|
Post by fivestarherefords on Aug 30, 2015 21:29:57 GMT -6
It's in full swing. Had one yesterday and four today. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother with Spring calves in February/March. We are about 50/50 on spring and fall calves but I'm thinking we need to transition to about 70/30 fall/spring. How many of you guys calve in the Fall and if not, why? I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by mrvictordomino on Aug 31, 2015 5:00:05 GMT -6
Switched to fall calving in 1998 after twenty years of spring calving. Wouldn't ever go back. Advantages for me was getting out of the mud since our winters have changed somewhat and the ground seems to never freeze over. Don't mind the cold but cannot tolerate the mud. I like the longer daylight to check, weigh and tag calves. Also, working publicly for so many years it is dark when you go to work and dark when you get home, you also have to feed. All this is done at the same time along with the weighing and tagging. Since most around here spring calve, our bulls are about six months older for May/June turnout which really helps the yearling bull. The positives out weigh the negatives for fall calving here. My greatest weakness is getting high quality hay put up..... Working on that though. DM
|
|
|
Post by fivestarherefords on Aug 31, 2015 5:59:52 GMT -6
Switched to fall calving in 1998 after twenty years of spring calving. Wouldn't ever go back. Advantages for me was getting out of the mud since our winters have changed somewhat and the ground seems to never freeze over. Don't mind the cold but cannot tolerate the mud. I like the longer daylight to check, weigh and tag calves. Also, working publicly for so many years it is dark when you go to work and dark when you get home, you also have to feed. All this is done at the same time along with the weighing and tagging. Since most around here spring calve, our bulls are about six months older for May/June turnout which really helps the yearling bull. The positives out weigh the negatives for fall calving here. My greatest weakness is getting high quality hay put up..... Working on that though. DM It sounds like we are in very similar situations. The thing I like most about splitting the seasons is that you can cover a lot more cows with a limited amount of bulls. It also spreads the work out a little. I agree that it is much better for the bulls and the buyers if you can sell 18 month old bulls in the Spring. Do you wrap any hay? We wrap 95 percent of ours and the quality is excellent. Last years crop averaged 14.98% protein with a TDN of 60 and RFV of 100.
|
|
|
Post by Glenn on Aug 31, 2015 7:34:45 GMT -6
Fall calving works good here, until you wean and try to start anything to eat or graze after weaning. It's just too damn hot and dry from May thru September here.
WW on fall born calves is probably higher but YW on cattle is 200# lower. They just quit or go backwards all summer after you wean them.
|
|
|
Post by fivestarherefords on Aug 31, 2015 9:25:40 GMT -6
Fall calving works good here, until you wean and try to start anything to eat or graze after weaning. It's just too damn hot and dry from May thru September here. WW on fall born calves is probably higher but YW on cattle is 200# lower. They just quit or go backwards all summer after you wean them. We wean mid to late March. Heifers usually gain 1.5 per day and bulls 4 per day from then until yearling weights and ultrasound are collected.
|
|
|
Post by picketwire on Sept 1, 2015 7:05:49 GMT -6
Used to be a fall calving herd here years ago along with spring, but October calving on the mountain before coming home got to be a challenge when we got those early October blizzards so all was transitioned to spring. September is too hot in the daytime and my take is too hot is just as bad as too cold, if not worse.
|
|
|
Post by bookcliff on Sept 2, 2015 18:58:22 GMT -6
no way in hell would I go back to having any fall calvers in this part of the country. they absolutley don't fit the grass and winter feeding situation in this part of the country unless you want to heavily subsidize her way above that of a spring calver with wheat pasture, creepin'calves, ect ect ect
in other words--the cost of running a fall cow vs a spring cow.
|
|
|
Post by guffeygal on Sept 2, 2015 20:05:57 GMT -6
We agree with Tom. We think it is most economical to calve and breed back the cow when the range forage production most nearly matches the cows nutritional requirements. We actually start calving a little ahead of that date. Mid April to mid May would be the best around here.
|
|
|
Post by bltherf on Sept 3, 2015 19:19:16 GMT -6
no way in hell would I go back to having any fall calvers in this part of the country. they absolutley don't fit the grass and winter feeding situation in this part of the country unless you want to heavily subsidize her way above that of a spring calver with wheat pasture, creepin'calves, ect ect ect in other words--the cost of running a fall cow vs a spring cow. Yes. Same results here as Picketwire and Bookcliff. Had a bull go bad mid season and tryed to save some good cows by going to a fall program for a few years. Grazed out most of the winter with very limited hay supp . Cows stayed good but calves always looked rough. Thought they might pick up later on but just seemed like they were always too much out of sync with Mother Nature. Seems like this might be a geographical thing. Seems to work down south but if you got any kind of winter country,,,not so good.. Not in my nature to spend any money supping them up to spring calving standards so we are giving it up. Not a big commercial cow outfit for many a mile around here that fall calves......that should tell you something.
|
|