|
South East SD | When we switched to may 1 calving we never had any problems with breed back, it should actually be better the first year because the cows have more time.
As far as pounds you get in the fall, yes your calves will be smaller but more than likely you'll be selling more head therefore more total pounds. For us we had to look at the big picture, yes calves aren't as big in the fall but total up all your time basically living with those cows in these storms, extra vet costand extra feed for cows. If weather allows we keep our cows on stalks until ground starts thawing so feed and LABOR costs are way down. The replacement heifers might get a little tricky the first year or you might need to buy some. We just kept enough for two years until things got back on track. We also run replacement heifers right with the cows calving and everything, had tremendous luck doing this. At this place it's sink or swim cows and heifers are on our own if you have a bad attitude, udder, don't bred back, do poorly in feedlot they get wheels to town. The way we see it mother nature has the perfect heard and the cows work for me I don't work for them.
I also don't sell seed stock and everything goes into my own feedlot. The one thing that sucks about may calving is 60 puts a guy into the summer | |
|
Another calving in may question
