Spring or Fall which do you prefer?
- Thread starter LRAF
- Start date
bverellen
Well-known member
Late Spring (May).
No snow here (s.w. florida), but no rain or grass here to winter lactating cows, and I hate buying hay.
bart. †
No snow here (s.w. florida), but no rain or grass here to winter lactating cows, and I hate buying hay.
bart. †
Justin
Well-known member
spring for this part of the world. i don't like the idea of fall calving for two reasons. 1. extra feed costs and 2. puttin those young calves through hard, cold winters.
Faster horses
Well-known member
Exactly the way we feel, Justin.
Blkbuckaroo
Well-known member
Spring for sure,right when the grass is coming in.By the time fall comes i want those calves ready for a good long sierra mountain high desert winter. 
Plus no time in the fall as we need to get hay in :wink: .
Plus no time in the fall as we need to get hay in :wink: .Aaron
Well-known member
Fall calving. Do both, but I love the fall herd. If you have the facilities, I say go spring and go early. But calving the fall herd is barely a blip on my radar, whereas the spring herd, even calving in April, can really stir me up. Something about getting up in the middle of the night with below freezing temps.
The talk about extravagantly higher feeds costs and the winter being hard on calves is a lot of BS. One of the rules to making it work is that all the calves have to be born at least a month before snow flies. 2 months is better.
And on average by my numbers, the wet fall cows eat 8 lbs more a day over the dry spring cows. So about 1/4 more feed in my terms.
The talk about extravagantly higher feeds costs and the winter being hard on calves is a lot of BS. One of the rules to making it work is that all the calves have to be born at least a month before snow flies. 2 months is better.
And on average by my numbers, the wet fall cows eat 8 lbs more a day over the dry spring cows. So about 1/4 more feed in my terms.
I'm with you Aaron. We do both but fall is a breeze compared to spring.
We put up some high quality haylage in May and add some corn gluten to it to feed weaned spring calves and fall pairs through the winter. Grant that fall's take some extra feed but the older I get the more I appreciate the ease of the fall calving season.
We put up some high quality haylage in May and add some corn gluten to it to feed weaned spring calves and fall pairs through the winter. Grant that fall's take some extra feed but the older I get the more I appreciate the ease of the fall calving season.
We prefer fall calving for sure because of the ease of calving but also way more marketing options and generally a better spring calf market. We also sell bulls and long yearling bulls will hold up better then any yearling and in general will be less trouble.
As Aaron said get those calves on the ground before the weather gets cold. It also keeps the cows from going thru the peak of lactation when energy demands are the highest anyway. That is one of the biggest draw backs of winter calving which maxes out demands on the cows and also sells into the poorest market of the year for calves.
Fall born calves can look like H in the winter but as long as they are growing a little they will make up for it in the spring. We run during the winter on stockpiled meadows that stay green for a long time. It takes grass to make grass and just turned some pairs into a field that was hayed once last June. Despite being in the severe drought category there is about three or more inches of green grass coming up thru last years grass. What little moisture we got was caught and held. The cows are split into two bunches. One being fed more hay. The ones that ran out on stockpiled grass are in much better shape with bigger calves.
As Aaron said get those calves on the ground before the weather gets cold. It also keeps the cows from going thru the peak of lactation when energy demands are the highest anyway. That is one of the biggest draw backs of winter calving which maxes out demands on the cows and also sells into the poorest market of the year for calves.
Fall born calves can look like H in the winter but as long as they are growing a little they will make up for it in the spring. We run during the winter on stockpiled meadows that stay green for a long time. It takes grass to make grass and just turned some pairs into a field that was hayed once last June. Despite being in the severe drought category there is about three or more inches of green grass coming up thru last years grass. What little moisture we got was caught and held. The cows are split into two bunches. One being fed more hay. The ones that ran out on stockpiled grass are in much better shape with bigger calves.
PATB
Well-known member
Fall calving since it fits my schedule better. With baleage and good quality hay the cows come thru the winter fine with a calf. It also gives me home raised stockers that sell as heavy feeders in the fall. I hate calving in January thru end of april.
Black Out
Well-known member
We do both I love calving fall cows nothing to it. We start Sept. 1 and calve 45 days . They do take more feed but they are pretty trouble free. The spring cows start April 1 and this year is going fairly smoothe but some years those late Nebraska blizzard's are down right miserable.
