Although we are calving in sync with nature, there isn’t much green grass. Becky Pharo took the following short video late last week.
Although we are calving in sync with nature, there isn’t much green grass. Becky Pharo took the following short video late last week.
When calving in sync with nature, what months are you including? I see, from your bull sale catalog, in the Colorado section, bulls born in March through April. In the Missouri section, bulls are born mid August to November. In the Texas section, most bulls were born in September to October. Apparently, it can depend on where in the country one is raising cattle?
Thank you for answering my questions.
Scott,
Good question. I should have said, “Calving in sync with our best forages.” The best time to calve is when your forage resources are the best – and hopefully the cows are gaining weight. With drought, that is not always possible. For most of North America, the forage resources are best in late May and early June. That is when the wild ungulates have their babies. The bulls we sell in our Colorado fall bull sale were born in May and June.
When God created Missouri, there was no endophyte-infected fescue. Now, however, fescue is the dominate forage from the Kansas/Missouri border to the Atlantic coast of Virginia. We call that the fescue belt. Endophyte-infected fescue is most toxic to cattle late-spring and summer. Fescue is best in the fall and winter months. Therefore, we practice fall-calving in fescue country.
Much of Texas and other gulf-coast states no longer have much native grass. Where there is native grass, calving in sync with nature works – as long as the cows are adapted to the environment. Where introduced grasses and annuals are grazed, fall-calving seems to work best. When you get down into southwest Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico, the monsoon rains don’t start until late July. That is when the smart ranchers calve. That is also when the deer have their babies.
In Mediterranean climates like parts of California and the Pacific Northwest, winter calving seems to work best.
The bulls we sell in Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, Montana, Canada, and the Colorado fall sale are all 18 months of age. They are all developed on grass. The bulls we sell in our Colorado spring sale are yearlings. They were born in March and April. That is not in sync with nature or with our best forages – but we can it work. These bulls are developed on hay and a non-starch supplement. The primary reason we sell yearlings in Colorado is because we do not have enough grass to develop them on grass.
Thank you, Kit, for your reply and information. Very helpful.