Calving Groups

Today on the farm we gathered the older "geriatric cows" and moved them to their spring calving pastures.

Those of you living South of I80 may be noticing that the lawns, road ditches, and pastures are starting to look a little greener. On the farm we call this time of year green up. For Pinhook Farm and some other outfits this is the time of year we like to see the majority of our cows start to calve. By calving this time of year I am able to meet the cows nutritional needs more with grass than supplemental feed and I reduce labor costs by not having to warm calves chilled by the cold. The primary argument to calve earlier is to have a bigger calf to sell in the fall. I believe if producers would study markets and costs they would see this argument is not sound.

So far we have only been calving heifers. Heifers are one of three management groups on the farm. Heifers require the most intense care and start three weeks before the rest of the cows. This strategy is for two reasons. 1.) I can focus all my attention on the needs of the heifers without being distracted by the other cows. 2.) This gives the heifer an additional 3 weeks to recover from calving and prepare to be rebred. The other calving groups are the "main group" which is made up of 3 to 11 year olds and 3.) the geriatric group, (who I delt with today) made up of cows 12 and older.

My reason for forming the geriatric group is about 25% genetics and 75% economics. In theory your youngest cows should have the most desirable genetics to help achieve your goals. For the most part this is true. But sometimes we do make mistakes so the old cows still matter.On the economic side as a group the old cows are the least productive in the herd. By keeping them separate they can be culled if summer grass starts to run short because of drought. The economic benefit is the market for cull cows is highest in the summer months. This whole system is the opposite of collective bargaining and works quite well.

First step in moving a group of cows is having a way to catch them. The piece of equipment behind my truck is a Wilson One Man Coral. This is one of the greatest inventions available to a livestock producer.

 In about 10 minutes one person can set the coral. This is very useful when catching cows in remote areas. Because of the risk of theft it's not a good idea to have permanent catch pens where they can't be monitored.

With the help of a bucket of grain the cows are already caught and here they are being loaded on the trailer to move to their calving pasture.

 Unloading

 Checking out their new surroundings.