It’s finally spring and our cows are just starting to calve. This is my favorite time of year. The temperatures make it feel like we are summer calving this year! We haven’t dropped below freezing for a couple of weeks now.
We aren’t due to start calving until the first part of April, but we already have calves on the ground. By the time we hit our due date, we will be a third of the way done calving.
With Pharo genetics, we generally check cows once a day. The heifers calve out with the cows in big, open pastures and rarely have issues. We haven’t done midnight heifer checks in over 20 years. My kids never got to experience the sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and frustration of checking heifers around the clock.
Many management decisions are based on the data collected at calving. In addition to birthweight, we make observations on the cow’s disposition, maternal abilities, BCS, udder conformation, feet, and calf vigor. I enjoy seeing the fruits of the breeding decisions I made and I’m already thinking ahead to the bulls I will use the next season.
If you are suffering from lack of sleep from midnight heifer checks or the stress of pulling calves, it’s time to make a change. There is an easier way to calve out heifers. Start with genuine calving-ease bulls from PCC. In a couple of years when those calves are bred heifers, the amount of babysitting will be substantially reduced. Eventually, midnight checks will be a thing of the past!
Don’t miss the opportunity to find a PCC® bull that fits your needs at one of the spring bull sales. Some of the bulls are even guaranteed for calving ease. Who else does that? It’s time to put the fun back into calving season!
Quote Worth Re-Quoting
“I’m going to stop putting things off – starting tomorrow.” ~ Sam Levenson
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