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Post by postoak1 on Sept 26, 2013 10:07:23 GMT -6
Which works the best for you for where you live?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 26, 2013 10:36:45 GMT -6
Spring for sure here in Iowa because our winters can be rough. Although I do know some breeders that like fall calving or do both spring and fall. Earliest we like to calve is Feb 20th and prefer mostly March and April calving but will expose to the bulls long enough we sometimes get a few May calvers. I just can't imagine trying to deal with young calves still nursing in the middle of a cold snowy winter and we'd surely have to feed the cows a lot better than we normally do in the winter when they aren't milking.
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Post by postoak1 on Sept 26, 2013 11:35:43 GMT -6
I am at crossroads with my calving season here in South Carolina. I have primarily Bahia pastures and I don't see the planting of winter annuals paying off .
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Post by ellettherefords on Sept 26, 2013 14:40:04 GMT -6
Where we run on the forest in the summer we can't start calving till December 1st or they charge me for another full cow. We calve in a barn than turn Em into a sage brush field so they have cover so it's not bad calving that time of year.
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Post by hoekland on Sept 26, 2013 21:43:06 GMT -6
I calve mid winter because my best grazing is late winter and spring, winters are moderate compared to you in the USA, but summers is a whole 'nuther ballgame!
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Post by Glenn on Sept 26, 2013 22:25:11 GMT -6
Fall calving works great here getting them to weaning but the rub lies in weaning the calves when it is 100+ degrees. This is the first year that I did it with registered cows. The calves were great at weaning and the heifers have done okay, but trying to get the bulls to eat enough feed to gain weight has been a problem for sure.
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Post by postoak1 on Sept 27, 2013 3:28:23 GMT -6
Fall calving works great here getting them to weaning but the rub lies in weaning the calves when it is 100+ degrees. This is the first year that I did it with registered cows. The calves were great at weaning and the heifers have done okay, but trying to get the bulls to eat enough feed to gain weight has been a problem for sure. What do you feed your cows during the winter? Here I just feed hay or I have to plant rye or ryegrass. |
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Post by Glenn on Sept 27, 2013 7:53:26 GMT -6
Fall calving works great here getting them to weaning but the rub lies in weaning the calves when it is 100+ degrees. This is the first year that I did it with registered cows. The calves were great at weaning and the heifers have done okay, but trying to get the bulls to eat enough feed to gain weight has been a problem for sure. What do you feed your cows during the winter? Here I just feed hay or I have to plant rye or ryegrass. Very little. No hay. I feed them about 2-3# per head PER WEEK of 20% range cubes to keep them manageable. Our first freeze is usually not until Thanksgiving and then we have winter annuals that grow pretty fairly starting in February. Here is a picture in late February (probably) showing the "winter grass" (This is all native, I do not plant or over seed this at all)  |
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Post by rockmillsherefords on Sept 27, 2013 20:25:43 GMT -6
My personal choice is fall calving, even though the calves don’t do as well as the springs when it comes to weigh them, summer grass always better than the hay. A couple years ago I started paying more attention to my environment and mother nature. Just about every wild animal here has her young in the spring and there’s a reason for it, so hopefully this year will be the last of the fall calves as I move everything to spring calving. I’ll be a little more intune with mother nature and my environment.
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Post by postoak1 on Mar 26, 2015 14:30:00 GMT -6
What do you feed your cows during the winter? Here I just feed hay or I have to plant rye or ryegrass. Very little. No hay. I feed them about 2-3# per head PER WEEK of 20% range cubes to keep them manageable. Our first freeze is usually not until Thanksgiving and then we have winter annuals that grow pretty fairly starting in February. Here is a picture in late February (probably) showing the "winter grass" (This is all native, I do not plant or over seed this at all) Which bull is this? |
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