Thanksgiving or Christmas?

[fit2btied]

My brother is in the process of moving all his cows, about 20 pairs, up from spring to fall calving. This will be his first year that the bull has been kept away as he has all of them where he wants them. We normally breed the heifers one cycle ahead of the cows but that is not an issue this year. He's located about an hour south of St. Louis and as far as weather conditions go, if they make it, we will have it at some point and time - from hot to cold and wet to dry with high humidity much of the time. All our pastures and hay are predominantly high endophyte fescue and red clover. We have not been hit as hard as other parts of the state droughtwise and currently have about a 3-yr supply of hay. They have free choice mineral at all times and outside of weaning, extreme, or special conditions, the herd gets a 50-lb bag of range cubes or sweet feed twice a week to keep them easily catchable. He said the salebarn guru's all tell him Thanksgiving or Christmas but he wanted me to ask the CT crew when they would put the bull with them and why. A search of fall calving turned up over 3000 posts, so to all who have never rehashed or revisited a topic and/or have much more time to spend here than I do, forgive my laziness. Thanks for your help.

 

[dun]

Thanksgiving. The worst of the heat is usually past and they will have time to get some growth on them beofre the crappy winter weather hits.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I put my bulls in somewhere between the 10th and the 15th of November you start calving around the 15th of August and are done by the middle of October so the cows have a good month from last calf to breeding

alot of guys go with Thanksgiving but I prefer the 10-15 days earlier
christmas IMO is way to late leaves you calving til thanksgiving and is kinda like calving in January too many temperature swings in November

 

[Isomade]

Dec.15th

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

Dec.15th

This is when I put the bull with mine & we were done calving by mid-october ,still decent weather here in Ohio.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Dec.15th

This is when I put the bull with mine & we were done calving by mid-october ,still decent weather here in Ohio.

so you only have a 22 day breeding/calving season must be using alot of Bull per cow or only a few cows

 

[fit2btied]

Thanks for the help. I think he's planning to turn the bull in the weekend before Thanksgiving to start calving about the first of September. Most of our hottest weather will be done then and they should be finished by the first of November before the really nasty stuff starts. If they start backing up any farther than that they just might get to take a trip to town for an extended visit with their city cousins. For me, I'm still searchin' eBay and Craigslist for that magic "make 'em all calve on March 1st" wand. Till then, I'll just make sure the insulateds are close to the door and the spotlight is charged up by the middle of February.

 

[HEREFORD ROADHOG]

Dec.15th

This is when I put the bull with mine & we were done calving by mid-october ,still decent weather here in Ohio.

so you only have a 22 day breeding/calving season must be using alot of Bull per cow or only a few cows

IT"S the HEREFORD breed, they don't mess around !! they don't lay down & smoke a cigarette afterwards like the black bulls do. :lol2: last year I had 3 born on the same day. :banana: & true I'm not running a big herd. :cboy:

 

[Angus Cowman]

IT"S the HEREFORD breed, they don't mess around !! they don't lay down & smoke a cigarette afterwards like the black bulls do. :lol2: last year I had 3 born on the same day. :banana: & true I'm not running a big herd. :cboy:

wow 3 in 1 day :roll: I don't know how you got anything else done

 

[hillsdown]

Dec.15th

This is when I put the bull with mine & we were done calving by mid-october ,still decent weather here in Ohio.

IT"S the HEREFORD breed, they don't mess around !! they don't lay down & smoke a cigarette afterwards like the black bulls do. :lol2: last year I had 3 born on the same day. :banana: & true I'm not running a big herd. :cboy:

FWIW, just because 3 calved on the same day does not meen they were bred on the same day. ;-)
I had 3 AI calves born on the same day last year and one of the breed dates was 9 days and 12 days later than the other 2 . :tiphat:

 

[cypressfarms]

IT"S the HEREFORD breed, they don't mess around !! they don't lay down & smoke a cigarette afterwards like the black bulls do. :lol2: last year I had 3 born on the same day. :banana: & true I'm not running a big herd. :cboy:

wow 3 in 1 day :roll: I don't know how you got anything else done

LMAO!!!!!!!

Just because calves are born on the same day does not mean the bull bred the momas the same day. I know this seems obvious, but...

Hey AC, somehow I sense a little sarcasm...

 

[Angus Cowman]

LMAO!!!!!!!

Just because calves are born on the same day does not mean the bull bred the momas the same day. I know this seems obvious, but...

Hey AC, somehow I sense a little sarcasm...

ya think :cowboy: :cowboy: