Calving Barn

[3words]

I used to dream and plan calving barns and tree groves. Calf shelters were also on my wish list. Then I figured out if you let your cows calve when the weather is warm I didn't need to build or plan anything. It took me quite a while but I figured it out.

A lot of my cows go to rented pastures,so i'm not going to haul them to pasture and go well you are on your own cows,so good luck calving because don't think i have time to run to the different pastures everyday once i start field work.Some of us calve during the winter because thats the only time of year we can do it.I'm glad summer calving works for you,but it sure wouldn't work for me.

 

[randiliana]

I used to dream and plan calving barns and tree groves. Calf shelters were also on my wish list. Then I figured out if you let your cows calve when the weather is warm I didn't need to build or plan anything. It took me quite a while but I figured it out.

A lot of my cows go to rented pastures,so i'm not going to haul them to pasture and go well you are on your own cows,so good luck calving because don't think i have time to run to the different pastures everyday once i start field work.Some of us calve during the winter because thats the only time of year we can do it.I'm glad summer calving works for you,but it sure wouldn't work for me.

Exactly, this is the same situation we are in. Hard to calve out cows that are 1/2 to 2 hours away from home!

 

[jodywy]

know a guy that work for the bird refuge system in the winter and spring he at a refuge in Utah his cows are in the norther desert about 100 miles away.... he goes and tags calves each weekend, said he loses a few calves and some years a hiefer or two out of a couple hundred head. he close to them as the move right next to thr refuge he works at during the smmer in Idaho... he figured it cost him more to hire a cowboy then what his losses are.

 

[Faster horses]

I used to dream and plan calving barns and tree groves. Calf shelters were also on my wish list. Then I figured out if you let your cows calve when the weather is warm I didn't need to build or plan anything. It took me quite a while but I figured it out.

A lot of my cows go to rented pastures,so i'm not going to haul them to pasture and go well you are on your own cows,so good luck calving because don't think i have time to run to the different pastures everyday once i start field work.Some of us calve during the winter because thats the only time of year we can do it.I'm glad summer calving works for you,but it sure wouldn't work for me.

Exactly, this is the same situation we are in. Hard to calve out cows that are 1/2 to 2 hours away from home!

We had a neighbor in SE Montana that lived 40 miles away from where he calved his cows. He fed them daily and after that they were on their own.
You know, some years he didn't lose a calf and he never did lose
more than one or two. I guess he had all the problem cows culled
out, because it certainly did work well for him. They were on the same
creek as we were so we saw them every time we went by. We helped
him brand and move them for several years. Most problem I can
ever remember was some sunburned bags. They were black baldy
cows and some had white bags, but most of them that had problems
were sunburned plus windburned. That happened only one spring tho.
Suprising what happens when you get rid of the problems. Soon there
aren't any. Oh, he didn't calve any two-year old heifers there. He kept
them at home.

 

[gcreekrch]

I used to dream and plan calving barns and tree groves. Calf shelters were also on my wish list. Then I figured out if you let your cows calve when the weather is warm I didn't need to build or plan anything. It took me quite a while but I figured it out.

Paradigms, Big Swede, apparently size does matter. :wink:

My paradigm is that you won't take my wolves and grizzlies so that these cows could calve later. :lol:

 

[Denny]

A lot of my cows go to rented pastures,so i'm not going to haul them to pasture and go well you are on your own cows,so good luck calving because don't think i have time to run to the different pastures everyday once i start field work.Some of us calve during the winter because thats the only time of year we can do it.I'm glad summer calving works for you,but it sure wouldn't work for me.

Exactly, this is the same situation we are in. Hard to calve out cows that are 1/2 to 2 hours away from home!

We had a neighbor in SE Montana that lived 40 miles away from where he calved his cows. He fed them daily and after that they were on their own.
You know, some years he didn't lose a calf and he never did lose
more than one or two. I guess he had all the problem cows culled
out, because it certainly did work well for him. They were on the same
creek as we were so we saw them every time we went by. We helped
him brand and move them for several years. Most problem I can
ever remember was some sunburned bags. They were black baldy
cows and some had white bags, but most of them that had problems
were sunburned plus windburned. That happened only one spring tho.
Suprising what happens when you get rid of the problems. Soon there
aren't any. Oh, he didn't calve any two-year old heifers there. He kept
them at home.

I live 12 miles from my cows and do it basically the same other than we calve the heifers right with the cows. I'm on once daily checks now as long as the weather stays nice. The only thing in my barn is a GD60 son he can't stay home busy traveling the country looking for ladies so he's in jail now.

 

[randiliana]

Well, I guess, if you like that kind of management you can certainly do it. Totally up to the people running the operation. Not something I am willing to take a chance on. Every loss is $$ out of my pocket and it is hard enough to make ends meet as it is... With the BS we've been dealing with around here, there would have been quite a few losses...
1 set of twins as the first was breech
1 breech
1 more probably as it was backwards
1 upside down
1 for some unknown reason that just didn't seem to be able to calve on her own
1 with a leg back, might have caught this one as it was about chore time...

And that is just out of the cows, in addition to the 5 others we have lost for various reasons. It has been quite the year around here...

 

[Big Swede]

Ever since the cows have been calving on their own, notice I said the cows are calving not me, malpresentations have not been an issue. They are apparantly getting enough exercise that they straighten themselves out. I'm not trying to convince anyone, just sayin it can be done.

 

[John SD]

Ever since the cows have been calving on their own, notice I said the cows are calving not me, malpresentations have not been an issue. They are apparantly getting enough exercise that they straighten themselves out. I'm not trying to convince anyone, just sayin it can be done.

I'll vouch for what you say, Swede. I never assisted or even brought a cow into the corral last year. Since then, my health has slipped to the point that I will probably have to hang it up after this season. Lugging an oxygen bottle around all the time is just kinda unhandy. Can't do much with it and can't do much without it. If I have to do anything to help a cow I'll probably have to call a neighbor to help.

I realize late spring calving won't work for people who have to get pair out on rented pasture by a certain date, or have farming or other things to do that interfere.

 

[Big Swede]

I'll have to disagree with you on the farming part John, we plant 650 acres of corn about the time the cows start calving. They are big girls, they can take care of themselves without me interfering. I take salt and mineral out every other day and check water every day, other than that it's hands off. Since I switched to this method my weaning percentage has gone up several percentage points. They also get rotated to a fresh pasture every few days.

I'll agree with gcrk though, it's all about paradigms we have placed on ourselves.

 

[3 M L & C]

I don't dissagree that a good cow heard should be able to take care of themselves. I don't have any cow's though. I buy replacements breed then calve them out and sell them as first calf pairs. Doing this I need to produce the most desireable product to make the most. This means calves born in Jan-Feb. Where I am from very few people make more money on their cattle than they do their farm. With an average size farm probably around 4000 to 5000 tillable acres. People just want to take pairs to grass and forget about them for a while come mid April for spring planting.

 

[Big Swede]

Like I said earlier I'm not trying to change anyones mind, but this is a great place to learn new practices for anyone looking. In fact this site and some members helped me make some decisions like this.

 

[gcreekrch]

I believe we are all guilty of being overly defensive of our management styles at times. :lol:

I do know that when we moved from early March, barn-style calving to early April under the trees, hands off as much as possible, we turned over a lot of cows. Funny thing is....... we don't miss a one of those that seemed to need human intervention in order for the calf to make the first few hours of life. :wink:

Last night, it was -22C. There were 7 calves born between 8PM and 6AM. The earliest was backwards and was helped and spent the night in the barn. We put a heifer that was calving in at the same time and she calved unassisted at 10PM. 3 others calved under the trees and did not ask for help. The last, a rank old black that insisted she was fine on her own :shock: , had a set of twins that were a little weak and chilly. The good part of all this is I got 7 hours sleep.

We rarely handle more than 10% any more other than our reluctance to quit tagging and we AND the cows are fine with that. :wink:

After all, it does take a calf 200 days to be 200 days old.