Winter calving made easier with warm weather

[forage]

Thank god the weather has reversed to more bearable conditions. Started calving the mature heard on 21th Feb. Started with heavy snow that night, followed by nights down to -32C. Then more than a foot and half of snow two days ago. Still plowing. Well only 38 days of no sleep left. Good luck to all of you who calve this early. So far so good no wrecks yet, tap wood.

[sumdumguy]

Great weather on the way. Good Luck with the
babies.

[forage]

Thanks, hope to get married in the near future so the night checks can be shared with a more experienced person. Takes a woman's touch durring calving. I know mom had more patience than dad and knew more about birthing than he did.

[grassfarmer]

If you move a little later in the year so weather isn't
as big a concern you'd find that the cows make
their own best midwives. I can't believe how many
people go through this two hourly check round the
clock every year. I'd quit rearing cows before I did
that. I find if you have the appropriate genetics, get
the feeding/cow condition right then let the cows
get on with the job they know best - having and
rearing calves.

[15444]

Some people just like the mental and physical workout with the early calving GF.

Not me though. I like my 2-3 checks per day, calving on grass and sleeping through the night. Oh, and no frozen ears or hauling calves inside.

[ALLFARMER]

I also would quit cattle before I would calve in
winter.

[ASRG]

Like many I quit winter calving shortly after BSE hit. Winter calving is a lot of work especially in those long cold snaps or blizzard like conditions. A lot of wear and tear on facilities and the body!

[tweaker101]

We made the change 3 years ago, would never go back to Feb calving...just crazy and expensive. We now calve in May/June less stress easier on my team and really you can't beat it...I drive out with my quad in the morning and see what new calves arrived, tag and casterate and life is good!

[kato]

We prefer to be contrarians. We start in February, and prefer it. On bad cold nights, we put the most likely suspects in the loose barn. They warm it up themselves. They get checked at bed time, and if nobody is actively calving, they get checked again in the morning. It's no more work than calving in the pasture, IMHO. Maybe less, because you have acess to the cattle without a rodeo if something needs to be dealt with. Legs can be back, and twins can be tangled in the pasture just as easy as in the barn.

We've got sheds enough for all the calves to have shelter, and when it's cold they stay nice and dry and healthy. Spring storms have become normal around here, so when we get that end of April blizzard, the calves just hang out with their mama's and ride it out. Our worst time calving last year was the tail enders at the end of April. They got caught by the storm, and then the wet and cold that followed it. The early born calves never batted an eye over it. The late ones needed some serious baby sitting.

We rent pasture, so calving 80 miles from home is not an option.

When they go to pasture, the calves can eat the grass too, since we're paying for it anyway, and they come home big. If we got a drought or hail and had a feed shortage, we would also have calves big enough to sell.

And in June we can go fishing.

[forage]

Grassfarmer, Mid wife cows just cann't seem to help a backwards calf,or one with a front leg back. I have a neighbor that only checks before he goes to bed and first thing in morning works for him but eveytime I talk to him conversation about how's calving going , "oh I lost one last night must of been born dead." his death loss last year was over 8% with good mature Red Angus / Char. cows. I often wonder just how many he would have saved if he had been checking even thou he calves may-june.
Feb calving is tough but the scours and other bugs that are associated with late calving are almost non existent.