When the weather starts cooling, it doesn’t only mean that football season is around the corner, it also means that a large percentage of cattle farms in this region are beginning one of the most intense and busy seasons: calving time. Fall calving allows for many different options when marketing, but that’s a different topic for a different article. Here we’re going to look at management and some issues to watch for.
- Pasture
o Make sure you have a pasture ready for calving. Hopefully this pasture is clean with plenty of good forage available. We need to take care of the cows and their calves need to have a good place to begin their lives. We typically designate a “clean” pasture as a pasture that hasn’t been grazed in 6-12 months. However, many farms cannot accommodate that. If we can get anywhere from 2-4 months, our pastures are “clean-er” and we can hopefully look to improve the chances of disease and heavy parasite (worm) loads on our animals.
- Body Condition Scoring
o This is a very important concern when we start looking forward to calving season. As a general rule of thumb, we prefer to see heifers in a BCS of 6-6.5 at calving time, and cows in a BCS of 5-5.5. We need to start looking at our animals at least 30-60 days prior to calving to allow for bringing them to the appropriate level if they are lacking.
- Calving Difficulty
o Know the proper presentation for a calf. Make sure you have a calving “toolbox” prepared. A toolbox should include OB chains and handles, lubricant, calf jack (optional), gloves/palpation sleeves, and a flashlight with new batteries. If you are having problems, it may be a good idea to give your regular veterinarian a call so they will be prepared to come assist you. If you haven’t had any progress within 30 minutes it is advisable to get your veterinarian to come out.
- Health Concerns
o Here is a list of some issues generally seen during the fall and winter seasons:
§ Hypocalcemia (milk fever)
· Cow will not be able to stand, if she does, she will stagger and soon fall. Advanced stages will have them down and their head and neck will be facing their back end.
§ Hypomagnesemia (grass tetany)
· Cow will stagger; advanced stages will have the cow down and displaying convulsions. This is usually put under “spring season” illnesses, but is also prevalent in the fall season because of increased grass growth.
§ Pregnancy Toxemia
· One of the first noted abnormalities is often loss of body condition over 1-2 weeks. Decreased appetite, rumination, fecal production, and nose-licking are general signs of illness. With time, affected cows become markedly depressed, and weak.
Developing a management plan for your operation can help your cattle throughout the fall calving season and into winter. Many of the health concerns listed are treatable with proper minerals and good quality forage.
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