Spring vs fall calving and why???

[gizmom]

We calve in the fall. Our bull customers are looking for long yearlings or two year old bulls for their spring calving herds.

Gizmom

 

[Ebenezer]

We calve in the fall. Our bull customers are looking for long yearlings or two year old bulls for their spring calving herds.

Gizmom

We do this too with spring calving. Not everybody is calving at the same time around here so calls come pretty much year round but not so much in the dead of summer. And there are calls to replace hurt bulls, ... I have pretty much boxed myself into what we do. We use no commercial fertilizer and pastures are fueled by legumes. Winter is covered by strip grazed stockpiled fescue. So I need less "hearty eaters" in the winter and more in the spring and summer. Last year, without ice or snow, we fed 2 bales of hay. So, it is what it is where it is. Sheep are different organisms and are run differently!

I would put a bull with them while they are calving & let them breed back for april may & june

+2

 

[hillbilly beef man]

The two biggest pluses for fall calving for me is I do not need a bull for every pasture. I can get all of my fall calvers bred in one place by one bull where I winter them, instead of trying to get several bulls out to the several small pastures I rent. Also fall calvers make it easier to manage the fescue boom that we get every year from mid April to the end of June. When the grass slows down I sell the calves, making grass management eaiser.

 

[Lucky_P]

Ahh, the old 'calve in tune with nature thing'... yes, deer do give birth in late spring... but they're seasonal breeders - they don't cycle all year round - and they're principally browsers, not grazers. And, we (mostly) don't confine them to a pasture and control what they get to eat - which is mostly non-native, introduced forage plants(fescue, orchardgrass, clovers, corn, wheat, ryegrass, etc.). It's not a valid comparison.
Just because deer, elk, goats, sheep are ruminants... they are NOT just small cows.

We have both spring and fall-calving herds. One bull is enough to cover both. And yes, if I have one that doesn't breed in one season... if I can justify it, I'll bump her to the next. Or not.
Yeah, I know, some here will say 'You're not selecting for fertility - the MOST important trait', or 'She'll never repay the added economic loss you've incurred by keeping her (unproductive) for that extra 6 months.' And... they're probably right.

But. While the cows are a source of income, they're not the primary one. I'll hazard a guess that very few on this board are living entirely on the $$$ that their cattle operation generates. I could probably live just as well - maybe better! - without them; but they're my HOBBY, and I'll breed what I want and manage them the way I want. I'm not breeding seedstock, so the only person impacted is...ME. Dual calving seasons works for us.

 

[gizmom]

Ahh, the old 'calve in tune with nature thing'... yes, deer do give birth in late spring... but they're seasonal breeders - they don't cycle all year round - and they're principally browsers, not grazers. And, we (mostly) don't confine them to a pasture and control what they get to eat - which is mostly non-native, introduced forage plants(fescue, orchardgrass, clovers, corn, wheat, ryegrass, etc.). It's not a valid comparison.
Just because deer, elk, goats, sheep are ruminants... they are NOT just small cows.

We have both spring and fall-calving herds. One bull is enough to cover both. And yes, if I have one that doesn't breed in one season... if I can justify it, I'll bump her to the next. Or not.
Yeah, I know, some here will say 'You're not selecting for fertility - the MOST important trait', or 'She'll never repay the added economic loss you've incurred by keeping her (unproductive) for that extra 6 months.' And... they're probably right.

But. While the cows are a source of income, they're not the primary one. I'll hazard a guess that very few on this board are living entirely on the $$$ that their cattle operation generates. I could probably live just as well - maybe better! - without them; but they're my HOBBY, and I'll breed what I want and manage them the way I want. I'm not breeding seedstock, so the only person impacted is...ME. Dual calving seasons works for us.

Lucky

You just nailed it, each of us manages differently for reasons that suit us. I wouldn't mind having both a spring and fall herd but the boss says no so that is the end of the discussion. He is the one taking care of things every day and he works his butt off so if he doesn't want to deal with two breeding seasons I am sure not going to push it. The cattle for us are not a hobby it started out that way but turned into a business, still not our only source of income.

Gizmom

 

[fnfarms1]

I have recently been turning bulls back in mid-Nov for 45 days to catch anything that aborted or didn't breed for spring calves. some will say if they didn't breed, sell them. I try to give that second chance and only miss 6mths on them versus a whole year. but my fall calvers are only a couple. the bulk of my 35cow herd calves mid feb-mid april. bulls go out for spring may15th

 

[Bigfoot]

You got some options with a fall born calf. Wean him, and kick him out on grass. Let him grow till the frost. Market isn't rewarding a bigger calf at the moment, but it "might" be by fall.

I do both btw.

 

[Waterway65]

The best time is that time that fits the labor, management, facilities, market, and feed supply of a individual operation.

 

[True Grit Farms]

We just have cows for something to do and tax purposes. But with that being said, the cows need to carry themselves. I like a fall and spring calving herd. And last year was a prime example why. The calves we sold in the spring averaged $520.00 dollars more than the ones we sold in the fall. A live calf is a good calf, and I'll take one whenever I can get one. That's my motto.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Looks like I've been forced to move to fall calving whether I wanted to or not, they were not getting bred in the heat of summer and keep falling farther behind (only my second calving season on my little herd). This was due to my mismanagement of not getting a bull early enough the first time.

When do I put a bull in for fall calving? December?

 

[talltimber]

I turn in around the 10th, putting the due date around the third week of Sept. I think last year was Dec 10th/Sept 23rd, iirc.

 

[Lucky_P]

Kell,
It depends on what you call "Fall" calving.
My idea and my wife's(she's the farm manager) are very different. Her 'Fall' season keeps moving forward... some of the 'Fall' cows calved starting about 22 July last year... yeah, I know she was shooting for Aug 1.
I know what she's going for... ideally, cows need to be 3 months along in their lactation before we pull them in when pasture is gone, and start limit-feeding hay & DDG; that way they're past their peak nutritional drain. But... July... that's not 'fall' to me.

In the past, we started breeding around Thanksgiving... but I think all the AI cows were bred before T'giving this fall... only the repeats or stragglers that were going to the bull bred after Thanksgiving.