my life as I have these...especially these 2 heifers. These are Zeke's, and he'd flip out if something went wrong. And I am 3 hours away...no one will be there when they calve but Zeke, and Scott, whose health is getting worse instead of better.
Their weight curve during pregnancy is certainly not linear. 80% of birth weight is gained in the last 90 days. 2/3 of birth weight gained in the last 60 days. Daily rate of gain goes up each day. So expect weight difference for 10 days overdue is more than difference for 10 days early. A calf 2 weeks overdue adds considerable birth weight.
At 60 days bred, the calf will weigh less than an ounce. At 90 days, less than half a pound. At 120 days, it will be the size of a small cat. At 150 days, the size of a large cat. At 180 days, the size of a small dog - about 12 to 15 pounds. Then gets to birth weight (70, 80, 90, 100#) in that last 100 days.
Just seems to me that birth weight is affected by environment/nutrition, growth genetics of sire and dam, and gestation length. Also leads me to believe that a CE bull due to shorter gestation does not sacrifice weaning weight like that of a CE bull due to less growth."
Gail will calve in December to a Brahma bull, so it is probably good that we moved her. The Guernsey-Hereford cow, the Jersey-Brown Swiss and the Jersey- Guernsey heifers, were all AI'ed in July., to calve in April. We always moved the Corr cows over to the harvested row crop fields in November when the crops are in and quail/rabbit season opens, and we left them there til February, when the season is over and they calved in February. They were on that 26% Kudzu the whole time they nursed. We weaned end of August. So, I am thinking we'd be ok to leave those 3 on the Kudzu til November, then move them over to the cut-over row crops, and leave them on that til they calved in April. If any of the row crop fields needed plowing before they calved, we could just put those 3 over in the dove field til they calved, then move them to the Kudzu. What does everyone think? I have never worried about any cow calving in my life as I have these...especially these 2 heifers. These are Zeke's, and he'd flip out if something went wrong. And I am 3 hours away...no one will be there when they calve but Zeke, and Scott, whose health is getting worse instead of better.
