why is calving early important?

[longhornlover3498]

i was wondering why most ranchers calve from late fall to early spring? i don't see why its so important. you just wait til the calfs about a year to sell right?

 

[Dave]

There probaly aren't a lot of people who wait until their calves are a year old to sell. The timing has a lot to do with climate, feed available, and the time at which you market. In my corner of the world calves are born in the spring are generally sold in the fall at weaning or right after weaning. This way a person isn't feeding the calves over the winter.

 

[heath]

I calve Jan - March (majority at least )because my notes are due in Oct, and that gives time to grow the calf.

 

[Taurus]

I always calve in late March-early April (to avoid Minnesotan spring snowstorms) and usually take the weanlings to the sale barn in Oct. So I don't have to feed 30 calves bale hay for whole winter and I do not have any space for the weanlings next year as I am saving the space for calving.

 

[longhornlover3498]

but wouldnt you rather have more calves to sell the following year then lose a few to the cold??? we calve in april-may to avoid that and breed back in july.

 

[SSGenetics]

We have a spring and a fall calving herd. Spring calvers start end of Febuary and fall calvers start around the second week of September.

Works for me... :cowboy:

 

[ANAZAZI]

but wouldnt you rather have more calves to sell the following year then lose a few to the cold??? we calve in april-may to avoid that and breed back in july.

What you are doing works for me too, less problems when calving with nature. However there are many ways to raise cattle, and winter calving works well in certain markets.

 

[longhornlover3498]

but wouldnt you rather have more calves to sell the following year then lose a few to the cold??? we calve in april-may to avoid that and breed back in july.

What you are doing works for me too, less problems when calving with nature. However there are many ways to raise cattle, and winter calving works well in certain markets.

FINALLY SOMEBODY AGREES! we used to calve out 20 cows from december-february but when it was selling time we only had 12. 4 heifers and 8 bulls. we only got about 3,000 that year. :cry2:

 

[dun]

The main problem with breeding in July is trying to get the cows to settle when the day temps are around 100 and the nights are still in the 80s

 

[longhornlover3498]

The main problem with breeding in July is trying to get the cows to settle when the day temps are around 100 and the nights are still in the 80s

well fortunately they do. our cows are very heat resistent and we have tons of trees and shades in the summer pasture. also we have creeks ever where.

 

[dun]

The main problem with breeding in July is trying to get the cows to settle when the day temps are around 100 and the nights are still in the 80s

well fortunately they do. our cows are very heat resistent and we have tons of trees and shades in the summer pasture. also we have creeks ever where.

Different environments, but we don;t (usually) have to worry about severe sold in March/April

 

[longhornlover3498]

The main problem with breeding in July is trying to get the cows to settle when the day temps are around 100 and the nights are still in the 80s

well fortunately they do. our cows are very heat resistent and we have tons of trees and shades in the summer pasture. also we have creeks ever where.

Different environments, but we don;t (usually) have to worry about severe sold in March/April

sorry! didnt know that we are in montana lol

 

[Taurus]

I don't want have a summer calving season here....mosquitos, flies and 80-100 degrees. Not mentioned that the afterbirth must be cleaned out of the cow ASAP after the birth. And the momma cows were crankier than the ones in spring calving season.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Here it is a matter of feed and the amount needing to feed, plus the combination of the grass avaialble and our cold winters.
Calving in early spring gets us away from the late spring mud. Grass in May June seem to coincide with heavier milking when the calf can handle it more so.
That and spring work and summer work make calving more difficult. Seeding land, fencing, getting machinery ready and honey bees take precedence over any cows calving in the summer. We like to be finished by the end of April, this year it was mid may

 

[longhornlover3498]

our first bull came on easter so we named him"jack rabbit". our latest calf came wednesday morning so we have four left to calve. we don't really have to worry about honeybees and machinery and all that because around calving season is when we start our garden and basically thats all we do. also why do people vaccinate thier cattle?

 

[ANAZAZI]

Also, why do people vaccinate their cattle?

Because it is needed in some areas, simple as that. It is an easy choice compared to the risk of loosing valuable or irreplaceable cattle.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Just to expand on what Anazazi said, vaccinations are cheap insurance against serious diseases.
An abortion storm can devistate the bottom like in any given year in unprotected cattle
A scour epidemic can set calves back alot, or even cause some deaths, again the bottom line gets affected.
PI calves can also affect the bottom line by shedding viruses, which will increase the virus load in the herd causing more problems. Add to that, PI calves become money pits in the way of drugs because they seem to pick up every bug imaginable.
PI = persistently infected. Usually associated with BVD

 

[Nesikep]

I'm releasing the bull tomorrow, for a mar 10th calving season start. That usually gets us out of the worst weather, though it can be muddy. if we calf any earlier, the sun doesn't clear a big mountain and instead of 8 hours of sun, we have 3, and that makes a big difference... of course that's assuming clear skies

This year, I had a couple heifers and my 2 heifer cows that were in heat in the last couple days, and since they were halter broke, I led them to the bull a couple days early... I figure they're the most likely to have trouble, and that way if I have a wet cow or an orphan calf, I have the rest of the calving season to do my grafting, but if they're late, there's no hope... For some reason it also seems that the first couple calves of the year are always lighter by 20 lbs, which is good for them too.

 

[plumber_greg]

If you're losing 8 out of 20 calves whenever you calve, you need to change your managment style. I haven't lost 8 total in 5 years. gs

 

[longhornlover3498]

If you're losing 8 out of 20 calves whenever you calve, you need to change your managment style. I haven't lost 8 total in 5 years. gs

we have changed it. before the bull was breeding in like march and thats when we lost all the babies. now we don't lose any.