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Breeding / Calving Issues
Having too much calving ease?
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<blockquote data-quote="farmerjan" data-source="post: 1509031" data-attributes="member: 25884"><p>We use easy calving bulls on our heifers. I do not have the time to be checking them several times a day and I am still working off the farm at milk testing and some days I leave at 2 a.m., get home at 8 and some days I leave at 4 or 5 a.m. and don't get home until noon or early afternoon. So, they get checked, but not on a regular timely daily schedule, but on a daily schedule and some days twice a day. Still, they really have to be able to have the calf on their own, so an easy calving bull is a necessity. That said, we also raise our heifers a little older/bigger before breeding. We do not do much supplementing except right after weaning as they are transitioning from milk and grass/hay; to just grass/hay so get some extra protein in some feed. Also gets them to come in and gives me a chance to pay attention to attitude and disposition. High headed, flighty, type that take the rest of the calves out of the pen at the slightest noise or movement do not get much tolerance.</p><p></p><p>The little older at calving age and size - most are 27-30 months - also gives them a little more time to "grow up" and we very seldom ever have a heifer that won't mother a calf and be very good at wanting to take care of it. They also seem to have a little better time of making milk and maintaining their body weight. Like Jeanne though, when the calves get up close to weaning, it will take some out of the first calf momma's. They will get a bit thin and occasionally will have a few that don't get bred back. Those are the ones that get a second chance, go with the next breeding group. Since we calve spring and fall, they will only be 6 months behind. They usually rebound quickly after weaning the calf, rebreed with the next group and go from there. Normally I also find it is the "youngest" of the ones in that group that may not get bred so that extra 6 months without a calf really makes a difference in them gaining weight and condition and do a bang up job with the next calf. BUT there is only "one pass"....if there is another breeding problem, they are gone....</p><p></p><p>We will keep heifers out of first calf heifers if we like them. They are sometimes a little bit smaller than the ones out of mature cows, but usually catch up in their yearling growth year. Just got to like the heifer, and not put as much emphasis on just size.</p><p></p><p>I do think that we have gone to some "smaller cattle" with all the emphasis on "easy calving bulls" and we have specifically bought 3 PLUS weight bulls for the cows, the last 3 bulls we have bought. Want to get a little more size on the calves at birth so that they are bigger at weaning. I keep pretty good records even though we are commercial, so the next 2 years ought to show if the bulls are putting bigger calves on the ground, and if they are weaning bigger. It is real random as we group our cows at pastures often by what they have. Bull/steer calves go together, and heifer calves go together. So it isn't like we are choosing the bigger cows to go with certain bulls.... we have several pastures, so there are 10-35 cows with steer calves OR heifer calves at each and then we pick and choose what bulls we are putting where. The older bulls go with the larger group of cows, the younger/15 month old bulls go with the smaller groups their first year. Only one bull per group so I am sure of what calves are out of what bull.</p><p></p><p>We have tracked what bulls have sired the most keeper heifers and have 2 we are going to probably ship when prices come up a little. Their calves are just okay.... but have 2 that we really like both the heifer and bull/steer calves out of. So we have added 4 bulls in the past 15 months to start replacing some. We sold one last year that got a little aggressive....and one that was getting sore feet/legs too often. Plus he had some age so when a friend got done with him on his big heifers, we put him in a bull lot with another bull, they gained some weight, he got better on his feet and he went. Got another one now that wants to go visiting when his girls are all bred and he is on the short list.... we also lease out a couple to a couple of friends that have used our bulls for several years, they have like 12 to 18 cows each. So we keep a couple in reserve and always try to have one or 2 that is idle in the case of one getting hurt, or cows seeming to keep coming up in heat so we can pull the bull and get a BSE in case something happened...</p><p></p><p>With 150 to 200 brood cows, we keep an average of 10 bulls, using at least 6 out at spring/summer pastures. Yes it costs to keep them, but there are many places AI is not an option....and if we have a problem, we have someone else ready to go and don't have to go buy a bull at last minute. Most of our bulls will be here for 5-10 years.....if we like their calves overall, and they behave.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="farmerjan, post: 1509031, member: 25884"] We use easy calving bulls on our heifers. I do not have the time to be checking them several times a day and I am still working off the farm at milk testing and some days I leave at 2 a.m., get home at 8 and some days I leave at 4 or 5 a.m. and don't get home until noon or early afternoon. So, they get checked, but not on a regular timely daily schedule, but on a daily schedule and some days twice a day. Still, they really have to be able to have the calf on their own, so an easy calving bull is a necessity. That said, we also raise our heifers a little older/bigger before breeding. We do not do much supplementing except right after weaning as they are transitioning from milk and grass/hay; to just grass/hay so get some extra protein in some feed. Also gets them to come in and gives me a chance to pay attention to attitude and disposition. High headed, flighty, type that take the rest of the calves out of the pen at the slightest noise or movement do not get much tolerance. The little older at calving age and size - most are 27-30 months - also gives them a little more time to "grow up" and we very seldom ever have a heifer that won't mother a calf and be very good at wanting to take care of it. They also seem to have a little better time of making milk and maintaining their body weight. Like Jeanne though, when the calves get up close to weaning, it will take some out of the first calf momma's. They will get a bit thin and occasionally will have a few that don't get bred back. Those are the ones that get a second chance, go with the next breeding group. Since we calve spring and fall, they will only be 6 months behind. They usually rebound quickly after weaning the calf, rebreed with the next group and go from there. Normally I also find it is the "youngest" of the ones in that group that may not get bred so that extra 6 months without a calf really makes a difference in them gaining weight and condition and do a bang up job with the next calf. BUT there is only "one pass"....if there is another breeding problem, they are gone.... We will keep heifers out of first calf heifers if we like them. They are sometimes a little bit smaller than the ones out of mature cows, but usually catch up in their yearling growth year. Just got to like the heifer, and not put as much emphasis on just size. I do think that we have gone to some "smaller cattle" with all the emphasis on "easy calving bulls" and we have specifically bought 3 PLUS weight bulls for the cows, the last 3 bulls we have bought. Want to get a little more size on the calves at birth so that they are bigger at weaning. I keep pretty good records even though we are commercial, so the next 2 years ought to show if the bulls are putting bigger calves on the ground, and if they are weaning bigger. It is real random as we group our cows at pastures often by what they have. Bull/steer calves go together, and heifer calves go together. So it isn't like we are choosing the bigger cows to go with certain bulls.... we have several pastures, so there are 10-35 cows with steer calves OR heifer calves at each and then we pick and choose what bulls we are putting where. The older bulls go with the larger group of cows, the younger/15 month old bulls go with the smaller groups their first year. Only one bull per group so I am sure of what calves are out of what bull. We have tracked what bulls have sired the most keeper heifers and have 2 we are going to probably ship when prices come up a little. Their calves are just okay.... but have 2 that we really like both the heifer and bull/steer calves out of. So we have added 4 bulls in the past 15 months to start replacing some. We sold one last year that got a little aggressive....and one that was getting sore feet/legs too often. Plus he had some age so when a friend got done with him on his big heifers, we put him in a bull lot with another bull, they gained some weight, he got better on his feet and he went. Got another one now that wants to go visiting when his girls are all bred and he is on the short list.... we also lease out a couple to a couple of friends that have used our bulls for several years, they have like 12 to 18 cows each. So we keep a couple in reserve and always try to have one or 2 that is idle in the case of one getting hurt, or cows seeming to keep coming up in heat so we can pull the bull and get a BSE in case something happened... With 150 to 200 brood cows, we keep an average of 10 bulls, using at least 6 out at spring/summer pastures. Yes it costs to keep them, but there are many places AI is not an option....and if we have a problem, we have someone else ready to go and don't have to go buy a bull at last minute. Most of our bulls will be here for 5-10 years.....if we like their calves overall, and they behave. [/QUOTE]
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