The calving period is the most important management period in any suckler herd. Getting a live calf on the ground is essential if the cow is to produce something that can be sold to generate income.
There is no denying that having a compact calving period is the most efficient way to operate a suckler herd.
Yet many herd owners will opt to calve cows over a longer period of time as they believe it is easier on time management and makes good use of housing facilities.
Some farmers argue that a spread-out calving pattern is also better for cashflow as there are animals to sell throughout the year. However, this is not the case.
Where cows are calving over a six-month period, or worse still, year-round calving, the herd owner will be constantly purchasing inputs throughout the year.
For example, there will be regular purchasing of vaccines for calf health and the meal lorry will be a frequent visitor if cattle are being finished throughout the year.
Spread-out calving usually places a constant draw on cash reserves, putting the farm finances under pressure. It is impossible to plan out any kind of cashflow plan.
With spread-out calving, cattle will be sold in smaller batches compared with larger batches that are common with compact calving. As such, it is more difficult to negotiate a higher sale price if selling cattle to the factory.
Advantages of compact calving
Having all calves born inside a 12-week period means animals are easier to manage throughout the season. For instance:
The in-calf cows can be grouped together for similar feeding prior to calving. This saves time as there is only one diet to be fed to cows.Compact calving will identify cows with poor fertility as they will fall out of the breeding herd. In a spread-out pattern, these cows usually remain in the herd as they are harder to identify.Calving is carried out over a short period of time, which allows maximum attention for animal health and welfare. There are fewer distractions with field work or other farming activities.With compact calving, a group of calves can be dehorned in one day, wormed on another and weaned on another, which reduces labour. This is not the case with year-round calving.As all calf management tasks and vaccinations can be carried out at similar times every year, the farm can plan out a cashflow budget.Grazing and housing animals of similar size is easier as there is less risk of injury to smaller animals through bullying.Finishing cattle can be sold in larger batches, which can help to negotiate higher sale prices of in-spec stock.Managing compact calving
Moving from a prolonged calving period to a 12-week period is a positive start to improving herd fertility and output. Within any herd of cows, there will be a few individual cows that will perform poorly due to old age, poor body condition, illness or hard calving/caesarean section. A herd with a 24-week calving spread should move gradually to the 12-week calving spread by removing the stock bull one month earlier every year.
This will ease the transition to compact calving, or batch calving. Moving to a compact calving period does not necessarily result in large numbers of barren cows.
For example, early-calving cows should have cycled four times during a 12-week breeding season, while the problem cows that slip back will have less chance to be bred as they will have had fewer heats.
Therefore, the real problem cows will eventually drop out of the herd. Later-calving cows will still have one to two cycles to conceive and, if they are fertile and well managed, they should go in calf.
A reasonable conception rate for a stock bull is 60% conception on every service. Table 1 outlines the target conception rates for a 100-cow herd bred in a 12-week period. At the end of the breeding season, even at a relatively low conception rate of 50%, approximately six cows will be barren in a 12-week period. The target for an efficient suckler herd is to have 70% to 80% of the herd calved inside six weeks.
Factors influencing cow fertility
A cow needs energy for three basic functions in the following priority:
1. Producing milk for the calf.2. Maintaining body condition (ideally BCS 2.5).3. Get back in calf.Cows should be on a steady diet with an increasing level of energy to meet all these demands. It must be remembered that April-calving cows are coming into heat in June.
Grass quality is important at this point. Cows should be grazing short, vegetative (leafy) grass covers of 10cm to 12cm as they have the highest nutrient content. Putting cows into fields of heavy covers of headed, stemmy grass will reduce conception rates as they cannot eat enough grass to meet their energy demand.
Suckling effect
Although it is more difficult to manage at grass, restricting the calf from suckling the cow can bring cows back into heat sooner. There is only really a need to do this with late-calving cows that run the risk of falling out of the calving pattern, so the numbers involved should be low. Where possible, raising the electric fence to let calves creep ahead of the cows can help to achieve this. It will take two to three days for the calf to learn to creep ahead and for the cow to settle. To start with, just fence off a small corner of field. The calf is still within sight of the cow and this is more likely to work.
Stock bull
In a 40-cow herd, one infertile cow means 39 calves but one infertile bull means zero calves. Ensure that the bull is in good working order prior to use, as lameness and vaccination pre-breeding can cause poor semen production. Young stock bulls in their first breeding season should not be turned into large groups of cows, especially in a compact calving herd. Restrict to 15 to 18 cows and closely monitor the bull.
The calving period is the most important management period in any suckler herd. Getting a live calf on the ground is essential if the cow is to produce something that can be sold to generate income.
There is no denying that having a compact calving period is the most efficient way to operate a suckler herd.
Yet many herd owners will opt to calve cows over a longer period of time as they believe it is easier on time management and makes good use of housing facilities.
Some farmers argue that a spread-out calving pattern is also better for cashflow as there are animals to sell throughout the year. However, this is not the case.
Where cows are calving over a six-month period, or worse still, year-round calving, the herd owner will be constantly purchasing inputs throughout the year.
For example, there will be regular purchasing of vaccines for calf health and the meal lorry will be a frequent visitor if cattle are being finished throughout the year.
Spread-out calving usually places a constant draw on cash reserves, putting the farm finances under pressure. It is impossible to plan out any kind of cashflow plan.
With spread-out calving, cattle will be sold in smaller batches compared with larger batches that are common with compact calving. As such, it is more difficult to negotiate a higher sale price if selling cattle to the factory.
Advantages of compact calving
Having all calves born inside a 12-week period means animals are easier to manage throughout the season. For instance:
The in-calf cows can be grouped together for similar feeding prior to calving. This saves time as there is only one diet to be fed to cows.Compact calving will identify cows with poor fertility as they will fall out of the breeding herd. In a spread-out pattern, these cows usually remain in the herd as they are harder to identify.Calving is carried out over a short period of time, which allows maximum attention for animal health and welfare. There are fewer distractions with field work or other farming activities.With compact calving, a group of calves can be dehorned in one day, wormed on another and weaned on another, which reduces labour. This is not the case with year-round calving.As all calf management tasks and vaccinations can be carried out at similar times every year, the farm can plan out a cashflow budget.Grazing and housing animals of similar size is easier as there is less risk of injury to smaller animals through bullying.Finishing cattle can be sold in larger batches, which can help to negotiate higher sale prices of in-spec stock.Managing compact calving
Moving from a prolonged calving period to a 12-week period is a positive start to improving herd fertility and output. Within any herd of cows, there will be a few individual cows that will perform poorly due to old age, poor body condition, illness or hard calving/caesarean section. A herd with a 24-week calving spread should move gradually to the 12-week calving spread by removing the stock bull one month earlier every year.
This will ease the transition to compact calving, or batch calving. Moving to a compact calving period does not necessarily result in large numbers of barren cows.
For example, early-calving cows should have cycled four times during a 12-week breeding season, while the problem cows that slip back will have less chance to be bred as they will have had fewer heats.
Therefore, the real problem cows will eventually drop out of the herd. Later-calving cows will still have one to two cycles to conceive and, if they are fertile and well managed, they should go in calf.
A reasonable conception rate for a stock bull is 60% conception on every service. Table 1 outlines the target conception rates for a 100-cow herd bred in a 12-week period. At the end of the breeding season, even at a relatively low conception rate of 50%, approximately six cows will be barren in a 12-week period. The target for an efficient suckler herd is to have 70% to 80% of the herd calved inside six weeks.
Factors influencing cow fertility
A cow needs energy for three basic functions in the following priority:
1. Producing milk for the calf.2. Maintaining body condition (ideally BCS 2.5).3. Get back in calf.Cows should be on a steady diet with an increasing level of energy to meet all these demands. It must be remembered that April-calving cows are coming into heat in June.
Grass quality is important at this point. Cows should be grazing short, vegetative (leafy) grass covers of 10cm to 12cm as they have the highest nutrient content. Putting cows into fields of heavy covers of headed, stemmy grass will reduce conception rates as they cannot eat enough grass to meet their energy demand.
Suckling effect
Although it is more difficult to manage at grass, restricting the calf from suckling the cow can bring cows back into heat sooner. There is only really a need to do this with late-calving cows that run the risk of falling out of the calving pattern, so the numbers involved should be low. Where possible, raising the electric fence to let calves creep ahead of the cows can help to achieve this. It will take two to three days for the calf to learn to creep ahead and for the cow to settle. To start with, just fence off a small corner of field. The calf is still within sight of the cow and this is more likely to work.
Stock bull
In a 40-cow herd, one infertile cow means 39 calves but one infertile bull means zero calves. Ensure that the bull is in good working order prior to use, as lameness and vaccination pre-breeding can cause poor semen production. Young stock bulls in their first breeding season should not be turned into large groups of cows, especially in a compact calving herd. Restrict to 15 to 18 cows and closely monitor the bull.
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