marksmu
Well-known member
So, I'm new at this, Ive posted several questions, and here comes another....We finally found a bull that we were satisfied with after a very long search. We did not want to wait to get the bull so we bought it this past week. We have 20 cows, all but one with calves currently. About half are large enough to wean, and the other half need about another 1.5 months.
Here is my question - I have long planned on synchronizing my calves and running a heavy cull operation - getting rid of every cow that I cant get pregnant in a 60 day window. My original plan was for spring Calves, b/c I know I have all kinds of spring green up. However, I'm located in Southeast Texas, and I have obviously missed my target date for getting these cows pregnant. So the question is what to do at this point? My vet tells me that even though my cows are conditioned fairly that well b/c of the heat and the drought, its unlikely that many of them will get pregnant at this time of year, and I definitely dont want to have all my cows calving at all different times, and I do not want to run 2 different herds once I have weaned everyone. All of my cattle are Brangus.
Does anyone have any good experience with getting their cows prego during the hot summer heat? I just had the bull tested, and he tested exceptional on his sperm motility, and counts and it was done in the heat....the vet mentioned that the sperm in this heat all gets close to worthless....but the test did not show that...any input there?
My vet has suggested selling my calves, pulling the bull off the herd (he has been in for 5 days) and then breeding the cows back in the winter to give me a fall calf, and then taking the money made off the calves sold and buying some bred cows with similar calving dates as mine to get my herd all back on the same schedule. At this point Grass is not a problem on any of my fields, its more of a fencing problem because of contractors.
What would any of you do? I hate to get rid of any of my calves, because they all look great right now, but I currently only have 2 fields that I can really run them in b/c I have contractors constantly in and out of 2 other fields while they are building a DU pond and I cant guarantee that they will keep gates closed etc.
Im open to all suggestions.
Here is my question - I have long planned on synchronizing my calves and running a heavy cull operation - getting rid of every cow that I cant get pregnant in a 60 day window. My original plan was for spring Calves, b/c I know I have all kinds of spring green up. However, I'm located in Southeast Texas, and I have obviously missed my target date for getting these cows pregnant. So the question is what to do at this point? My vet tells me that even though my cows are conditioned fairly that well b/c of the heat and the drought, its unlikely that many of them will get pregnant at this time of year, and I definitely dont want to have all my cows calving at all different times, and I do not want to run 2 different herds once I have weaned everyone. All of my cattle are Brangus.
Does anyone have any good experience with getting their cows prego during the hot summer heat? I just had the bull tested, and he tested exceptional on his sperm motility, and counts and it was done in the heat....the vet mentioned that the sperm in this heat all gets close to worthless....but the test did not show that...any input there?
My vet has suggested selling my calves, pulling the bull off the herd (he has been in for 5 days) and then breeding the cows back in the winter to give me a fall calf, and then taking the money made off the calves sold and buying some bred cows with similar calving dates as mine to get my herd all back on the same schedule. At this point Grass is not a problem on any of my fields, its more of a fencing problem because of contractors.
What would any of you do? I hate to get rid of any of my calves, because they all look great right now, but I currently only have 2 fields that I can really run them in b/c I have contractors constantly in and out of 2 other fields while they are building a DU pond and I cant guarantee that they will keep gates closed etc.
Im open to all suggestions.