On suckler farms operating autumn-calving herds, the breeding period is under way. Cows served during the first half of November should calve down in late August, based on a 290-day gestation period.

As the calving period draws to a close, now is a good time to review the pros and cons of autumn calving before committing to the breeding season for another year.

Every farm is different. As such, there will be different reasons why autumn calving works well for some farmers, but is impractical for others.

There are a few common trends on both sides of the argument, which are outlined as follows.

Advantages

For starters, autumn calving ideally suits farmers working on extremely fragmented land with small land parcels.

Smaller land blocks are unlikely to carry groups of 20 to 30 cows that can run with a stock bull, making summer breeding less practical.

Autumn calving allows cows to be bred during the housing period, removing the problems associated with grazing fragmented land.

Autumn calving also suits farms working with heavier land, as grazing groups are likely to small in number

AI

Autumn calving is ideally suited to using AI. This gives farmers greater choice when selecting bulls, with herd owners having access to the best genetics for every breed.

AI will help improve calf quality and performance, increasing sale value. Housing and labour also come into play with autumn calving.

On farms looking to expand cow numbers, splitting the herd between spring and autumn calving makes better use of housing, as well as spreading the workload for a single labour unit.

Finally, some farmers just prefer autumn calving, as it results in heavier weanlings and suits an U16 month bull system.

Downsides

Undoubtedly, the biggest drawback with autumn calving is the increase in production costs. Cows will need supplementing with concentrates throughout the winter.

Without good silage and concentrates, cows will struggle to maintain body condition, keep milking and go back in-calf.

Housing needs to be more specialised to provide adequate creep areas for calves. On many farms, creep pens use straw bedding, which adds to the cost, as well as increasing the daily workload.

There is a greater disease challenge for young calves during winter, as they are more prone to scours and respiratory problems where hygiene and ventilation are poor.

Summer mastitis

Another major problem many farmers experience with autumn calving is preventing dry cows taking summer mastitis.

Even where cows are dried off properly, grazing on low covers and treated with insecticides, farmers can still experience problems with mastitis.

Counting up the cost of keeping autumn cows

What is the cost of keeping autumn-calving cows? It will differ on every farm, but, as an example, Table 1 outlines some typical input costs for autumn cows.

The farmer runs 40 cows calving from August to October, bred to top-quality continental sires using AI.

Calves are sold live as yearlings at special weanling sales. Average calving date is 1 September and the example is basing input costs for a cow calving on this date.

Calving

The example assumes cows are returned to grass after calving and housed on 20 October. Cows are fed 2kg/day of concentrate (€250/t) for two weeks pre-housing, to support milk and maintain body condition, as well as prevent tetany.

A small cost for straw is included under miscellaneous for the calving pen, along with ear tags and a few calving aids.

Housing

Cows and calves are housed from 21 October until 30 April. Cows are fed 45kg of silage/day (€20/t) of average- to good-quality, plus 2kg/day of concentrate.

Calves are offered access to concentrate in creep pens. While intakes will be small to start, it is likely to be closer to 2kg/day next spring.

Therefore, the example assumes an average of 1kg/day fed to calves over winter, plus a daily average intake of 8kg for silage.

Straw costs are included for creep pens at one round bale/calf space. Veterinary costs of €60/cow includes breeding and respiratory vaccines, treatments for internal and external parasites and powdered minerals during breeding.

Breeding

AI costs are €25/cow and assumes 40 cows needed 50 inseminations to factor in repeats, plus the technician fee. Replacement costs are based on five cull cows sold at an average €1,200, with the cost of calving down homebred replacements at €1,400.

This means a differential cost of €1,000 across 40 cows, or €25/cow. Pregnancy scanning is included under miscellaneous.

Grazing

Grazing from 1 May to 30 June uses two bags/ac of CAN, with calves fed 2kg/day of concentrate during June prior to weaning.

Cows are dried off on 1 July and moved to rough grazing until calving. Calves are grazed on better grass and fed 2kg/day of concentrate until sale time as yearlings.

Fixed costs

Fixed costs are also included at €1/day per cow space, which equates to an annual cost of €365/cow to cover electricity, machinery running costs and repairs, general farm maintenance, etc.

Total cost

From the outlined input costs for the example herd, it costs €1,061 to keep the cow over the year. However, no costs for land rent, drawings, loans or finance payments are included.

Comment

The example is merely to outline the costs involved with autumn calving and suckling in general. At all times, the example assumes good herd management is in place.

Every farm will differ and there are cost savings that can be made. For example, improving silage quality above 70% DMD could reduce concentrate feeding to 1kg/day during the winter, saving close to €50/cow. Turning cows out in early April can also reduce costs.

The advice to every farmer, regardless of spring or autumn calving, is to know your cost of production. From the example costs, the conclusion is that there is no room for poor management or producing average-quality weanlings with autumn calving.