Calving nightmare

[Hamloc]

Grassfarmer after reading Woodland's post and your responses I think what you said is undoubtedly correct but how you said it not so much. Woodland is fighting horrendous spring weather and you basically say well if you did it this way you wouldn't have a problem. If I was Woodland I would want to punch you in the nose(metaphorically speaking of course)! Spring snowstorms and dragging calves out of the mud is never fun. There is no doubt more space is always better but not always an option. Woodland I wish you the best of luck!

[grassfarmer]

WR, what we find works really nice with our banked grass is a version of the Sandhills system - say you start with 100 cows in a group, by the time a week or 10 days has passed you'll have maybe 30 calved. Then move the pregnant cows out to new ground leaving the pairs behind. It is so much easier than moving pairs out of a herd. Leaves your calves grouped by age and calving cows always on clean ground which greatly helps combat scours or other health issues.

[WiltonRanch]

WR, what we find works really nice with our banked grass is a version of the Sandhills system - say you start with 100 cows in a group, by the time a week or 10 days has passed you'll have maybe 30 calved. Then move the pregnant cows out to new ground leaving the pairs behind. It is so much easier than moving pairs out of a herd. Leaves your calves grouped by age and calving cows always on clean ground which greatly helps combat scours or other health issues.

I heard of that before. Interesting.

[smcgrath76]

We started calving last Thursday just as it started snowing. I lost 10 last weekend, with quite a few being from heifers. They had about 20 minutes to be up and nursing or they just were too cold/wet/muddy to make a go of it. Cows missing the bedding or turning around to calve and making mud are tough to control.
Even the grass they had was mud. I couldn't keep up with them. That said we are calving nearly 2 weeks sooner than usual due to some circumstances last summer. We have been running 10 to 15 per day for the last 10 days. Snowing/raining again this week and I have dragged a lot of calves out of the mud, tubed a bunch and had some overnighters. We keep opening gates and moving cattle further out.
I don't really think about backwards/prolapse/c section cows or checking for that stuff. I think in the last 10 years I may have helped a dozen cows total (including heifers). I tend to agree with GF about larger spaces. The only challenge with larger areas is catching and weighing the purebreds. We don't tag the commercial calves at birth.
If I do help a cow at all for any reason (pull, malpresentation, milking out), she gets the "orange tag of death" before she leaves the chute. That way she leaves in the fall 100% of the time. I may cull the odd good cow, but I for sure get rid of the make work ones that way.

[grassfarmer]

Another idea for guys that are tired of winter/spring calving - have you considered fall calving? It's not as crazy as it sounds with the climate of western Canada. We've always had a few but are currently expanding that herd and may go to half fall/half April-May in part to get away from breeding cows in the heat of summer down here. Mid August to late September gives you a 2 cycle window to calf when the weather is often some of the best in the year. It gives calves time to grow a bit before winter hits and with less protein in the grass than in spring scour issues are rare. We have always had better conception rates breeding in November than in July which sounds counter-intuitive. You need to have grass in the fall though - wouldn't work if your pastures are shot by the end of July so maybe has less of a fit in very dry areas. If you can grow good grass in fall or have hay regrowth to put cows on they will be fat going into winter. Given that start they need feed of lower quality than spring calvers over winter and you can let them lose a lot of condition over winter as they will regain it quickly come summer. Mine have been on greenfeed this winter and are carrying more condition than they need be. Supplementing calves with creep is efficient in this system through the colder months. I don't think i'd try it with high milking/low fleshing genetics but it works well with our cows.
I guess a lot wouldn't consider it as it gets away from the usual "wean into the auction" during the fall run mindset but it offers up alternate marketing opportunities. Lightweight calves are traditionally in high demand as grassers in April/May or you can sell them as bigger calves/yearlings early in the fall run when prices are often higher. What I really like is that it removes stress from the system - not calving through tough spring conditions and not weaning late fall when pneumonia problems are at their worst. I always let the fall calvers self wean which is effortless.

[perfecho]

Certainly agree GF....wished I had started this system years ago....although we are smaller scale now, 60 cows, have calved them on 120 acres for last three years...had 2 issues in that time, even with heifers in the group. (although I do use lowline cross or a low birth weight bull for heifers).
Just returned from 4 days in Manitoba...and had faith that would likely not have too many issues, so think they got looked at twice while gone.
Saying that, I did loose a set of twins with a heifer and 2 calves that seemed to get chilled during the initial snow, but as I have had little problem the last few years, I am OK with my averages. Lucky enough, the animals with the problems were kinda on the "gone" list anyways.
I am now very lazy and semi retired, so my motto is as "easy as can be" and it seems to be working...if they can't raise a calf on their own, they are "fired!"
This year I had brought them home just before calving onto some grassed areas...but you have to look around for a piece that is not under water.....so better than the wintering spot that gets cultivated every year for their winter feed supply.

[kato]

..

We have known for years that our place is set up to handle cold far better than mud. We're on a hill and the ground here is clay loam. That means all around the yard are low places with world class gumbo. We had most of our calves on the ground before the frost came out and wouldn't have it any other way. The last ten calves have been literally more of a nuisance than the 130 that came before them all put together. The big ones are just zooming around while the young ones are having to be shown where the straw is.

All that being said, what a miserable spring so far. We've missed a lot of the storms lately but boy would it be nice to see a warm day.

[WiltonRanch]

We have known for years that our place is set up to handle cold far better than mud. We're on a hill and the ground here is clay loam. That means all around the yard are low places with world class gumbo. We had most of our calves on the ground before the frost came out and wouldn't have it any other way. The last ten calves have been literally more of a nuisance than the 130 that came before them all put together. The big ones are just zooming around while the young ones are having to be shown where the straw is.

All that being said, what a miserable spring so far. We've missed a lot of the storms lately but boy would it be nice to see a warm day.

Used to calve February. Long as someone wants to live with them through the night there's nothing wrong with it. These muddy April days makes me wish for frozen February but then I remember I couldn't calve what I have that time of year by myself. You're well paid for the extra weight in the fall.

[grassfarmer]

Calving in Jan/Feb may be preferable to calving in April if you have corrals that tend to get muddy in spring - but calving late April/May out on clean pasture is so much better than either of these options in my opinion. I can't believe how many guys here still have cattle confined in corrals, sometimes with part of the corrals under water. I guess there are less places with high and dry ground in MB than I'm used to.

The cow calving facility this morning.


Feed source although we are still supplementing with silage.


Fresh growth coming on fast.


New arrival in the heifer calving facility.

[woodland]

Grassfarmer after reading Woodland's post and your responses I think what you said is undoubtedly correct but how you said it not so much. Woodland is fighting horrendous spring weather and you basically say well if you did it this way you wouldn't have a problem. If I was Woodland I would want to punch you in the nose(metaphorically speaking of course)! Spring snowstorms and dragging calves out of the mud is never fun. There is no doubt more space is always better but not always an option. Woodland I wish you the best of luck!

Thanks Hamloc. Yesterday and today were the first time since April 5 that we got above 10*c. The snow is just about gone except for the odd drift. We still have frozen culverts, tire waterers, and can't push fence posts because of the frost. Today was windy and dried lots except for the clouds not looking friendly.

One of today's projects

Today's weather. At least it should be liquid form....