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This past weekend I have taken the rams away from the ewes and also stopped breeding my autumn calving cows and heifers.
The rams went in on 25 October and came out on 30 November. I started to artificially inseminate (AI) my autumn suckler herd on the 15 October and stopped on the 30 of November.
That was 36 days of breeding for the sheep and 46 days of breeding for the cows.
In the past I used to calve cows every month of the year and I thought this was the right approach
Some people will think that this is just too short, and I will end up with too many empties. This may be true, but I want to push the boundaries and see what can be done.
In the past I used to calve cows every month of the year and I thought this was the right approach. My mindset was that any day that you had a live calf, it was a good day.
But they always seemed to want to calve when you didn’t want them to.
It was usually when you were at silage or slurry that you took your eye off the ball, only to find a dead calf beside one of your best cows
I had cows calving on Christmas day, Easter Sunday, when I wanted to go to Balmoral Show, when I was away on holidays or when I had something else on that I had to go to.
This list doesn’t even include the number of times that there were cows calving when I was busy at other farm work.
It was usually when you were at silage or slurry that you took your eye off the ball, only to find a dead calf beside one of your best cows.
When I look back, I wonder why you would want to put yourself through this sort of torture.
I certainly look forward to the start of calving season, but when it’s been going for a month or so I can’t wait for it to come to an end.
Management
Having a tight calving period makes a massive difference to other management operations as well. Everything can be vaccinated at the correct time.
Cows can all be weaned as one batch and de-horning and dosing of the calves can all be done together.
You also have a group of cattle of a similar weight and age, that can all be sold around the same time, thus simplifying the whole system.
Lambing
My sheep used to start to lamb just after Christmas and they were still lambing in the middle of May.
It seemed like a never-ending lambing season, but I was happy as it meant that I had a better spread of money as I was selling lambs for most of the year.
So it had its plus points, but it was so complicated.
To be honest it was mentally draining, and I can’t understand why I carried on like this for so long
Dosing and vaccinations were a nightmare to organise. I had groups of lambs that were at different stages and needed different management.
Some would need meal and others wouldn’t, and if I was going to feed everything correctly then it meant that I would have a lot of different batches.
To be honest it was mentally draining, and I can’t understand why I carried on like this for so long.
The difference a tight calving and lambing period has made to my farming practices has been massive. Everything is much more streamlined.
The key is to draw a line in the sand and don’t cross it
There are times that I am very busy but there are other slack times that allow me to get caught up on other farm work unhindered.
For example, I have three months now with no calving, lambing or breeding work to be done.
With everything you need a beginning and an end. The key is to draw a line in the sand and don’t cross it.
My advice to every beef and sheep farmer is to choose a calving and lambing period that suits you and your farm and stick to it.
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