A bit more on calving

Having thought a bit more about my last post I remembered I had missed out a teny weeny bit that has been on my mind all day (grantd it has been a wet day so Ive been looking for "alternative " farming things to do).

The management of the cow up to and at calving probably has more bearing on whats going to happen when the contractions start than anything else. Monitoring the cows body condition during pregnancy to make sure she is getting enough energy to maintain herself and grow the calf without making her fat and the calf too big is all too often overlooked.

Not only is this relevant to calving time but also to the old finances. I asked a well know cattle researcher what was the difference between calving at CS 5 and CS 7 (they use a 0-9 scale in the USA) and he responded it was the amount of feed you had wasted putting on un-necessary fat. The benefits in terms of calf growth, milk production and improvement in conception rates were negligible.

Lets not overlook the mineral status of the cows either. There is no excuse nowdays for cows not receiving adequate levels of minerals and vitamins in a normal year. The weather we have endured through the last 2 summers is an exception. There are lots of routes to get minerals into cows, Boluses, in the water, powdered free access weather proof, drenches, dusted on pasture or my least favourite the bucket. Buckets arent entirely bad but you just need to be picky about the type and the levels of the various mins and vits. These play a role in the calves health status, the cows immunity, the colostrum quality, calving and rebreeding.

Im also wondering about the fact many cows are calving indoors at the minute and how much the lack of exercise and movement affects their ability to calve. I dont know if anyone has researched this officially or unofficially when they are on the night shift but it would be interesting to hear any opinions.

Heres a useful bit of pub quiz info for you. Did you know a cows body temperature will rise a few degrees it the hours before she calves?

Bovine nutrition is just about as complicated as everything else involving them, but like breeding it shows how many things are inter-related and dependant on something else happening that you might never think of.