Dylan Biggs
Well-known member
starvin'dog" The problem I have is with the summer born calves that hit the cold weather at 350#. They don't have a big enough 'furnace' to compete and gain with the bigger calves.[/quote said:
Changing calving seasons
- Thread starter LCP
- Start date
Justin
Well-known member
PureCountry said:
excellent point.
Big Swede
Well-known member
Three years ago I posted the same question of people who were already doing what I was think of doing, calving later. If you search the archives under "Calving later?" under my username there are 6 pages of lively discussion and some good information from ranchers that gave me some good advice.
In the summer of 2008 I decided to put the bulls out the end of July. As you surely remember the next spring is when this region of the country was pounded by 3 blizzards in 2 weeks. Calf losses were through the roof. There wasn't a calf born on this place that was born in or had to survive those conditions. It was and has been the best management decision I have made in my 47 years.
The first year I was trying to tag those pasture born calves but after a few days of tagging 30 calves a day I decided all I was doing was stirring up the herd and wasting time. Another thing that I have decided is that since the cows are free to move and get lots of excercise there are much less calving problems. If there ever has been backwards calves they have them on their own. Like rancherfred said herd health is much improved. Overeating is not a problem anymore.
Marketing grass calves in late winter or early spring is usually very easy because there is always demand and not so much supply. Weaning early gives the cows an opportunity to go into winter fat and since their peak nutrional demand comes on green grass the feed savings are substantial. You don't have to worry about pouring the feed to them to get them to cycle on schedule.
Lots of people will defend winter calving but if you try calving later I think you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
In the summer of 2008 I decided to put the bulls out the end of July. As you surely remember the next spring is when this region of the country was pounded by 3 blizzards in 2 weeks. Calf losses were through the roof. There wasn't a calf born on this place that was born in or had to survive those conditions. It was and has been the best management decision I have made in my 47 years.
The first year I was trying to tag those pasture born calves but after a few days of tagging 30 calves a day I decided all I was doing was stirring up the herd and wasting time. Another thing that I have decided is that since the cows are free to move and get lots of excercise there are much less calving problems. If there ever has been backwards calves they have them on their own. Like rancherfred said herd health is much improved. Overeating is not a problem anymore.
Marketing grass calves in late winter or early spring is usually very easy because there is always demand and not so much supply. Weaning early gives the cows an opportunity to go into winter fat and since their peak nutrional demand comes on green grass the feed savings are substantial. You don't have to worry about pouring the feed to them to get them to cycle on schedule.
Lots of people will defend winter calving but if you try calving later I think you will wonder why you didn't do it sooner.
jedstivers
Well-known member
What I'm going to say wont matter to all of y'all in the north but I'll throw it out anyway. 25 years ago I took over my Granddaddy's cattle and he was on year round calving. I started seeing the Feb calves doing best so I changed to that. In the 90's I had to make some changes to survive so the cows had to go. In 08 I got back in with some heifers that I was going to winter then sell when grass greened up. Well the market crashed so I bought a bull a breed them for Feb calving and kept them. Now I have noticed I should be calving in Oct because I'm running Cattle on wheat pasture and I wasn't then, so I could have some really good calves in June to sell. We can also take advantage of growing a cheaper hay crop in that we can plant wheat, rye, oats, tritacle or ryegrass on crop fields and cutting hay in April. The only cost are the seed, fert, an baleing, while that is still a good amount I don't have any land cost in it because I'm using land that is just setting idle. Also I book the seed cost to the farming side because if we weren't using it to graze or hay we would have a cover crop planted on it. Trying to put this on some of the poorer land to build it up. Going to go with baleage this year too.
PATB
Well-known member
Those that can graze stock piled forages most of the winter I can see calving later in the spring to save feed cost. If your hay is consistently able to meet a nursing cow requirements why not make use of it. I plan on feeding hay from mid october to first of may and if it works out less then that I am happy. 
A nursing calf continues to grow all winter but light weight weaned cattle struggle to maintain acceptable growth. We all must look at our feed resources and markets and decide what make us the most money.
A nursing calf continues to grow all winter but light weight weaned cattle struggle to maintain acceptable growth. We all must look at our feed resources and markets and decide what make us the most money.3words
Well-known member
cowboykell said:
Good Job,that will get the bills paid and put some money in the bank!! I had 3 heifer calves,that didn't make the final cut in january,so i sold them.They averaged 860lbs a piece between the 3 of them and i got $963 a piece for them,and they were calves born in march.After weaning i put all the heifers on round brome bales that i was trying to sell for $25 a bale,so price of gain was very cheap.Guys want to do things with the least amount of work,but when us earlier calvers do it,and do all the work and get paid for our big calves.It's right away i want to see the profit per head,or that is amazing,or there farmed cattle.Well guess what it does take more feed to get a pair through the end of winter,then it does a cow that doesn't calve until may.When our calves hit that lush spring grass in may,they are ready to pound on the pounds fast,and those pounds for us are really cheap pounds for them to put on.By the time those calves in may start eatting grass good and gaining good,not to long after that the grass is already starting to loose it's high quality.Then the calves are gaining,but not like they could have been.To me that is lost profit and that is taking money out of your pocket,and you can see it in the weight of the calves at weaning time.I'll keep my my farmed cattle and do all the work and there calves weaning weight,you guys can keep your no work spring range cattle and there calves weaning weight.
Justin
Well-known member
3words said:
deal..where do i sign?
I think every ranch is unique. Best to match the calving to your available labor, housing faclities, feed etc. In our case we calve early so we can plant, irrigate and farm 2,000 acres of hay ground. We like the hay barley in the seedbed by late April. Tough for us to do if we are still calving with AI, branding and farming all yet to come. We also like our bull calves to be a year old for the early April Midland sale.
Pretty tough to make recommendations to other ranchers who may have a different set of circumstances.
Pretty tough to make recommendations to other ranchers who may have a different set of circumstances.
Northern Rancher
Well-known member
An outfit I buy bulls and supply heifers too used to calve before seeding-they seed 10,000 acres and have 450,000 broilers-75,000 layers. They had to truck out young pairs. Last couple years they've turned cows out to calve a bit later on their own and are getting along just fine-their weaning % hasn't dropped a point. This guy has the best handle on labour costs of anybody I know-it's all hired help. Not a huge outfit but close to 500 mother cows.
Big Swede
Well-known member
I used to think I had to get done with calving before I started farming too. Now I head them to grass about the first week of May and start planting corn. The term "calving" is not something us humans have to take part in, that's the cows job. Whoever doesn't believe that statement will have a hard time making the switch to "calving" on grass.
Northern Rancher
Well-known member
True dat!
leanin' H
Well-known member
Habitat plays a huge part too boys and girls! This desert grass is green for a very short time. And it is a pretty big country to boot. We've found that calves that have a little age trail better when traveling behind cows chasing feed and water. I keep my calves to sell as finished beef. By calving in February, i get finshed beef the following summer. An April or May calf turns into a late fall calf for sending to the butcher. The majority of my clients want spring or summer beef as opposed to later in the year. I have worked hard to build sheds and shelter to calve when I do. And that's what works for me. :wink: What fun is it doing things the easy way? :wink:
:wink: What fun is it doing things the easy way? :wink:jodywy
Well-known member
I lamb in May, and a couple years ago has 2 years we never got them sheared still had snow cover, one of those years there was actual winter snow pack on the meadows the 1st day of June.... :shock:what you call a very late spring...
cowboykell
Active member
Thanks 3words, couldn't have said it better. We also like to A.I. between farming and haying. We sync with MGA but heat detect and breed for 10 days.
To me the issue of calving season says more about how a business is structured with cash flow requirements and timing as well as resource base than it maybe does about what is better. We have WAY less weaning weight than when we used to calve earlier, but we don't sell weaned calves now. On the flip side with our resource base our costs are WAY lower and our margins have gone WAY up.
The last few days here have been windy and ranged from -50C to a balmy -40 this morning. All our calves are tucked away in utero for another 3 months +. No frozen ears this week. Our facilities include a barn from 1918 and that is it. February calving would take a huge capital investment from us, and would have to show a much greater return for us to consider it. I know some folks with facilities that hit the November heavyweight market (calves finish at peak BBQ season) and they get a very nice premium for their efforts as well.
To each his own.
The last few days here have been windy and ranged from -50C to a balmy -40 this morning. All our calves are tucked away in utero for another 3 months +. No frozen ears this week. Our facilities include a barn from 1918 and that is it. February calving would take a huge capital investment from us, and would have to show a much greater return for us to consider it. I know some folks with facilities that hit the November heavyweight market (calves finish at peak BBQ season) and they get a very nice premium for their efforts as well.
To each his own.
Dylan Biggs
Well-known member
RSL said:
Well said RSL
3words
Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
Whats the average birth weight and weaning weight of those bulls?I know there has been a couple of bulls over there that have caught my attention.I know with the bulls i use on my cows,i couldn't expect them all to calve on there own without a few pulls.I had a vet from the university tell me one time that if you weren't pulling 15% of the calves when they were born,you weren't seeing the real potential that your cow herd was able of.I thought 15% was rather high,but i'm not afraid to say i probably pull around 8%.
BRG
Well-known member
3words said:
In our May/June calvers, we use the same bulls as we use on our March calvers. We always touch a few out of the early calvers, but we hardly ever touch any out of the later ones. Our bulls are bred more for performance than calving ease (all Red Angus bulls). On our heifers, we do not night check the May/June calvers. They are in a bigger pasture and just do it on their own.
I think you would be surprised with the lack or trouble on the later calvers.
Soapweed
Well-known member
BRG said:
I am wondering if the heifers you calve in May and June were themselves born two years earlier in March and April. Would heifers who were born in May and June themselves be as able to calve entirely without assistance? The extra couple months of age would definitely be an advantage, it would seem.
BRG
Well-known member
Soapweed said:
We have been doing this now for 7 years, and the heifers who are calving in May/June now were also born in May/June themselves.