How is your calving going?

[ALLFARMER]

Went to a farm sale yesterday one producer here
likes to get calving done before seeding....now
month old calves are dying because of
scours...ya he corral and barn calves. Apparently
he has lost like 25 yikes.

Thankfully we didn't get the snow Edmonton got
that would not be good. We had 4 new calves
yesterday and are at 8 soon to be 9 runners. We
had one the mother smothered, she was licking it
off but as soon as we left sight she decided this
was not the calf for her.

Really liking our Remmington shark cage, good
for relocating calves, processing in safety,
leading 4h calves down the road.

[smcgrath76]

Feeling left out as we are not started
yet (other than 3 very early surprises).
Don't scour guard, don't calve in the
corral. We have about 2 weeks of swath
grazing left to go, then stockpiled
grass, then new grass...
Don't expect massive problems as cows
are out and exercised, and May weather
is usually pretty good. Problems on a
June evening seem much less like
problems than in March.

[ALLFARMER]

Ya I think I will be pushing calving back further,
was according to the Ufa calving record book
due calving Apr 10 but we have 9 already. I am
thinking heifers just calve a little earlier than
cows.

[ALLFARMER]

Looks like were getting this crappy snow now
too.

[per]

Getting going pretty good down here. 283 days was April 1 and we are approaching half done. Out on swaths, barley bunches and banked grass over 400 acres. Hfs and 2nd calvers are restrained to 70 acres. Our scour program is spreading the cows out and nutrition. Missing most of the snow has made this job pretty pleasurable.

[ALLFARMER]

Ufa Gestation table is 286 days we had our first
calf at 273.....13 days early. With the snow and
wind we are now getting I would like my Apr 10th
projection back.

[ALLFARMER]

What area you at per?

[grassfarmer]

We had a heifer calve yesterday at bang on 270
days, regular calf probably 65-70lbs. No chance
she was bred early or by a neighbours bull. That's
maybe the shortest gestation I've ever seen. In
Scotland we had way more longer gestation cattle -
a lot of the exotics were 288-290 days. I remember
we once had a heifer there calved at 300 days - she
was AI'd to a different breed so again there was no
chance of a mix up and her calf only weighed about
55lbs. I guess I've seen the two extremes of what's
possible with heifers now.
Due date here is April 18th but we usually start to
get some about the 10th. About 6 inches of snow
from this latest dump which is melting quickly but
we need the banked grass to dry up rapidly before
we can get the cows onto it. It's still sodden and
stuck to the ground from the winter snowpack.

[ALLFARMER]

Ya I guess it's not like buns in the oven where
you just set the timer lol.

Was gunna pull a calf this morning but the wife
said she's progressing just give her time. Said ok
went next door for coffee, 25 minute coffee came
back to find cow with a hip locked calf Better
not take my eyes off these darn heifers!

[per]

Just south of Calgary Allfarmer.