Improving Beef Cattle Profitability by Changing Calving Season Length

Breeding Season Length Versus Calving Percentage in Beef Cattle Herds

Long breeding seasons result in long calving seasons. This results in calvings distributed through a range of environmental and nutritional conditions and a disparity in calf maturity at any planned weaning time. It also results in cows entering their period of maximal nutritional requirements over the same range of environmental conditions. Attempts to increase cow and calf productivity often ...

Calving Difficulty in Beef Cattle

Effects of breeding season length and calving season on range beef cow productivity.

A 5-yr study was conducted beginning in 1983 with 460 cows to evaluate the effects of three breeding seasons (30, 45, and 70 d in length) and two times of spring calving, March (early) and April (late), on cattle production under Nebraska Sandhills range conditions. Criteria evaluated included pregnancy and weaning percentages, calving date and distribution, cow weights and body condition at fo...

COW/CALF MANAGEMENT Minimizing Calving Difficulty in Beef Cattle

Calving difficulty (dystocia) contributes heavily to losses in production in beef cow/calf herds. The obvious losses are due to calves or cows that die at or soon after calving. Less noticeable losses are due to delayed rebreeding, more open females, an extended calving season and increased labor costs. While occasional dystocia is almost unavoidable, through proper management, cattlemen can mi...

ALPHARMA Beef Cattle Symposium: Factors Affecting Feedlot Profitability

vide data on ruminal pH (pH = 6.21 ± 0.34), liquid outflow rate (LOR = 12.1 ± 4.0 L/kg DM), and ruminally digested OM (rdOM = 39.5 ± 10.3 % DM). The LOR is an index of buffer recycling/kg DMI and rdOM is an index of VFA production/kg DMI. The compliled data also included dry matter intake (DMI = 2.81 ± .87 % LW) and Acetate/Propionate ratio (A/P = 3.18 ± 0.89). Data were analyzed using GLM proc...