Calving times

[dfarms11]

Anyone have any thoughts on whether calving times are related to the time of day you feed? I've tried both ways and I can't see a real difference. But there are some who sware by feeding their cows in the evening and they say they don't get hardly any calves at night.

[Muttley]

I have fed my cows both hay and grain just before supper each night during calving time for a number of years. I keep track of when each calf is born,
Before this year I was completely sold on it. The majority of the calves were born in the early evening or during the day. This year for whatever reason I have had just as many betwen midnight and 6 am as any other time of the day.
So go figure, now I'm not sure anymore but I will continue to feed late as it is also nice to have fresh bedding out late in the day so they can bed down for the night.
Ask me this question next year after calving I will probably have a different answer again.

[SFIRTH]

The science says the following:

Study 1; 104 Hereford cows, fed at 8am and 3pm, 38.4% calved in the day; fed at 11am and 9pm, 79.6% calved in the day

Study 2; 162 cows on 4 farms, fed at 9am, 57% born during the day, fed at 10pm, 79% calved during the day.

Study 3; 1331 cows on 15 farms in Iowa; fed at dusk, 85% born between 6am and 6pm.

Testimonials from my clients seem to be on the side of evening feeding putting off more calves to the day. Of course everyone still gets up, the barn visits just tend to be shorter. The mode of action as to why this works is not known. There does not appear to be a magic time to start this practice, a week or more before calving gives the same responce.

[cowman]

I tried this one year and it didn't work for me at all. I guess my cows aren't educated enough. I like to feed in the morning as it works out better for me. Definitely it is nice if a cow calves about 11 A.M. It has usually warmed up a bit and he will be dry by dusk. It seems to me if you feed around 8A.M. a lot of cows eat for a couple of hours and then have their calf. I would think close to half of them.

[bob-b]

we started feeding our cows at the bunk about 6:00pm ... it is nice because before you head in, you have a pretty good idea who is calving and who is'nt real serious about it ... I'm not about to tell you that I've never had a calf at night but I think it helps to know who you are going to be working with before bedtime

[kens]

I have fed my cows late at night now for almost 20 years and can say that it does work! Only 1 or 2 cows out of 150 will calve between 11PM and 5AM when they are fed at 11PM every night. Here's how it works for us. The cows have 2 adjacent areas to calve in joined by a common corral area with a waterer. If I have a calving problem the cows can be got in easily to the calving barn beyond the waterer.
I feed in 1 pen and bed in the other. Whenever it is convenient in the late afternoon the cows are put in the bedding pen, then I feed in the other pen. The cows still have access to water and free choice chaff. At the 11PM check the cows are let into the feed pen and still have access to the water and bedding pen. I find that the cows will eat until around 4AM and then if they decide to calve I'm there to observe at the 6AM check. If any are starting to calve at the 11PM check they are moved to the calving barn. We do a 3AM check if it is very cold just in case. I switch my cows over from morning feedings to late night feedings in about five days just a few days before calving starts. The temperature is a little colder now than I would like but at least we have about 10" snow cover that has come since it has been cold. Maybe the cows will have something to eat after all this summer, if the grasshoppers don't eat it all first.

[cowman]

I don't know where you live kens but were the grasshoppers bad where you are last year? I know we were getting quite a few around last fall. In Alberta they do a count on a quarter in every township. They say the count looks like there could be quite an outbreak especially in the drier areas.

[dfarms11]

Kens, that is basically what I did last year but I would turn them in anytime between 6-11. I still had quite a few between 11 - 6. This year I just feed silage in the mourning and free choice straw all day and I didn't find much difference. Maybe a few more this year but not a lot more I dont think.

[kens]

Cowman, we live in east central Alberta, north of Hanna. Grasshoppers have been bad here for about 5 years. Last year was the worst- bothered the grassland worse than the crops- unable to save any of our pasture in reserve for this year at all. Around the yard and garden they ate everything green, corn, rhubarb, tomatoes, grass, flowers, beans and even ate other grasshoppers. Hope a rainy, cold spring will reduce the hatch and maybe give the crops and pastures a head start. Grasshopper levels are reported to be up to 50% higher this year in our area. The grills and radiators on our vehicles were a mass of yellowish goo and gave off a terrible smell when the engine warmed up.

[rodbradshaw]

We have been doing feeding about 5-6pm and todate we are a 1/3 done and have yet to have a calf past 9:30 at night.
A couple of years ago we were short handed as the boss took a well deserved holiday and so the cows got feed when they were checked in the morning. Needless to say the writer was not amused when the the 4th night of heifers just getting started to rock and roll at midnite. The feedman went back to feeding at 5-6pm and we went back to calving at more reasonable hours.
Knock on wood it works and it sure is nice to be able to get adecent nights sleep.

[cswilson]

i calve on the grass and sleep at night -i'd say most of our calves born during daylight hours when they are in a field we can check-it helps when u have 20 hours of daylight in june lol