Calving stats

[sodbuster]

Just been looking through My calving book looking at some stats.
Started 20th March with 400 calved to date out of 450.
Assisted 57
Suckled 13
5 sets of twins
10 losses at birth or within 1st few hours
Been chased once
2 c sections
3 calf beds ( vet required for 1 only)
3 dead cows( 1 heart attack immediately after calving, 1 wouldn't get up after calving and 1 cow got sick)

How does this compare everyone?

 

[HasthorpeGrange]

24 calved
Only saw 2 being born.
Not touch anything.
Probably a different system to yourselves. The sucklers are suck a small part of the bigger picture I couldn’t afford to be getting involved too much with getting calves on and calving cows etc
1 disappointment of one cow being empty so never calved but was in good condition and will be fat from grass very soon.
Autumn calvers, 68 calved, 1 assisted, set of twins, cow didn’t realize she still had a second one to push out. 1 set of still born twins also.

 

[ploughman1963]

I know nothing of the background but as a dairy man, 57 assisted calvings out of 400 would have me asking a lot of questions.

 

[sodbuster]

I know nothing of the background but as a dairy man, 57 assisted calvings out of 400 would have me asking a lot of questions.

Suckler cows using charolais bulls predominantly

 

[Samcowman]

24 out of 26 calved. Only part way through third cycle. Last 2 I think the heifer has lost hers post pd. Assisted 1 heifer which had a dead calf, she will be off. 1 grumpy one will go at weaning she has gone from manageable to watch your back if your in the pen.

 

[crashbox]

Suckler cows using charolais bulls predominantly

Too many assists, change to an easier breed of bull.

Neighbour's Charolais caught one of our heifers, had to assist with the calving so 100% assist rate for Charolais here

 

[Woolless]

Suckler cows using charolais bulls predominantly

Too many assists, change to an easier breed of bull.

Neighbour's Charolais caught one of our heifers, had to assist with the calving so 100% assist rate for Charolais here

Article in the Vet Record about calving troubles a few months back. It stuck in my mind that Charolais-sired calves featured prominently in the stats.

 

[choochter]

yes, but they get the top prices at store sales

 

[sheepwise]

Too many assists, change to an easier breed of bull.

Neighbour's Charolais caught one of our heifers, had to assist with the calving so 100% assist rate for Charolais here

Think you're being far too harsh on the man. To have calved 400 cows in a month I think his stats are very good. Going by some of his pictures they will be very saleable calves.

 

[bert]

I would be pleased with them stats, as for assists it doesn't sound too over the top for me, depends what you call an assist? Getting the jack on and chewing on for half an hour, or a quick pull by hand as your passing by anyway and making sure it doesn't drown in the bag?

 

[Optimus]

32 calved so far
Assisted 7
2 sections
1 dead ( not sure why, died 12hours after birth)

See what the rest do

 

[Kentishfarmer]

Your number assisted which will also be related to your C sections and calf beds (prolapse I assume?) Is high in my opinion. We calve around 150 to all Lim bulls would only expect to assist ~5. I would certainly look at your choice of bulls.
The rest of your stats look good I reckon, certainly a tighter calving window for the number of cows than we would achieve

 

[harperfarmer]

Each to their own. 57 out of 400 doesn't sound a lot to me. And the stats seem very good.

 

[Welderloon]

What's your take on the assists @sodbuster cow BCS, Genetics, Feeding regime?

400 cows calving in just over a month is an impressive stat in itself, your disasters are a lot less than I'd have expected on the back of such a poor year weatherwise.

There will be places with the same amount of disasters with a fraction of the cows calved

 

[crashbox]

Think you're being far too harsh on the man. To have calved 400 cows in a month I think his stats are very good. Going by some of his pictures they will be very saleable calves.

Yes fair point @sheepwise .

@sodbuster you have done a great job and well done for recording and sharing the stats, too.

My comment is essentially if you're looking for improvement, reducing assists would be my focus.

And it may not be all the breed, perhaps body condition.

 

[Werzle]

Just been looking through My calving book looking at some stats.
Started 20th March with 400 calved to date out of 450.
Assisted 57
Suckled 13
5 sets of twins
10 losses at birth or within 1st few hours
Been chased once
2 c sections
3 calf beds ( vet required for 1 only)
3 dead cows( 1 heart attack immediately after calving, 1 wouldn't get up after calving and 1 cow got sick)

How does this compare everyone?

Bloody good i reckon

 

[Spartacus]

Had 45 scanned in calf, 2 left, started 16th Feb. So far 2 dead cows (one was lame but just dead one morning, the other was 2 weeks after calving a dead calf backwards that I had to help). Plus 5 dead calves, 3 at birth, one laid on, one didn't get colostrum and died after a few days, another ended up with suspected meningitis and died after a couple of weeks. Probably had to help 5 or 6 properly, and helped any others if I was passing and they were close to popping out. Worst year of calving for a few years.

 

[sodbuster]

Bcs would 2.5 - 3 ish.
About 12-15 assists would be backwards.
About 10 reasonable big pulls but no sweat broken.
The rest would just be cos they are not getting on with it so just a quick pull. Always use jack though to avoid getting so far out by hand and getting beat.
All water bags broken as soon as they are noticed to avoid drowning/smothering.
95% of calving done by myself. 1 lad feeding every morning for a month and my old man does bedding and takes cows out with pick up and trailer. Wife does all the registration work. I've hardly left the yard for a month

 

[Bossfarmer]

Bcs would 2.5 - 3 ish.
About 12-15 assists would be backwards.
About 10 reasonable big pulls but no sweat broken.
The rest would just be cos they are not getting on with it so just a quick pull. Always use jack though to avoid getting so far out by hand and getting beat.
All water bags broken as soon as they are noticed to avoid drowning/smothering.
95% of calving done by myself. 1 lad feeding every morning for a month and my old man does bedding and takes cows out with pick up and trailer. Wife does all the registration work. I've hardly left the yard for a month

good work, whats your regime? im guessing you dont put everything that calves in individual pens?

 

[Hilly]

Excellent i cant even get my ewes to lamb that fast never mind cows calve.