Helpful tips for new breeders/owners: Some new members are buying their first cows, with some already bred or just calving. The most common questions I get are:
When should I get my cows bred again? ( or when should I breed them back?)- This is a loaded question for a number of reasons. First ask yourself, should the cow be bred back? Not every cow is a good candidate for breeding. For example, does the cow have udder issues that are a danger to her health and may additionally risk a calf not getting the nutrition it needs. That may be a cow that has had her last calf. She may need to be put on pasture a bit to be finished out for processing. There are several reasons for when a cow should not be bred back and instead should move to the beef finishing pasture. If the cow is in good condition, then you need to consider the age/gender of her current calf, the time of year it is now, and what month season would you like to have another calf hit the ground. Typically people calve in either spring or fall, but there are breeders who calf year round, especially in warmer climates like Texas and Louisiana. However, if you are going to have a temperature related problem with calving in Texas or Louisiana it is likely related to heat and not cold.
When would they calf if they were with a bull on a certain month?- check out the ADCA Dexter Gestation Calendar below to help you pin down probable dates of calving.
Does it matter when I get them bred? Assuming the cow is in good condition to begin with, it does matter, especially here in Texas. With our hot summers, it would be best to avoid calving during the really hot months, like July and August. On our farm we tend to shoot for early spring since we have several barns/shelters to use if we get freezing rain in Dallas. Other breeders choose the cooler fall days to have their herd calve. Also, the fertility of the bull decreases as the outside temps rise (heat stress), so it is better to get those cows caught, outside of that hot temp window.
Here in Texas, we tend to put our bull in by the time the calves are 2 months old or so, taking care not to leave the bull in with any young heifers once they are 4 months old. One reason we do this so early is that we can stay on our normal early spring calving schedule. Also, we allow our bull calves to remain intact longer than some, so we need to get their dams bred back to avoid any unnecessary stress in cows cycling and/or inbreeding between son/dam. Also, cows are strange, in that, a cycling cow will try to mount just about anything, including a young calf. I don't like to leave the cows open any longer than necessary to avoid calves getting injured by the cycling cow shenanigans that go on. As you can see there are several things to consider, much more than stated here, when breeding a cow back or getting ready for calving season.
More content to come soon on this topic