Late Season Breeding
#bfrdpwy #aginternship #RightRisk
This week we gathered up all the bulls and put them in with the cows. This was interesting to me because it was a little bit later than the traditional time of breeding. While having a conversation with my boss, he explained to me why they do this. They do this for the purpose of having an easier calving season, because the cows calve in the warmer temperatures of May and June. Also, right now the bulls are going into the cows while the cows are able to pick food from a diverse group of forages, which allows them to be in better physical condition. All of this creates a healthy environment where cattle conceive with minimal [external] inputs.
The thing I will challenge this week is the traditional way of calving, very early in the year, while it is still very cold outside. There is no grass. I think this is more difficult on you [(the farmer/rancher)] and your cows to do this. You end up putting more work into keeping your cows in good condition while they are in the middle of winter [and] you spend lots of money on hay and inputs, while battling the cold weather too.
The ranch that I am currently on keeps bulls from a small herd of AI’ed cows. I am interested in learning how other people are trying to create good genetics within their herd and what the best way of doing this is. This week, I spent some time in the book called Herd Bull Fertility by James E. Drayson.
Because of everything I’ve learned this week, I plan on looking into the pros and cons of early calving versus late calving due to marketing and what would best fit a particular operation. I also want to [keep] learning more about genetics within a herd and how to best select bulls for breeding so that you produce quality get good herd genetics.
