When is ideal time to turn out bulls
- Thread starter Newcutter
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farmerjan
Well-known member
All depends on when you want your calves.... Up here we want our spring group to calve Mar-April... fall group to calve in early Sept-early Nov.... Bulls go in around/ just before June 1st for spring group and just before Thanksgiving for the fall group... don't always get them out on time... and we are not as concerned with the calving windows since we buy some calves and put together groups so we often have a "place" to fit in any we have that are not in the calving window..... Don't want any from Dec 1st to Feb 15th... too cold and often rainy cold wet... sun doesn't warm things during the day either... By March at least the sun is starting to have some warmth during the day.... Hardest time for breeding here is July/Aug when it gets hot... and that is about when the calves are 60-90 days and time for the cows to get settled...
Dsth
Well-known member
I agree with @farmerjan that bull turn out depends on when you want your calves. for example, farmerjan doesn't want calves Dec - Feb but my calving window is late Nov - end of Jan. I like that calving window so cows can get AI bred and most preg checked before pasture turnout in spring. Are they getting turned out with cows with calves already? if so, first calfers should be 60 days post calving. if turning out with virgin heifers, heifers should be mature enough to breed. factor in normal weather, pest problems around the time you decide to calf, and what facilities you have to help monitor cows at calving time. let us know when you decide on your calving window. I would be interested when. why and how you decided on your calving window?
9 months before you want the cows to start calving.
coachg
Well-known member
March April calves , June 1-15 , fall Sept -Oct calves , Dec 1-15
Travlr
Well-known member
In both Arkansas and South Dakota the priority was having calves born on clean pastures. So we bred our cows to calve on snow. That means we get no navel/joint ill. I also like them to get a good start before the spring rains come with any wind. A calf can take a lot of cold with snow, but a cold rain and wind can kill a newborn. This also puts calves at the best marketing window in the fall, Late September and into October.
I've never done two calving seasons. If a cow doesn't breed for January/February calving she is down the road.
I've never done two calving seasons. If a cow doesn't breed for January/February calving she is down the road.
You have to decide what your goal is. Do you want to breed to the market? Do you want to breed to weather? Do you want to breed to what is most profitable? Do you want to breed to your personal schedule?
When you decide what is most important then you can walk it back to when bulls should be turned out.
When you decide what is most important then you can walk it back to when bulls should be turned out.
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jschoolcraft86
Well-known member
no good cows get bred after midnight anyway
Dave
Well-known member
283 days before you want the calves to be born
I'm in East Tx and we turn out May1st - August 1st. Too hot and dry for much breeding to go on from August - October. We tried turning out 15 days earlier for a few years but started calving in some really cold winter storms those years.
BC
Well-known member
As everyone said, it depends on when you want your calves born, I live in East Texas and prefer late fall calves and I do not want anything born after tax day (April 15). I had left bull out last year and had a few May and a couple of summer calves. Bull came out July 20 and won't go back in until December 1.
beefgirl
Well-known member
I did fall calving a couple times and now going back to spring/summer. Too hard on the cows. I did not separate the fall calvers from the rest of the group for feeding.
