Changing calving time - How soon to introduce the bull

Bridgehouse · Post by **Bridgehouse** » Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:45 pm

This year I have calved in June and July but would like to calve earlier - probably April/May time. Has anyone got any advice at what stage I dare introduce the bull after calving to advance the calving pattern or am I likely to encounter problems? Has anyone run the bull in their herd immediately after calving?

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 7:42 am

In a word yes. In one group the bull is staying throughout. One heifer has calved with the bull present (in a field, not indoors) and the heifer is now with the bull again and amongst other waiting to calve. I have a friend who has 650 Angus and he does this quite regularly. But we remove the bull when any young heifer calves get to about 10 weeks old. Our records indicate it is unlikely the cow will get in calf again before a month after calving. I don't know whether that's just our farm or the general situation.

I think there was a discussion on this a few months ago if you would like to search for it?

Good luck. We've just spend a few years getting our calving manily in the spring and we're almost there but not quite.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1248936215

CarolineL · Post by **CarolineL** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 3:19 pm

Thanks for the question Mark and your reply Clive. I was wondering the same thing myself. We've just had one calved last weekend and 2 more to go and I want to avoid letting it get any later next year. Will have a search of the topics to find out more!

Many thanks
Caroline

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:21 pm

I often have a bull in with my cows when calving outside. He will know when they are in season and they will only get in calf when they are ready. Bulls are normally very good around calves and very tolerant of their antics. I had a young bull once that used to play with the calves, chasing and being chased. He quite often used to babysit the group of calves when mums wandered off grazing. Oh, and he never missed a bulling cow or heifer.

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 9:22 pm

Is there a reason why you wouldnt run your bull with the herd at calving? obviously if you want to control your calving period then hold you bull back to when it suits you. am i missing something?

last year i left my angus bull with the cows all winter and through calving with no problems. i calved this year at a similar period to last year. i assumed it was nature regulating the calving pattern.
this year i removed the bulls as i wanted to calve a month later in april.

dominic

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:04 pm

Dom, If you keep the bull with the cows all the time you must pull back your calving date. If a cow takes on her first season after calving she will calve roughly two months earlier. The reason I had run the bull with calving cows was to do just that.
I am switching to January calving (because it suits my situation) and the bull will only be with the cows for April and May giving Jan/Feb calving.

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:34 pm

If you mean to maintain a 365 day calving interval, the cow should be bulled as soon after56 days calved as possible. Not all will conceive to first service, so in a large herd it will average out. You should have seen every cow in season within 42 weeks of calving, if not and you want to be on target it is time to have her examined by your vet. Before 42 days, the conception rate is lower the closer to calving you go. If you are wanting to bring forward your herd calving then this can be done to a certain extent but not by too much or the conception rate is poor and the calvings the next year will be more spread out. The tighter you can keep them the easier it is to manage them.
If you have a spread out calving pattern and are also trying to bring the calving earlier then it will be inevitable that the bull will be in with the earlier calved ones before the last ones have calved, so the bull will be present when some are calving. Bulls vary in behaviour, and though I have not seen it with Dexters some bulls try persistently to serve new calved, and I mean within minutes let alone days. These cows have all the pelvic ligaments slack to allow calving and are much more prone to injury than at other times, so for that reason it may be better to avoid the bull being with the calving cows. Some bulls will also injure young calves - maybe they start playing with them, or maybe they just try to put them in their place - it happens more with bull calves, but they can be seriously damaged. As others have pointed out herds with a spread calving pattern are also more likely to have heifer calves served by the bull, and I think Dexters are probably worse for this problem than other breeds.

Duncan

wagra dexters · Post by **wagra dexters** » Fri Jul 31, 2009 4:06 am

From personal experience, it's not a good idea to keep a bull in with the springers. Some bulls won't leave the cows alone when they start calving.
Then a cow could have some grazing that needs a while to heal properly. Cows may also exude mess occasionally for at least up to calving heat. Any infection could spread.
Forty days is early enough to depasture cows to bring calving time forward over a couple of years.
Margaret

wagra dexters · Post by **wagra dexters** » Sat Aug 01, 2009 2:09 pm

Depasture cows with the bull, I mean.
Margaret

Edited By wagra dexters on 1249132264