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| We start calving end of April. If the weathers nice we check once in the night during the first cycle as that’s when the bred heifers are calving. If the weather is ugly we check a few times. During the day one will tag, sort and move pairs to their pasture groups. Since we built a calf catcher that is a real easy job for one. The other will feed.
We’ll average 25 a day or so during the first cycle but plan on 40 something if the barometer changes. We have a open front shed with a maternity pen and 6 pens for the first calvers. The cows just have the same setup but it’s outdoors. We’re putting a roof over it this year as it seems the only time we use it is when the weather is ugly.
We’re a few more head than average in my area but there’s certainly some bigger outfits.
When I’m helping my neighbour who isn’t setup the most efficient it’s a bigger pita to calve 70 than 700 on a good setup and management plan. A good effective setup doesn’t necessarily have to cost a lot of $ per head either. Ours certainly isn’t.
Sometimes a straight extrapolation for time invested per head isn’t necessarily correct.
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