Managing the Length of the Calving Season in Commercial Beef Cattle Operations

Mar 23, 2021

By Jordan Thomas

Managing the length of the calving season

Figure 1. Managing the length of the calving season has significant implications for the profitability of a commercial cow-calf operation.

Managing the time of year in which cows calve can have significant implications for the profitability of a cow-calf operation (Figure 1). Cow-calf herds with no defined calving season are labor-intensive and potentially very inefficient, with significant management and marketing challenges due to widely varied cow requirements and calf age. Meeting the nutritional requirements of lactating cows is far more expensive during certain times of the year due to a lack of high-quality forage available for grazing. Likewise, some portions of the year present challenges for newborn calf survival without significant investments in facilities and labor for intervention. Management for a short, defined calving period is therefore a major opportunity to reduce costs and optimize productivity of the cow herd.

Source : missouri.edu

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.