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Weather and calving

Not trying to convince anyone of anything here just adding some more conversation. What I really like about April and May is the longer days and when there is a storm it will surely warm up soon. I am happy that there are producers that want to calve at different times so as to even out the beef supply.
 
This all boils down to what fits your business plan and your conditions. An oldtimer told me real early when I was getting started, before you breed a cow know who your buyer is.. Many years later I started to understand what he was saying. In this business you need to spend alot of time with paper and pencil, figure costs and pros and cons of every decision you make and like Denny says it has alot to do with lifestyle choices. At this point we calve jan and feb, it works best for our resources feed, labor, available time, etc, with the markets that we choose to sell to, that seems to be our best return. We always are looking at ways to cut cost and maximize profit just like any good business person.

Either you treat this from a business prospective and look at all your options, or you close your mind and do this way, because we always do it this way.

I don't post alot but I sure enjoy reading alot of the posts because there are so many intelligent people here, but one thing that really bugs me is how quick people are to pass judgement on what others do and how they do it. I fail to see how when and why your neighbor calves when they do, makes any difference to you. JMO
 
Hoop said:
This all boils down to what fits your business plan and your conditions. An oldtimer told me real early when I was getting started, before you breed a cow know who your buyer is.. Many years later I started to understand what he was saying. In this business you need to spend alot of time with paper and pencil, figure costs and pros and cons of every decision you make and like Denny says it has alot to do with lifestyle choices. At this point we calve jan and feb, it works best for our resources feed, labor, available time, etc, with the markets that we choose to sell to, that seems to be our best return. We always are looking at ways to cut cost and maximize profit just like any good business person.

Either you treat this from a business prospective and look at all your options, or you close your mind and do this way, because we always do it this way.

I don't post alot but I sure enjoy reading alot of the posts because there are so many intelligent people here, but one thing that really bugs me is how quick people are to pass judgement on what others do and how they do it. I fail to see how when and why your neighbor calves when they do, makes any difference to you. JMO
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The best piece of equipment and normally least used on a ranch is a Number 2 lead pencil..
 
What do you mean you don't post a lot Hoop? Looks like you've got 16 million plus posts. You must have a lot of free time calving when you do. :wink: :lol: I agree with you 100%
 
I am moving my calving season to start in ocotber. I have to feed the cows regardless if they are feeding a calf or not due to lack of space to stock pile forage and heavy snow cover that usually crusts over.
 
Big Swede said:
For all of you who love when you are calving please ignore me and my posts. The only ones I am talking to are the ones who are considering a change. I winter and early spring calved with my Dad for a combined 50+ years and no we weren't going broke and my Dad thought I was crazy to change to late April. He changed his mind after last spring when we had 3 winter storms in 2 weeks in March and April. My Grandfather moved to this area in 1912 and there wasn't a tree on the place when he homesteaded and one little barn. I know he calved after the weather warmed up. Anyway, HAPPY CALVING TO ALL!! :D :D Have a great day leanin' H.
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There ya go Big Swede. If it works for you sir then git-r-done! :D I am having a grand day. Thanks for your thoughts and your well wishes. There's a fella named Big Swede in Lonesome Dove that's big enough to fight bears with a stick. If that's how ya got your handle here on Ranchers please know that I will start calving whenever you tell me to! :shock: :wink: :lol:

Thanks to everyone for a fun and though provoking discussion. Hope we are all still on speaking terms. :wink:
 
Hey, it sounds like the discussion is over and I didn't even chime in.
:cry:
Here are a couple of thoughts;
I see lots of discussion on weaning weights, weather and workload but less on tying calving date to forage resources. I love my cows but their role is only to harvest and convert the grass i've grown to beef. As such my cows are targeted to calf at the time that suits my grass management system best. I start April 20th because that suits my grass system best. Calving much later is a pain in the butt for me as it doesn't suit my system of rapid moves with electric fence through the fast grass growth period. That's what works for me.

I have a friend down in the chinook country that calved for many years half in August/September and half in April. The advantages of fall calving to him were:
Minimal chance of snow and cold at calving.
Ability to sell calves before the fall rush and declining prices.
Cows feed requirements similar to spring calvers in our dry climate.
Drought protection - able to wean calves anytime from Feb. onwards to sell or graze elsewhere - minimises grass
requirements for cows in a drought.
If he was starting a tractor to feed in winter he could only justify it if they were suckling.
Supplied cattle that were ideal age to fatten off grass in the fall - ie around 2 years old at harvest versus 1.5 or 2.5 years.
Got around a problem of neighbors wandering bulls - their bulls were pulled before his cows were cycling.

Combined with a spring calving herd also gave the following benefits:
Need half the bull power.
Calf all heifers at 2.5 years using fall and spring herds - the extra age allowed his heifers to be managed along with the cows with no extra feeding or care.
Excellent breed back rates particularly on 1st and 2nd calvers due to above.

I thought that was an interesting alternative to spring calving - it certainly worked in his situation.
 
Not long after I was introduced to this site by Soapweed himself I was at a point in my life where I wasn't satisfied with my situation. I am getting to the age where joints and limbs that never used to hurt began to hurt. Stressing through spring storms and trudging through snow and mud was not my idea of fun anymore. It's been almost 2 years to the day I introduced a topic on this site asking those who were already calving later what they thought the perfect date was. The responses I got from Northern Rancher, rancherfred, Pure Country, John SD, BRG, Robert Mac and gcreekrch helped me chart the course that I am on today. I had already convinced myself that later calving was my destiny but their encouragement sure helped. Maybe there is someone out there reading this discussion who is at the same point I was and can glean something from all those on this site they can use for their own situation. That is the most important feature of this website for me is ability to bounce ideas off other people who have already done what you are thinking of doing.

I never intended my original post to spark an argument but of course it did, but what they hay, what else is a family going to do during a long winter? :wink:
 
this year my cows won't start calving until the 20th of April. in the past it has always been the 20th of March. we'll see how this year goes, but i may even back it off until the first of May. anyways, the reason i'm calving later is because calving use to be fun for me, my favorite time of the year. the last few years it has been far from fun. i feel that calving shouldn't be so much work. getting up all night, every night to drag calves to the barn, walking through knee deep snow, waist deep for my wife :wink: i guess i just had my fill and am ready to try something new. can't hurt to try. i heard Kit Pharo say once.."if i have to put my coffee cup down durnig calving, i feel like i'm over being over worked."

i don't want to have to put my coffee cup down either. :D
 
I don't care if I have to put my coffee cup down during calving, regardless of when you calve it is still a lot of work. What I don't want to do, and won't do is put my coffee cup down during the horrible spring blizzards we so often have. Blizzards are supposed to be spent inside, with a computer or book and a hot cup of coffee, not dragging calves out of the mud and snow before they die of exposure.
 
This is only an opinion. First off if you have to worry about mud maybe you should think about turning your cows out and letting them calve on their own and move them once in awhile instead of leaving them locked up in the same lot or pasture. Secondly, no one works for free. I look at all the hours that I used to spend checking cows at night or putting calves in the barn and think to myself what else could have I gotten done with that time. I truly believe that everyone has to do their own thing. I also believe that so many people get caught up in tradition that they can not see a better way. There is always a better way to do things, when you quit trying to find them you may as well hang it up because sooner or later changing times will catch up to you.
 
One more thought came to mind. I was visiting with someone that knows absolutely nothing about ranching one time and they asked me a very good question. As we were visiting about ranch life and why people do things the way they do he simply said;" Why do ranchers calve in February and March? It doesn't make sense to me, all of the other animals have their babies in May and June." I guess the true measure of what fits your environment might be mother nature herself. You sure don't have to feed any wild animals extra to get them to raise their young or to reproduce, know one has to watch them all night or assist in birthing, they just do it. Just a thought.
 
leanin' H said:
What some of you are forgetting is the public grazing issue. Most guys go on the mountain May 1st out here. You will be turning out on hundreds of thousands of acres of canyons and ridges. You wanta check on cattle calving in this senario? So we calve in February and wean in October when the cows come back off the mountain. Now do the math....... a 400 pound may calf brings $1.15 for a $460 bill. A 600 pound calf brings .92 at $552! Times a hundred bucks by 300 head and explain to me the "benefits" of calving later? I understand what ya'll do works swell, but there's lots and lots of ranches throughout the west who pick up what I'm putting down. :D My cousin keeps his calves until February and then sells them. He is set up for that and it works fine for him. But once he got started doing it, it would be tough to turn around and sell again this fall for tax reasons. And that keeps some guys from trying it too. Just some food for thought. Whatever works right! :wink: :D
Soap, I have contempated movin' to town but then I sobered up! :wink: I'd rather walk through the cow crap and smell the sage than live the easy life! :D :D
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MAN YOU JUST SAID A MOUTH FULL. I am 58 and my daughter is begging me to sell out and go in with her and the hubby and have a piece of property with 2 houses. I have told her time and time again I SEE NO REASON WE CAN;T DO THAT. Sell your house and come and build on the farm! :lol:

They live in a nice area in the suburbs the houses are 15 feet apart. I want to be able to walk out in the yard and do whatever I want without a bunch of yahoos breathing down my neck. I also want to be able to take a leak when and where I want. Without being called a pervert or sexual deviant or some other name they can come up with. There is nothing like the open spaces and being able to feel free from government policing your every move! To a degree I MIGHT AD.
 

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