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PureCountry
Rancher
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Posts: 2266
Location: E./central Alberta, Battle River hills
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 Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:53 am Post subject: |
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I never get tired of listening to this topic or discussing it with you folks. So many ranchers/farmers in our area looked at us sideways when we switched to calving "IN SYNC". Sorry for using those bad words Badlands, but I couldn't help it. My cows are just coming to the end of their first cycle of calving, and the fawns are just starting to surface from the thickets and coulees. If that isn't "In Sync" I don't know what is.
That's beside the point of course. My point is that we should forget research studies on this topic, and watch Mother Nature's own test plot. If we watch and listen carefully, to animals, plants, the soil, whatever, there are test plots right in front of our noses at every turn. We make our cows work for everything through the winter, and trust me, by the time they hit grass in the middle of April, they are a little thin. But since we don't calve until the end of May/first of June, they have a month to gain weight. And even though they're heavy in calf at that point, they gain weight quickly. Almost all of our cows that I had scored as a lower BCS (2-2.5), are now a 2.5-3 with a baby at side, or very soon will have. It's working much the same as it does for the deer and such.
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RobertMac
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 3725
Location: Mississippi, USA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:51 am Post subject: |
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Badlands, I'm sure many are tired of seeing this thread pop up, but then that's the beauty of the internet...they don't have to read it. 
You make some good points...domestic animals aren't wild animals and mimicking Nature can be/is economically painful. I know the second point well because that is the general direction I've taken. But I find the long term benefits were worth the economical pain...a care free, reproductively efficient herd.
I like your deer example, so I hope you don't mind if I turn it on you.
| Badlands wrote: |
...getting pregnant is more important than actually producing offspring over the long haul.
And those Autumn breeders are all breeding after the Fall rains produced more high nutrient forage. Again, they breed when they should first, when they fawn is secondary. |
What if you have an exceptional summer that produces an abundance of high nutrient forage, will the deer breed early because getting pregnant is more important than actually producing offspring?
I think not because there is another important natural factor, especially for plants, but also for animals...photo period. The deer are waiting to breed when it is appropriate for them to be fawning. Having young at the appropriate time is more important for survival of the species then simply getting bred.
In the plant world, the timing of moisture and warming temperatures in sync with photo period is the trigger for increased plant growth. For herbivores, this is the time to give birth.
For our domesticated cattle, Nature has given the cow a set gestation period and this establishes her nutrient requirements through that yearly cycle. Nature has also established a forage cycle on each ranch depending on plant species and environmental conditions. What I mean by "in sync with Nature" is to put the cows highest nutrient requirements at the same time as my highest natural forage production. That is both economical and efficient.
I'm an agronomist from the late 70s and 80s, so I guess I can't help but be a little "greenie, hippie"!  
| Badlands wrote: |
| In the full market model, it would depend on how nutritional stress played into affecting the growth and maturity curve and it's effects on quality. |
This should be the subject of another thread I'd like to pick your brain on! 
Badlands, the beauty of production agriculture is that there are many roads to get to the same destination..."right" or "wrong" is more in the context of which road you take. Studying Nature and being in agreement with Nature will make for an easier journey. This is one of my favorite quotes...
"I think Nature is smart as hell. I help as much as I can, but I try to let Her do most of the work." __Tom Lasater
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Badlands
Member
Joined: 11 Apr 2006
Posts: 419
Location: Eastern MT/about 10 miles up the creek from Faster Horses
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| Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:10 am Post subject: |
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RobertMac,
We'll have to pick it up later. I'm not quite 1/2 way home to MT from NY. Beloit, WI right now. Will be home to the ranch on Saturday, then up N/W to Conrad on Sunday to have a baby. Well, my wife is having the baby, not me. I'm just driving the other three kids home while she flies. Can't stand to have a kid born in NY-just wouldn't be right, LOL.
Badlands
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RobertMac
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 3725
Location: Mississippi, USA
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