Spring calving vs fall calving

[talltimber]

Mowing and more clover, from my understanding, will help

I thought maybe you had heard of a different pasture species that is hardy enough to compete with fescue, or maybe a mineral that I haven't heard of.

With rain, the clipping helps a lot. I havent been having much luck with red clover development, but the wild white still comes on really good when the weather is right.

 

[talltimber]

There's multiple ways to deal with fescue that doesn't require holding cows back from breeding

Care to share what some of those may be? I had some issues last summer on breed backs. It got hot here the first half of May. Turn out was Memorial Day to July 25. Hot, humid, and miserable a lot of that time. 6 of 10 calved in March. Of the four left, I can maybe make excuses for two of them. They are:

8 yo, good cow, raises one of the best calves when she calves. I've rolled her once. I think she's got some ovary problems going on, she's going to town

3 yo, trying to breed back for second calf, was preg checked wrong (actually a second stager in a 3 head group of what was supposed to be all third stagers. She may have not had enough time, MIGHT giver her another go.

Two more 3 yo that dont have an excuse other than the heat and fescue. Of those two, one never shedded much and looked rough all year. I don't think she's going to be a fit. She's going. The other may go too, I don't know that she's impressive enough to give another go.

However, idk how many in the fall group would "fit" either if they were in that spring group.

Multi species (clover, weeds) fescue pasture, good shade and water. Hills too steep to cultivate to sow non/low endo, erosion would be worse than the fescue.

My best weather here is in the fall. I don't want any calves in Aug, although I have had some a couple weeks early come in late Aug. Too hot, too many flies. Mid Sept to mid Oct is what I'm shooting for. I had a first calf hfr not breed back fall before last out of 31 hd. The bull got out in March and she calved last of Dec, so she still calved. Other than the old cow mentioned above, that's the only one in a few years that I have not had breed back in the fall.Turn out Dec 10ish to mid Feb

Culling will fix any problems with cattle. I made excuses when I first started trying to build our herd, now I cull anything that requires any additional maintenance.

Do you administer the same hard culling with your registered cattle, or just your commercial group? The reason I ask is that sometimes I have had more tied up in bought hfrs than I want to lose with just one hiccup after raising that first calf. A fault I've brought on myself, thinking I was helping myself genetics wise in the long run. Most of them are doing pretty good, all came from within 50 miles of me, but some are still better than others.

 

[littletom]

I live in very southern ky. We have a lot of fescue. We have 3 groups of spring calving cows. And one small group of fall. Much perfer the spring that timing fits my other farming much better. For me they grow better on just pasture without creep feed. We make our own hay honestly some gets cut over mature, some gets rained on, and some is good. Those dry cows do better on the marginal fescue hay, than a cow trying to raise a calf. These cows calve from early march through april. Weaned in late oct. Sold first week Jan.
The little group of falls get sold in early summer. Main reason for them to pay spring fert. and chemical bills. They eat more hay and require less pasture. Anything open gets sold no matter how much i like her.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Care to share what some of those may be? I had some issues last summer on breed backs. It got hot here the first half of May. Turn out was Memorial Day to July 25. Hot, humid, and miserable a lot of that time. 6 of 10 calved in March. Of the four left, I can maybe make excuses for two of them. They are:

8 yo, good cow, raises one of the best calves when she calves. I've rolled her once. I think she's got some ovary problems going on, she's going to town

3 yo, trying to breed back for second calf, was preg checked wrong (actually a second stager in a 3 head group of what was supposed to be all third stagers. She may have not had enough time, MIGHT giver her another go.

Two more 3 yo that dont have an excuse other than the heat and fescue. Of those two, one never shedded much and looked rough all year. I don't think she's going to be a fit. She's going. The other may go too, I don't know that she's impressive enough to give another go.

However, idk how many in the fall group would "fit" either if they were in that spring group.

Multi species (clover, weeds) fescue pasture, good shade and water. Hills too steep to cultivate to sow non/low endo, erosion would be worse than the fescue.

My best weather here is in the fall. I don't want any calves in Aug, although I have had some a couple weeks early come in late Aug. Too hot, too many flies. Mid Sept to mid Oct is what I'm shooting for. I had a first calf hfr not breed back fall before last out of 31 hd. The bull got out in March and she calved last of Dec, so she still calved. Other than the old cow mentioned above, that's the only one in a few years that I have not had breed back in the fall.Turn out Dec 10ish to mid Feb

Culling will fix any problems with cattle. I made excuses when I first started trying to build our herd, now I cull anything that requires any additional maintenance.

Do you administer the same hard culling with your registered cattle, or just your commercial group? The reason I ask is that sometimes I have had more tied up in bought hfrs than I want to lose with just one hiccup after raising that first calf. A fault I've brought on myself, thinking I was helping myself genetics wise in the long run. Most of them are doing pretty good, all came from within 50 miles of me, but some are still better than others.

For sure the commercial cows get culled a lot harder than registered stock. Nice first calf heifers get a pass on breeding back on time. The excuses I use is, lack of feed while the heifer was growing out and the calf sucked her bcs down making it hard for her to breed back. I feel after a heifer's second calf you know what you have.

 

[talltimber]

I agree with that.

 

[Steve123]

You won't have this problem. But the only reason we calve in the Spring is it is really hard to heat check and AI when it is snowing sideways. We have a couple of old show heifers that we can't get caught up and we just send their calves to TX.