Calving indoors or outdoors.

High bike

just wondering people's thoughts on the pros and cons of suckler cows calving outside.

Bullocks

High bike wrote: »

just wondering people's thoughts on the pros and cons of suckler cows calving outside.

I prefer them calving outside , usually in a field beside the house . It is handy to have them near a pen or shed if you have to use the jack all the same

Kovu

Most of ours calve indoors as we have a six month winter here :rolleyes:
However there are always a few that carry onto summer and will calve outside. Benefits are visible immediately for it. The calf can get purchase on the ground and will be up and about far faster than a calf indoors slipping on concrete. Also seem far hardier after a couple of days as they gallop about and keep warm that way, no stuffy shed incubating disease. No shíte under their navel to transmit infection.

A paddock area joining onto a shed/sheltered area would be the optimum for us.

Miname

all calved in the calving pens but out as soon as calved if the weather is anyway suitable. its more for the case of being able to throw the jack on or a calf coming wrong. i dont usually have the time to chase the giddy ones. we lost a calf a couple of years ago that got caught at the hips and the cow had just gone stone cracked, the calf was hanging out of her dead for a coupe of hours before i got her in.

onyerbikepat

Much the same as above. Outside is cleaner and cow has plenty of room to stretch out. Also easier for calf to stand up and cow too if she is a bit weak after calving. You use far less straw too. Outside not good if you have to use jack or if cow is a bit wild. Always dangerous to go near calf then.
Calf indoors a lot more now since I got calving camera. A small paddock near the shed would be ideal and you can have the best of both worlds then. Easy to move from one to the other then, as needs be.

blue5000

All out here, sheltered paddock near the yard, springers get fed on slats and if assistance needed can walk them down feed passage to crush if needs be.

Calving starts in March, later dry cows graze behind main bunch, shove calf under the wire and cow follows. Ok I'm not getting big 400kg weanlings, but no scours, vets, pneumonia. Bord bia auditor could not believe no calves got a jab all year except for worms and blackleg vaccine.

High bike

That's more or less what I have been doing ,calving out in a nice dry sheltered spot but near enough to the yard in case there's a problem.It worked well enough so far the only problem is they'r calving a bit earlier this year ,early Feb so hoping for half decent weather

Bodacious

I calve them out and prefer to leave them out if I can at all ,.. weather dependent of course but I find if they get a good suck and weather is reasonable they adapt very quickly and find the sheltered pockets quickly


that been said I had 3 cows calf in snowy weekend early feb and all three got thrown up on the quad bike and in.. hard to put them back out then for a while and those 3 calves themselves used to head into the straw bed in shed (located on winterage) cows happier out with the others