Calving nightmare

[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....

[woodland]

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.

Sean that's a great idea about the tags. We just put them in the back of the calving book and a "hit" list on the fridge in the shop and they're gone at preg testing time. Seems like one always slips through the cracks though.

[woodland]

Grassfarmer the pictures you're showing look like here today or here on April 5 th. The space in between was mostly snow covered with temps of -5 to +5 with wind most days. The calves if they didn't get up in 15 minutes after hitting anything other than fresh straw involved a trip to the hot box. All of our quarters around here have 40 acres of bush and usually it's lower ground. I would think I'd lose 10% without much effort which would keep the coyote pack happy at least. It's probably been 15 years since we've fought mud like this and that time it didn't stick around as long.

We've thought about calving the Sandhills system but have struggled with how to move bred cows out of the pairs. Currently we move the pairs daily out of the field after tagging and it's easy enough. After a few days the calves get independent and you don't see them together much. How can you tell which has calved and who's close to calving with bigger numbers? Just curious.

Got another 1/4 inch today but at least got a nice rainbow out of it. Still weeks away from seeding here or harvesting.....

[grassfarmer]

Moving the breds out is the beauty of the Sandhills system Woodland. I just go at a time of a day when most everybody is paired up and resting, open a gate or fence up and call them to me. As it takes those with calves longer to get up and mobilized I generally have 90% of the breds through the gate before the first pair turns up. You have to work to get the last few but it still works pretty slick.