Is it now too late for Breeding??

The Cuban

Any cows getting bulled now are not going to calve until June 2015. Would I be better holding off for until next year (Jan/Feb) to get them back to early calving?

Kovu

Would selling those as culls be an option, then buying in springers that are calving early.
Leaving them off until next Jan/Feb would basically cost you the price of next years weanling and the boarding of a cow through winter.

Do you have the space to put them incalf now and hold the calves through winter next year?

tanko

The Cuban wrote: »

Any cows getting bulled now are not going to calve until June 2015. Would I be better holding off for until next year (Jan/Feb) to get them back to early calving?

If you have a spring calving herd, I'd be showing them the gate.

sandydan

tanko wrote: »

If you have a spring calving herd, I'd be showing them the gate.

depends on whether you are in dairy or suckler cows , also breed condition etc imo

The Cuban

Its tempting to show them the gate, the only thing they have young calves in under them at the moment which will not be reared till December.
Its p1ssing me off all these late calvers, and they seem to slip a month whenever they can.

Kovu

Did you ever get them blooded Cuban? See if they're lacking anything that would cause them to have silent heats or repeat a few times.

sandydan

The Cuban wrote: »

Its tempting to show them the gate, the only thing they have young calves in under them at the moment which will not be reared till December.
Its p1ssing me off all these late calvers, and they seem to slip a month whenever they can.

how young, in good fettle they are selling well at minute,its easy to dry off but if good beef breed hard enough to replace, are you using AI or stock bull. heard last week of fella with 7 empties ,all best beef straws costing...
iodine and copper and selenium help ,and avoid over application of lime

tanko

The Cuban wrote: »

Its tempting to show them the gate, the only thing they have young calves in under them at the moment which will not be reared till December.
Its p1ssing me off all these late calvers, and they seem to slip a month whenever they can.

Oh right, I assumed they had calved early this year. May and June calves can be a pain. Cows can be too fat by then giving calving difficulties. Come October time you are left with a smaller lighter calf than the others. Also the risk of the cows getting mastitis before calving.
Why are your cows slipping back, have you a bull with them or using Ai?

sandydan

an ai man told me once use fresh semen or young test bull on repeats. had heifer last year who couldn't be AI vet told me buy bull, end problem last year had one who bull failed to get in calf this year and AI was used 4 weeks ago heres hoping

Miname

i spent the evening drafting out heifers for breeding and which cows to go with what bulls. i used to hate late calvers as in may and june but it was leg wax here that put the idea of july calvers in my head and i calved down my first last year. i'll be putting 25 to the bulls this year for calving next july / september. You have a serious calf to sell at the start of the weanling sales this time next year. Its easy have a lad a couple of months old heading into the shed thats over the worst of the hardship. they do take a bit of extra feeding with the cows and the calves but i find them easy to manage. your also selling before the glut.

tanko

Miname wrote: »

i spent the evening drafting out heifers for breeding and which cows to go with what bulls. i used to hate late calvers as in may and june but it was leg wax here that put the idea of july calvers in my head and i calved down my first last year. i'll be putting 25 to the bulls this year for calving next july / september. You have a serious calf to sell at the start of the weanling sales this time next year. Its easy have a lad a couple of months old heading into the shed thats over the worst of the hardship. they do take a bit of extra feeding with the cows and the calves but i find them easy to manage. your also selling before the glut.

Interesting idea. The problem I see with selling heavy bulls as weanlings is that if they aren't good enough for the boat there is a very limited market for them now. Will you have to give meal to the cows while they are in the shed?

Miname

tanko wrote: »

Interesting idea. The problem I see with selling heavy bulls as weanlings is that if they aren't good enough for the boat there is a very limited market for them now. Will you have to give meal to the cows while they are in the shed?

The later calvers get a bit of meal cause they might not be settled back in calf, otherwise no or until alls scanned in calf. they get ad lib silage though and they fairly mow through it. calves will get a small bit of ration to keep them moving. the dry cows are very handy kept over the ssummer then and the main hardship is restricting the feed enough.

tanko

Do you have much bother with mastitis during the summer?

Miname

tanko wrote: »

Do you have much bother with mastitis during the summer?

one cow last year in the front quater and the same cow with the same quater this year. otherwise none, ive limo heifers off british friesain with nice bags of milk dropping at the moment and so far so good.I keep the newly calved cows out on bare ground for a week or two after calving till the calf gets that bit more boisterous.

tanko

Miname wrote: »

one cow last year in the front quater and the same cow with the same quater this year. otherwise none, ive limo heifers off british friesain with nice bags of milk dropping at the moment and so far so good.I keep the newly calved cows out on bare ground for a week or two after calving till the calf gets that bit more boisterous.

Not so bad. Would you use Stockholm tar, fly repellant tags or pour ons to prevent it?

Miname

tanko wrote: »

Not so bad. Would you use Stockholm tar, fly repellant tags or pour ons to prevent it?

Nothing, I've never used anything .

The Cuban

The idea of summer/autumn calvers looks good on paper but a 6 to 8 week old calf facing into a wet autumn isn't the thing around here. I think I'll try and wean the. Calves early and run the cows out before the winter.
As for the reason they have slipped out to the summer to calve stems back to the late spring we had 2 years ago. I'm still suffering from that, the cows were late going out of the sheds, were in poor condition and didn't go in calve as soon as they should have.
Its a pity really as I think some of the cows were good breeders/milkers but I can't justify the cost of running them empty for 6-8 months to bring them back to spring calving.

Farrell

Miname wrote: »

i spent the evening drafting out heifers for breeding and which cows to go with what bulls. i used to hate late calvers as in may and june but it was leg wax here that put the idea of july calvers in my head and i calved down my first last year. i'll be putting 25 to the bulls this year for calving next july / september. You have a serious calf to sell at the start of the weanling sales this time next year. Its easy have a lad a couple of months old heading into the shed thats over the worst of the hardship. they do take a bit of extra feeding with the cows and the calves but i find them easy to manage. your also selling before the glut.

There does be good sales in July & they're ideal, or even to sell out of the shef in April.
Did it here, but July doesn't suit us, trying for August/September instead.
Another option to your system is you could finish off grass in November (idea from pudsey which I like)

Miname

Farrell wrote: »

There does be good sales in July & they're ideal, or even to sell out of the shef in April.
Did it here, but July doesn't suit us, trying for August/September instead.
Another option to your system is you could finish off grass in November (idea from pudsey which I like)

This is something I'm aiming for. This year I'm killing heifers at an average age of 18-19 months next year I'm hoping to get them gone at 15-16 with no hard wintering. I reckon it's easier winter a calf than a weanlings. Got to head now another one calving.

sandydan

Miname wrote: »

This is something I'm aiming for. This year I'm killing heifers at an average age of 18-19 months next year I'm hoping to get them gone at 15-16 with no hard wintering. I reckon it's easier winter a calf than a weanlings. Got to head now another one calving.

What weight would you be hoping to have on average at that stage. i recon this year around here cattle at 14-18 months around 360- 400 kg seemed to attain highest €/kg imo. barring Fr who sold better at 650 kg if good square lads imo then they are mostly in 27 month+ bracket

Miname

another nice blonde calf on the ground, standing nearly staight away.
Current heifers here are around 500-580kgs with the lighter ones being the latest. i know theres been better euro per kilo on some of the lighter animals however in general i think the scales needs to go around to make them pay. i think it was bob here used to say there was no time for a store period and i think with the inputs i'll have to put in i should be able to pull an extra few quid per hectare.

Western Pomise

After coming across a nice SHx heifer that's AI'ed since April mad abulling today:(.....March calving here here and she's thick fat so might factory her as she's within age limit.

sandydan

Western Pomise wrote: »

After coming across a nice SHx heifer that's AI'ed since April mad abulling today:(.....March calving here here and she's thick fat so might factory her as she's within age limit.

maybe fat is her problem it was with mine last year, better tail paint rest in case of silent heats and/or put bullock with them. i find since i put buckets of pre calver with them even though they dont touch them at times i seem to have less problems imo