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Winter Calving
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<blockquote data-quote="Jeanne - Simme Valley" data-source="post: 727197" data-attributes="member: 968"><p>Dun pretty well highlights our situation. We are in NY - average snowfall is 120" in our area (lots more North of us). We have to feed cattle hay from Nov - late April/early May. MUD is a MAJOR issue in the spring. Mud is harder on cattle/calves than just about anything. And 30-40 F rain is worse than our blustery cold winds.</p><p>We calve from about 1-25 to 3-25.</p><p>We have a damp cold here, so I would never calve outside on purpose (occasionally we have one slip a surprise outside). "Close" cows are put in barn at night & turned out in AM if they didn't calve. When they calve, the pair stays in the barn about 24 hours - til calf is dry & up & running. Newborns aren't very smart. They want to follow mom. So, if mom has to wallow thru mud to get to a feeder, calf follows & ends up laying down next to the feeder where they can get stepped on - but mainly, they get covered with mud from the legs of the cows near them. If the calves are 30-60 days old when the mud gets here, they are smart enough to avoid the mud.</p><p>Couple years ago, our last born calf (end of March) came up missing at about 7 days old. I looked & looked - finally spotted an EAR - yup, she was mushed down under the mud - very dead.</p><p>Also, in order to get our cows in good BCS for winter, we need to wean our calves by early Sept.</p><p>There are a number of other reasons also - but this covers the most important for cold winter weather areas.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jeanne - Simme Valley, post: 727197, member: 968"] Dun pretty well highlights our situation. We are in NY - average snowfall is 120" in our area (lots more North of us). We have to feed cattle hay from Nov - late April/early May. MUD is a MAJOR issue in the spring. Mud is harder on cattle/calves than just about anything. And 30-40 F rain is worse than our blustery cold winds. We calve from about 1-25 to 3-25. We have a damp cold here, so I would never calve outside on purpose (occasionally we have one slip a surprise outside). "Close" cows are put in barn at night & turned out in AM if they didn't calve. When they calve, the pair stays in the barn about 24 hours - til calf is dry & up & running. Newborns aren't very smart. They want to follow mom. So, if mom has to wallow thru mud to get to a feeder, calf follows & ends up laying down next to the feeder where they can get stepped on - but mainly, they get covered with mud from the legs of the cows near them. If the calves are 30-60 days old when the mud gets here, they are smart enough to avoid the mud. Couple years ago, our last born calf (end of March) came up missing at about 7 days old. I looked & looked - finally spotted an EAR - yup, she was mushed down under the mud - very dead. Also, in order to get our cows in good BCS for winter, we need to wean our calves by early Sept. There are a number of other reasons also - but this covers the most important for cold winter weather areas. [/QUOTE]
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