Factors in calving difficulty
Iknow a great majority of my readers are not in the cattle business. Keep in mind that we estimate Gordon County has approximately 10,000 brood cows. The great majority of those producers are in the cow/calf business, where weaned calves are sold at local sale barns or sold in group loads.
We do have some farms that specialize in raising registered bulls and registered or commercial females to folks needing a herd sire or replacement females. We do have a sector that will raise show quality cattle for 4-H and FFA youth to exhibit area, regional, state and national shows. Within these groups, you will have some producers that will specialize in breeding cattle to nationally known sires by artificial insemination or will use embryo transfer to maximize genetics from superior cows in the herd.
No matter if you raise cattle for your living, a hobby farmer or have a few cows as pets, it is a disappointment when you lose a calf at birth or soon after due to calving difficulty. Cattle will have on the average a 283day gestation period and it can be deflating to lose a calf at birth. Each calf lost can also make it tough to make a profit on the farm.
Today I will be sharing information from a UGA publication that was revised by my friend and former UGA Extension Animal Science expert Ted G. Dyer.
For starters, as far as survival in the life of a calf, the time at birth is the most critical. Our information discusses a Montana study that took place over a 15 year period in a disease-free herd. Of the calves lost, more than twice as many calves were lost at the time of calving that at any other time from birth to weaning. The study also showed that of the calves lost at or around calving that 51% were because of calving difficulty. I will add that the second most common cause of death was due to mainly scours or pneumonia.
I will admit that for the bulk of the cattle producers in the area, you are not calving out in the hot summer months. Many will start calving out in the early fall with a bulk of producers not calving till later in the fall and will finish up calving before spring. I would say look at this article as a refresher in preparation for your calving season.
I would like to stop and promote a beef cattle reproductive workshop that we will host on the late afternoon into early evening of Tuesday, Aug. 6, at the Gordon County Agricultural Service Center. Dr. Lee Jones, UGA College of Veterinary Medicine; Jason
Duggin, UGA beef specialist; and I will be the speakers on reproductive management of the beef herd. If you will email me or call the office we will be happy to send you a flyer with workshop details.
Many cattle producers like to blame the breed of the bull for the calving problems because of heavy birth weights and large frame size. Keep in mind that there are bulls in each breed that can cause calving problems, or also known as dystocia, when bred to certain females. Our info advises to try to match the type of sire to that of the female.
One example is not breeding large framed sires to small framed heifers. In fact, when breeding heifers, you should use bulls that have been proven to produce low birth weight calves. In the cattle business, producers many times can go back to past calving records or the EPDs for registered bulls.
EPD stands for expected progeny differences and there is a birthweight EPD where a person can compare bulls against the breed average for that trait.
Temperature can play a part on calf weight at birth. Yes, using a low birthweight EPD bull can reduce some of the calving difficulties, but note that environmental factors can be the culprit in 55% of calving issues. You can have calf birth weights vary greatly from year to year even if you are using the same genetics and management in the herd. There are studies that show that calves born in the fall weigh less at birth than calves born in winter and spring.
The main reason for this is because the cow or heifer is getting increased nutrient intake from supplemental feeding. One study showed that calf birth weights increase by 1 pound and calving difficulty increasing by 2.6% for each 1 degree Fahrenheit reduction in average winter temperature. I will add that if you are in the cattle business you should study up on impacts of pre-calving feeding. Reduced feeding may reduce cow weight gain, decrease milk production, increase calf scour events and decrease pregnancy rates.
Do not forget that abnormal presentations of the calf during delivery can cause some of the calving issues for a producer.
Again, do not forget about registering for the Aug. 6 beef reproductive management workshop.