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Breeding / Calving Issues
Putting the bull in - when?
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<blockquote data-quote="Willow Springs" data-source="post: 635361" data-attributes="member: 9002"><p>If you really want to maximize your fertility, without mortaging the farm, calve and breed on grass. This doesn't work for everyone depending on pasture availability and what your end goal for the cattle is (ie: showring, etc.). </p><p></p><p>We calve in May/June (Alberta); the cows are are fully grazing by about May 20th. They have May/June/July to fatten up on grass before breeding, nothing else special, just TM salt with selinium. Our fertility is as good as or better than it was calving in February with way less inputs (feed, etc). In fact our cows are thinner at calving than before becasue I know they will pick up the weight quickly on grass. I wouldn't breed the heifers ahead of the cows, they will have better fertility calving with the cows closer to the best most nutritious grass. In fact i know some that calve the heifers behind the cows so that they calve right in the thick of the best grass; small calf and good grass equals weight gain. Our own heifers that calved in early June were cycling in 25-30 days. Our birthweights have also been down 7-10 lbs on avergae by changing seasons; don't really even worry about the heifers having calving trouble anymore (knock on wood <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> ).</p><p></p><p>We bred about a hundred females this year and 85% will calve in the first 40 days. We had 5% open and 10% late (over 40 days). We leave the bulls out for about 90 days because good bred cows are worth more to sell here than opens. We preg check early becasue the vets are more accurate in early gestation and this along with observation lets us weed out the lates. Anyway that's what works for us.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Willow Springs, post: 635361, member: 9002"] If you really want to maximize your fertility, without mortaging the farm, calve and breed on grass. This doesn't work for everyone depending on pasture availability and what your end goal for the cattle is (ie: showring, etc.). We calve in May/June (Alberta); the cows are are fully grazing by about May 20th. They have May/June/July to fatten up on grass before breeding, nothing else special, just TM salt with selinium. Our fertility is as good as or better than it was calving in February with way less inputs (feed, etc). In fact our cows are thinner at calving than before becasue I know they will pick up the weight quickly on grass. I wouldn't breed the heifers ahead of the cows, they will have better fertility calving with the cows closer to the best most nutritious grass. In fact i know some that calve the heifers behind the cows so that they calve right in the thick of the best grass; small calf and good grass equals weight gain. Our own heifers that calved in early June were cycling in 25-30 days. Our birthweights have also been down 7-10 lbs on avergae by changing seasons; don't really even worry about the heifers having calving trouble anymore (knock on wood :D ). We bred about a hundred females this year and 85% will calve in the first 40 days. We had 5% open and 10% late (over 40 days). We leave the bulls out for about 90 days because good bred cows are worth more to sell here than opens. We preg check early becasue the vets are more accurate in early gestation and this along with observation lets us weed out the lates. Anyway that's what works for us. [/QUOTE]
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