by Sandy Johnson, livestock specialist
We choose the length of our calving season by how long we leave the bulls out. Some leave bulls out until it is convenient to remove them and may get away with a reasonable calving period, until they don’t. A recent call reported a frustration with as many cows yet to calve after 60 plus days of calving as had calved in the first or second 21 day periods. Assuming all those remaining calve in the
4th 21-day period, those calves will be 80 to 100 pounds lighter than the early born calves at a common weaning point. If we assume a sale price of
$1.80, that is $144 to $180 in lost value.
It will be important for the producer to work through possible causes of this issue which may include nutrition, genetics, health, male fertility, management or a combination to prevent future occurrence. Consideration may be given to marketing these as bred females as they may fit better in another producer’s system. There are some management actions that can be taken now to hasten rebreeding.
