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Cold weather calving, feeding timeBy Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent, agriculture Kansas This bitter cold snap causes me to remember how much I dislike winter. If it weren't for basketball, I don't know if I would survive it. I was watching the football playoff game between the Packers and the Giants with 20 something below wind chill (just the third coldest game ever played). My mind drifted back to the ice bowl game between the Cowboys and the Packers on the last day of 1967 (considered to be one of the greatest games ever played). Then my mind wandered briefly from football to days gone by when I fed cattle in the cold weather and we had calves born on what seemed the coldest days. Beef cow-calf producers, I envy you only when the weather is nice, not when it's that cold. Maybe it's like the football game. If you and the calf can survive, it builds character and you can savor the victory more. I thought it might be the right time to talk about some things related to calving time. Some of you have cows and heifers calving now and some not start until March or April. Actually, calves can tolerate quite a bit of cold if they can stay dry. The mother will clean them up and then as long as they aren't getting rained on or laying in snow, they usually can stand the elements. On first calf heifers, it's usually important that you be around to check on them periodically in case they need assistance. For me it was always more fun if you could do that in the daytime and not staying up all night. That's where you have better knowledge than we had back then. You can partially predict when they are going to calve. This is based on when you feed those cows. The time of day that cows are fed during the calving season can influence the time when calves are born. Cows fed at night tend to calve during the daylight hours (when you have an opportunity to watch them more closely). This method of management was developed by Gus Konefal, Canadian Hereford breeder. The system involves feeding twice daily, once at 11 a.m. to 12 noon and again at 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. This practice should be started about one month before the first calf is born and continue for the duration of the calving season. Konefal reported that using this regime, 80 percent of his cows calved between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. In the most convincing study to date, 1331 cows on 15 farms in Iowa were fed once daily at dusk, 85 percent of the calves were born between 6 a.m., and 6 p.m. Whether cows were started on the night feeding the week before calving started in the herd or 2 to 3 weeks earlier made no apparent difference in calving time. Scientists at USDA-ARS, Miles City, also conducted a three-year study on feeding time. Their results were not as dramatic. However, the percentage of cows calving from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., was consistently 10 to 20 percent lower for the late-fed cows compared with the early-fed cows. Similar research at the Brandon, Manitoba research station indicated a 13.5 percent reduction in the number of cows calving between midnight and 7 a.m. However, research conducted in Indiana with dairy cows showed no particular benefit to night feeding. On many large ranches, it is physically impossible to feed all of the cows after 5 p.m. In those instances, the producer should plan to feed the mature cows earlier in the day, then feed the first calf heifers at dusk. The heifers, of course, are the group of females that are of greatest need of observation during the calving season. This is not brand new information, nor is it 100 percent consistent. However, there is evidence to support feeding from 4 in the afternoon until 7 in the evening, rather than morning feeding, if you want calves born in the daylight hours. If you are calving now this information won't help you but if you are calving a month or more from now it will. Various means have been employed to effectively reduce animal loss at calving time. Skilled personnel should be available to render obstetric assistance and neonatal care to maximize percentage calf crop weaned in the cattle operation. Currently, evening feeding of cattle seems to be the most effective method of scheduling parturition so assistance can be available during daylight hours. 1/28/08 Date: 1/24/08
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