By Jeramy McNeely

Calving Heifers in the Daytime

Back when I was a young whipper snapper, while I was doing my student teaching and trying to finish up my 3^rd senior year of college, I had the opportunity to help calve heifers on the Collins Ranch.  For those of you that don’t know, calving heifers can be quite the chore.  It’s not as bad now with all the progress producers have made in the world of genetics and low birth weights, but they still require a little extra attention than do your older cows.  It was on the Collins Ranch that I learned if you feed them in the evening, they are more likely to calve during the daylight hours.  I can’t remember how many there were that year, 250-300 maybe, but I only remember a handful calving and 2 or 3 that I had to pull during my night checks.

We would pull them into the corrals and feed hay, then in the morning kick them out in the trap where they would get caked.  Low and behold, most of them would go off and calve soon after, making it a lot easier to assist them if needed.  Then I could get them tagged and in 2 or 3 days, sort the pairs off into a bigger pasture.  It really worked slick and honestly was one of the most fun jobs I ever had.

Now that I’ve bored you with my past, Mr. Tim Trosper brought in an article off of BeefProducer.com talking about this very thing.  It is in the February 2017 edition and written by Alan Newport.  It’s worth a read and can be found at http://www.beefproducer.com/calving/calve-heifers-daytime-really.  If we can assist you in finding more information on this or other topics, call or come in the office.  We’re here to serve!