Calving now? Advice please.

[Woolless]

Hello all,

I have three heifers (AA and Her x) we reared on the bucket last winter. Was hoping to add more breeding stock but the spare cash got swallowed up by another project. Had them in today for their booster vaccination and weighed them with the 'animeter' tape measure and they range from 440-500kg at 14/15 months, so big enough to bull anytime really.

I would prefer to calve in the spring but this is either going to mean faffing about with AI (handling system consisted of two gates today!) or buying a bull. A neighbour had offered a loan of his quiet, easy-calving AA bull but would need it back to bull his cows in June/July in which case my heifers would be due January/February.

I must admit I'm not keen on winter calving indoors due to disease risk then having to feed a growing/lactating heifer from bale and bag rather than grass. But it's the easy option with regard to bulling this time around. What are the experiences/views of others? TIA

 

[M-J-G]

I've calved Jan/Feb for quite a few years and have found it a very good time to calve down.
Cows milk is easy to control and by the time cows get to grass the calves can make use of the milk when cows are at full bore.

Down sides are that spring isn't the most fertile time for cows due to grass being low in energy.
Also calving facilities and the cows themselves need to be clean to avoid scour issues. Outwintering cows helps as it keeps sheds clean until calving time and the cows legs snd udders tend to have less dung on them than bedded cows.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

My cows calve AYR and have no particular issues with disease - just double dip their navals.
Mine are bulled at 14 -15 months and are AA x BA and BA x AA and I have no issues feeding just silage to them. The AA keeps the fettle on their backs.
I do creep the calves though and find this takes some of the pressure off the heifers/cows.

 

[M-J-G]

My cows calve AYR and have no particular issues with disease - just double dip their navals.
Mine are bulled at 14 -15 months and are AA x BA and BA x AA and I have no issues feeding just silage to them. The AA keeps the fettle on their backs.
I do creep the calves though and find this takes some of the pressure off the heifers/cows.

I wasn't really thinking about dipping navels but more of scours with a lot of cows and young calves indoors for a couple of months until turn out.

I'd guess your AYR calving will take the pressure off for disease in comparison to intensively calving everything within a few weeks. Not that I would ever consider going back to AYR calving in a beef herd.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I wasn't really thinking about dipping navels but more of scours with a lot of cows and young calves indoors for a couple of months until turn out.

I'd guess your AYR calving will take the pressure off for disease in comparison to intensively calving everything within a few weeks. Not that I would ever consider going back to AYR calving in a beef herd.

Yep, I guess it does make a differnce how many you are are calving. I calve about 80 between now and the end of March and scours are a rareity.

 

[Woolless]

That's encouraging. Bulling in spring wouldn't be a problem as I'll hopefully have a few more by then and they would be bulled for a spring calving next time. More than likely they would be in a bay of a newish shed which hasn't had stock in it before, which would help disease levels. They would be outside until calving. They're outside now and it's incredible how clean they are. Much cleaner than I sometimes see being sent in to kill at work?.

Would you be vaccinating for rotavirus?

 

[Spartacus]

We calve now through to April, always have more health issues later in the year, think it's due to warmer weather and build up of bugs through calving. So long as weather plays ball this spring anything that's still to calve mid april onwards will be going outside to do it.

 

[M-J-G]

Yep, I guess it does make a differnce how many you are are calving. I calve about 80 between now and the end of March and scours are a rareity.

About 130 in 6 weeks, 90 to 100 in the first 3 weeks.

 

[M-J-G]

That's encouraging. Bulling in spring wouldn't be a problem as I'll hopefully have a few more by then and they would be bulled for a spring calving next time. More than likely they would be in a bay of a newish shed which hasn't had stock in it before, which would help disease levels. They would be outside until calving. They're outside now and it's incredible how clean they are. Much cleaner than I sometimes see being sent in to kill at work?.

Would you be vaccinating for rotavirus?

Outdoor cattle tend to stay pretty clean apart from their feet, but soil is better than standing in you own 5h1t.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

That's encouraging. Bulling in spring wouldn't be a problem as I'll hopefully have a few more by then and they would be bulled for a spring calving next time. More than likely they would be in a bay of a newish shed which hasn't had stock in it before, which would help disease levels. They would be outside until calving. They're outside now and it's incredible how clean they are. Much cleaner than I sometimes see being sent in to kill at work?.

Would you be vaccinating for rotavirus?

I don't vaccinate, but I'm lucky and have minimal health issues - having a closed herd (except bulls) helps.

 

[Henarar]

I would prefer to calve in the spring but this is either going to mean faffing about with AI (handling system consisted of two gates today!) or buying a bull. A neighbour had offered a loan of his quiet, easy-calving AA bull but would need it back to bull his cows in June/July in which case my heifers would be due January/February.

I must admit I'm not keen on winter calving indoors due to disease risk then having to feed a growing/lactating heifer from bale and bag rather than grass. But it's the easy option with regard to bulling this time around. What are the experiences/views of others? TIA

bull them now and calve them in oct/nov ?
we have the bull in with our autumn calvers now
also calve a few end of jan
not much hassle either way

 

[Woolless]

bull them now and calve them in oct/nov ?
we have the bull in with our autumn calvers now
also calve a few end of jan
not much hassle either way

I did consider that but I would rather minimise the time they have calves at foot when the grass isn't growing.

 

[Extreme Optimist]

I did consider that but I would rather minimise the time they have calves at foot when the grass isn't growing.

but then if you leave bulling them, you are feeding them when they are not in calf. I would get them bulled straight away. Every day that a cow/heifer is not in calf costs you money.

 

[Sharpy]

Hello all,

I have three heifers (AA and Her x) we reared on the bucket last winter. Was hoping to add more breeding stock but the spare cash got swallowed up by another project. Had them in today for their booster vaccination and weighed them with the 'animeter' tape measure and they range from 440-500kg at 14/15 months, so big enough to bull anytime really.

I would prefer to calve in the spring but this is either going to mean faffing about with AI (handling system consisted of two gates today!) or buying a bull. A neighbour had offered a loan of his quiet, easy-calving AA bull but would need it back to bull his cows in June/July in which case my heifers would be due January/February.

I must admit I'm not keen on winter calving indoors due to disease risk then having to feed a growing/lactating heifer from bale and bag rather than grass. But it's the easy option with regard to bulling this time around. What are the experiences/views of others? TIA

Get them bulled asap unless you want to have 900kg cows that will be a bugger to calve as 3 year olds as odver fat and not quite so stretchy. If they are calving a bit earlier than you would like you can bull them later next year, giving them a bit more recovery time after calving.

 

[Woolless]

but then if you leave bulling them, you are feeding them when they are not in calf. I would get them bulled straight away. Every day that a cow/heifer is not in calf costs you money.

That's true. The weights took me a bit by surprise, I would admit, but they've done just over a kilo per day since turnout in April so perfectly feasible. I better check that the offer of the bull is still there. I don't know if he'd be keen to send his bull to work in the clarts here at the moment but I suppose he'd be eating my hay instead of his!

 

[Woolless]

Get them bulled asap unless you want to have 900kg cows that will be a bugger to calve as 3 year olds as over fat and not quite so stretchy. If they are calving a bit earlier than you would like you can bulk them later next year, giving them a bit more recovery time after calving.

My intention was to calve them at 30 months in spring 2021 initially but they have surprised me a bit with how well they've done and keeping a lid on mature weight was at the back of my mind with bulling earlier.

 

[twizzel]

We calve the main bulk of cows from now onwards- can keep an eye on them better inside. We had rotavirus pop up for a couple of years so vaccinate with bovigen/rotavec corona now and always ensure navels are dipped. Other than that the calves grow well and are a good size for suckled calf sales in autumn.

 

[milkloss]

Interesting to hear others systems. We calve mid April inside/outside. Calves live with mum until mid March so we over winter them together. It's something we've always done, sales are usually pretty good to the grazing men.
how much space per cow do you have when calving inside? I don't think it's something we could manage with our 140 cows as space and clean navels would be an issue and we don't have individual calving pens. We can run our yards a bit dirtier over winter with the older calves So straw use might balance out as compared to early calving.

Does having only cows in yards over winter pay better in general? I'm thinking lower cow numbers, less silage, maybe less straw, calve indoors earlier and have an easier winter to boot?

 

[Spartacus]

Interesting to hear others systems. We calve mid April inside/outside. Calves live with mum until mid March so we over winter them together. It's something we've always done, sales are usually pretty good to the grazing men.
how much space per cow do you have when calving inside? I don't think it's something we could manage with our 140 cows as space and clean navels would be an issue and we don't have individual calving pens. We can run our yards a bit dirtier over winter with the older calves So straw use might balance out as compared to early calving.

Does having only cows in yards over winter pay better in general? I'm thinking lower cow numbers, less silage, maybe less straw, calve indoors earlier and have an easier winter to boot?

Our cows are in cubicles, calve in straw pens then back in the cubicles with creep gates at the top to bed up for the calves to go into.

 

[M-J-G]

Interesting to hear others systems. We calve mid April inside/outside. Calves live with mum until mid March so we over winter them together. It's something we've always done, sales are usually pretty good to the grazing men.
how much space per cow do you have when calving inside? I don't think it's something we could manage with our 140 cows as space and clean navels would be an issue and we don't have individual calving pens. We can run our yards a bit dirtier over winter with the older calves So straw use might balance out as compared to early calving.

Does having only cows in yards over winter pay better in general? I'm thinking lower cow numbers, less silage, maybe less straw, calve indoors earlier and have an easier winter to boot?

Interesting!
What do you feed your calves, do they just get the same as the cows?
How much space do you need for cows with big calves?
In these types of situation I've always gotten annoyed with cows jumping on heifer calves risking I just and making a mess of bedded areas.
Do you find it worthwhile keeping calves until they are so old?
I've always tried to get a calf sold without keeping it for a winter.

Sorry for the questions, tell me to mind my own business if you want!