Question for the cattlemen- moving calving season

Ive had about enough of trying to calve and always end up with crappy weather that just curses me. Went out this morning and found a calve frozen solid(literally)

We used to calve anywhere between jan and may. I always hated dealing with the cold so I pushed it off until april-may with a few stragglers through the summer.

Now im tempted to push it off even further and just calve on grass. Am I crazy for doing this? How far can I push it?

We keep our calves for a year and sell them as yearlings.

What do you folks think?

I think calving time makes very little difference these days as far as timing the market for the highest demand. Wheat pasture back grounding of calves is not near as important as it was just a few years ago due to the availability of cheap corn co-products produced by the ethanol industry. The result is a steadier calf market year round as more and more calves go straight to the feedlots at weaning weights, those feeders have to keep those pens full year round at todays margins. The most controllable variable that puts the most money in the cow/calf mans pocket is having his calves on an approved vaccination program and bunk broke at 45 days plus from weaning, those type of calves bring the top money in any month of the year.

I don't turn the bulls out until July 15th at the very earliest anymore here in Michigan. The 20th is even better. I used to turn them out around June 25th or so,but I can about guarantee you the first week of April here will suck,no matter what it's like in March.
Even calving late April is no guarantee,but the odds are a whole lot better. Try it is all I can say. Somebody will probably try to preach to you that you're selling pounds,but what does it do to your enthusiasm when you loose calves left and right?

ya I was turning him out the last week of june but 2-3 weeks later might make a good bit of difference.

Its pretty hard to sell the pounds when the calve is dead.

With the price of corn, it might be easier to add the extra pounds I might loose calving a few weeks earlier.

I always aimed for easter we always had good weather about then and as easter changes every year it still seemed to work. Have neighbors selling bulls and they calve early we also have a lot of fat happy eagles there fence rows are full of dead calves can't see much profit in feeding a cow for 2 years and one calf.
One trick to try and I don't remember this exactly but if you feed the cows in late evening for some reason they will calve in the daytime maybe someone knows what that is . I feed mine after work and most would calve in the day.

Friend of mine worked away from the farm full time, and ran around 20 cows. My brother , who was a police man , also ran some beef cows 20-30 head. They shared a bull. Brother let the bull out with his cows near the end of August . Our buddy usually got the bull week or so before Christmas . Brother owned the bull , Buddy got free use of the bull for boarding him over winter, bull went back to my brothers in May. These two did this for many years. During the 1990's my brother would sell his calves in March , Buddy sold his calves in May, just in time for grass. Brothers cows needed to be dried off, so they could have some rest time before they calved out again. My Buddy's cows had almost three months of grass pasture before they had their next calf , and were in great shape , and milked well all through the fall. Buddy's calves had a grain creep feeder, and never looked back when cold weather came. While my brothers calves always weighed more , My Buddy always got .20-.25 cents per pound more for the lighter calves to go out to grass. Both ways work. And no frozen calves

You'll lose a few on grass, but it's not due to weather.
Place I just left calves late April through June, few stragglers in july. Turn the cows out and check the water, mineral, put a few protein tubs out. Tag, brand, cut in July sometime, wean late October, sell in January.

You will want to calve your heifers a little earlier and keep them close to home in case they have trouble.

Steve move your calving date back to May/June and your life will be much better. I will take a live calf with the Momma standing in knee high GREEN grass any day over a dead calf in the bad weather of Feb., March, or April. The fellows that want to MAX the market are welcome to calve in the dead of winter if they want. I can turn just as much profit and have an easier life by calving later in the year. My bull goes into the pasture in Late July and early Aug. I am far enough north that the heat does not seem to effect the bull much any way too. He can work nights for all I care. LOL

Now the business side of the things. If your wanting to sell the BIG feeder calves in the fall then early calving does have SOME advantages on gross income. However I have seen the numbers show it is not as big of an advantage on the net profit as many cattle men think. Since you talking about keeping your calves for an entire year then the later calving will make even less of a difference. Now this assumes you have the calves ready for the feed yard at a year old. Meaning already on feed and all the vet stuff done. If you have uncut bulls at that age your going to get hammered. If they are just being grass feed and not bunk broke then you will lose more on a large calf too.

Now handling the later calves for a year later resale. Get them on feed ASAP. It does not have to be a heavy feed ration but get them on feed well before winter. For myself this is a CHEAP ration as it is mostly tub ground hay with a liquid supplement and some corn. It can be pretty crappy hay and it works because of the liquid supplement has a molasses base. I have even used good dry corn stalks if I am short on hay. Then when these calves are in the 700-800 lbs. range, market them. That is the size a lot of the confinement feeder guys want for the slat floor buildings. They have foot troubles with smaller cattle on them. These heavy feeder calves always have a good market here in Iowa. So if you live away, then market better than just selling at the local sale barn. So lock that bull up right now an let him in Late July and early August and then watch the neighbors suffer in the cold wet next spring. Then you can enjoy calving during better weather.

That is my way of business. I calve 100-120 cows each year, for over 35 years. So I may not know much but I like my way better than the early calving way.

this is pretty much what I plan on doing. I don't want to leave it to late because hunting for a calf in long grass and bushes is no fun either.

When I wean the calves in the fall, they get sent to a different farm where they are kept inside for the winter on hay and a bit of corn. Once grass comes, they have more than enough pasture for the year, then I send them to the sale.

Steve your plan sounds like a good one to me. I like checking the cows to be taking some buckets of feed out to them and just checking the ones that are not there. I do that three times each day during calving. Any cows that look like their having issues are moved into one of two smaller pastures where I can easily keep a closer eye on them. I really like not having set up nights worrying about catching calves before they freeze in bad weather.

I actually like my fall calving heifers better. They are even easier.

I've tried calving in early June but UP here our black flies can be so bad at that time that the momma cows won't stand still long enough to birth a calf and once it comes out they usually won't want anything to do with it and won't let it nurse because the flies are so bad. Last June calf I had was blind because while in labor the flies ate the calves eyes right out of its head.

I take a little extra time and precaution and calve in the middle of April thru May. Make sure to check the cows often and get calves warm and dry if the weather is bad. By fly season the calves are old enough they can withstand the flies better.

Every area has it's own unique weather patterns so each producer has to make a decision based on his area. Here in Arkansas I used to calve from December to april. A few winters ago we had a couple of Decembers and early March years when the weather was unusually cold and snowy. I changed my calving to October November and April. I'm trying to completely stop calving in the spring. Summers here are hard on cattle. Getting cows bred in the summer is sometime difficult if the weather is extra hot and humid. The spring calves also don't grow as well as the fall calves.

Here in Fairfield, MT a lot of my neighbors start calving the end of January. They either have some dead calves or they live with them 24 7. I start calving the last week of march (this year Easter Sunday). I check my cows about 7 in the morning and the wife does it during the day and I check again just before dark when I feed. I have 19 to calve this year and so far we have 9 on the ground born between 7am and 7pm. I am a firm believer in nighttime feeding for daytime calving. I never check my cows at night. We wean end of Oct or first of Nov and the steers will weigh 700+ pounds. This works for me. Bud

Why not go the other way and calve em in September and October ? That might not work depending where you are either. I finally moved mine to mid April first of May and never been happier light calves bring more than heavy ones though it seems to work our about the same. I'd rather have a light calf that lives than ones that will wean at 600 lbs if he doesn't get stomped in the mud or gets the scours then dies after you work your butt off trying to save it .

We try to have the spring calves arrive in April/May. I absolutely do not want calves to be born in the winter mud! Our first calf for 2016 just arrived April 1.

I missed where you are from, but I raise cattle in Northeastern SD/Western MN. We calve on grass in May and June. It gets busy taking care of calves and planting a crop, but the weather rarely gives us trouble for calving. The beef research unit in Dickinson, ND has made the change from early spring to early summer calving, and there are a few articles online that describe that process. Google BeefTalk with Kris Ringwall for some of that info... Personally, I don't know any other calving season than May/June, so I can't compare it to calving at any other time of the year for you. But I know the big disadvantage of May/June calving is having a lighter calf to sell in the fall. We background all our calves and run them on grass the next summer, then finish them on our place. If you plan to run yearlings, I think the light-weight feeder calf disadvantage wouldn't really apply to your situation. If you live where it gets really hot in the summer, having cows over-conditioned and calving could result in more work for you to help them calve. But it should take less winter feed to maintain a cow calving later, scours shouldn't bother as much, and you should have calves hitting the ground at the peak of forage quality for the cows to milk well on. Good Luck!
Lon

Another thing that helps during calving is get rid of the mangers in the field the cows pull hay out the calf thinks oh a nice warm bed then the cows comes and the calf gets tromped in the mud

thanx for the ideas. Just to get an idea, I am in south western Ontario Canada. We are currently having a decent snow storm and its been below freezing all day. Im just sick of the cold wet muddy calving.

I only have 20 cows but I do work part time for a feed company. I am a one man show so if I don't do it, no one does.

I think I can manage field work and calving at the same time. I can see the cows from every field I farm so im never to far away.