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Grassfarmer
Rancher
Joined: 21 Aug 2005
Posts: 1002
Location: Central Alberta, Canada
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Justin
Rancher
Joined: 02 Mar 2008
Posts: 4019
Location: NW South Dakota
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Dylan Biggs
Rancher
Joined: 21 Apr 2008
Posts: 1444
Location: hanna,alberta
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 Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:08 pm Post subject: Re: Percentages |
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| flyingS wrote: |
| Preg rate on mature cows I think should be between 93% and 96%. Death loss on mature cow herd should not be more than 1% probably more like .5%. Are these reasonable goals? What do most of you expect. |
Preg rate based on what length of breeding season? Preg rate within what level of supplemental feeding and winter environment?
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Northern Rancher
Rancher
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 12235
Location: saskatchewan
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| Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| I've calved in -50 and plus 100-I like dealing withy the heat more than the cold-shade is easier to find than enough warm blankets. We get the odd calf get dehydrated if his mother stashes him out on those real hot days. The dehydration might be more a function of some other problem than just the air temprerature-I always think if 95% o9f your herd is doing well I'm not changing things to prop up the weak 5%.
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cowhunter
Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2010
Posts: 494
Location: williston florida
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:07 am Post subject: hot weather calfin |
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| Lots of big cow/calf operations run bulls on there cattle, year round here. But there comercial cattle with a little ear. Summer calfs are not a problem or, generly winter calfs. I had only a few born this cold winter but lost none. But our heat has to be different from northern heat. I'd hate to know I was worryed about a bunch of cows calfin in one of them blizards where u can't see the barn an hit a 100yds away. And if I had to set with my back turnt while they throwed off on my place, well the highlander blood would boil. I'd get up and leave before that part happened. I made enough off mine to buy 15 registered cracker pairs. Gettin them soon, maintain them, pay the taxes and then some. And kept every heifer with horns to. So I sure would not stand for no chair sittin, back turnin. If u got a problem with somebodys way of doin somethin,tell them in a friendly way like a man. That sounds like some dr. Fill bull sht.
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Big Swede
Member
Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 799
Location: South Dakota
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| Cowhunter if you are making a good profit on your place then you must be doing things right. Some of the suggestions at the back turned session might include getting rid of some equipment if you could hire the same job done cheaper and not have the overhead expense of owning all that iron. Another might be rotational grazing, or calving season dates, or planting not so productive farmland back to grass and grazing cattle instead of farming. Lots of constructive ideas that will get you thinking about how and why you do the things you do. I never saw anyone get upset with at the ideas they heard behind their back. It's all in fun and educational too.
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flyingS
Member
Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 446
Location: Northern Sandhills Just East of Soapweed
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:59 pm Post subject: |
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| mrj wrote: |
Does anyone calving in an extreme climate have comments on calving in very hot weather? Is it pretty hard on the cows, especially in big pastures or under conditions where one may not see every cow multiple times per day...or maybe even every couple of days?
What about fall calving, where fall might be pretty ugly like in SD last fall, cold rains through October, decent Nov, then grass covered with FEET of snow from Dec. 10 till 'thawed' by over an inch of rain early this week???
Just curious. We calve mid April/May and would like to be later, but, one thing against it is bulls next door to our cows' spring/summer pastures make that pretty tough to achieve, as well as wondering about the previous questions.
mrj |
MRJ, I calve in Aug. and Sept. The heat doesn't seem to bother much. There are a few days that you will see claves panting but overall, I think far less stressful than a spring blizzard. These cows take an awful lot of feed and sometimes it can be hard to get feed to them.
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flyingS
Member
Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 446
Location: Northern Sandhills Just East of Soapweed
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Dylan, those numbers are based on an April 1 calve date with a 60 day breed with 89% of pregnant cows calving in the first 30 days on a consistent basis. They were supplemented between 650 and 700 lbs of hay per head and enough protein to meet their requirements in the last 90 days of gestation.
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