Managing breeding herds before mating

The aim as a beef producer is to match the nutritional requirements of the breeding herd to the seasonal pattern of pasture supply.

In many areas of Victoria there are two periods of growth:

• autumn
• spring.

These periods are separated by a period of low growth in winter.

The summer period is generally dry, and irrigation is used in some districts to extend the pasture-growing season. In East Gippsland there may be summer rainfall that extends the growth of pasture into the late spring and summer.

Time of calving

Time of calving is a major management decision that affects the matching of the cow and calve's needs to pasture production.

A spring-born calf has to spend a few months on dry summer pasture  when it is still quite young; whilst an autumn-born calf is grazing an abundance of spring pasture during this equivalent stage of growth. The spring-born calf is often weaned early and given preferential feeding during the autumn.

In areas of summer rainfall or on properties with irrigation, the spring growing period is extended and spring-born calves may grow similarly to autumn-born calves.

Autumn-calving cows are joined with bulls in winter when little pasture grows. Calving cows must be managed so that they calve in a body condition that will allow them to utilise body reserves during this period and ensure that they do not fall below a body condition that will be detrimental to their fertility.

Spread of calving

There are advantages in managing the entire herd to calve down during a set period, rather than extending calving over many months or over the entire year.

Restricted versus unrestricted calving

Most beef producers restrict the mating period to about 9 to 12 weeks. You should aim to get as many of the cows pregnant during the first three weeks of mating so that they will have a good chance of conceiving again early in the next joining period.

Restricting calving spread enables more controlled management.

If all cows are at about the same stage of pregnancy:

• supplementary feeding will be more effective.

If calving is unrestricted:

• pregnant cows may well receive more than their requirements, and lactating cows may receive much less than they need during mating.

Extended calving

Extended calving periods mean unnecessarily prolonged demand for supervision at calving, with the result that supervision may become irregular and deaths are more likely to occur.

Short calving periods result in more even lines of calves being available for sale and this could increase total returns.

Mating twice a year

Another system is twice a year mating. This may be of use to producers with an extended calving period who wish to reduce the spread of calving. One group could calve in autumn and the other group in spring.

All calves at same age

If all calves are of a similar age, procedures such as marking and weaning can be done at the same time for the entire herd. Record keeping can be simplified and labour requirements reduced.

Reducing the calving system

The important thing to remember is that whichever system is adopted the cows should be managed so that they calve at the same time each year with as short a calving season as can be managed.

Level of nutrition to prevent calving problems

The conception rate in most autumn-calving beef herds is satisfactory. This indicates that although the cows are being joined in winter the level of nutrition is generally adequate.

But if the level of nutrition is depressed because of increased stocking rate or a poor season, cow bodyweight and condition will fall, particularly in winter. Supplementary feeding should decrease weight loss, but unless the feed is of very high quality, it will not increase liveweight.

Overfat cows at calving may be a problem on some properties where cows are carried at a low stocking rate, as over fatness can cause calving problems.

The use of condition scoring

Condition scoring should be used as a management aid, particularly with the breeding herd.

Target condition scores

In autumn-calving beef herds, during spring cows regain the condition they lost between summer and the end of winter, with losses between December to calving, and further losses between calving and the end of winter or end of mating.

• For a cow to calve at the same time each year she must mate by day 84 after calving or else she will calve later than the previous year.
• You should aim to have as many cows as possible calve within the first 6 and preferably the first 3 weeks of calving, therefore we should try and have the maximum number of cows conceive by 105 days after the commencement of calving.
• You should always try and maximise feed resources and endeavour to ensure that the most efficient use is made of available feed. This means giving priority to different classes of stock.

Now considering the influence of condition score and feeding level on the return to cycling and the ability of the cow to withstand quite substantial condition score losses, we can put these facts into good use.

At pregnancy testing 6 weeks after the bulls are taken out, we should endeavour to identify early and late calving cows. Vets should be able to do this without much trouble, providing it is done early enough.

This information tells us:

• if we are going to keep the cow the following year
• her likely feed requirements after calving.

An early-calving mature cow can afford to calve down in a slightly lower body condition score as she will still have plenty of time to cycle before the 105 days are up. The later-calving cow has to be in better body condition at calving so that she will cycle sooner after calving which will enable her to join before the 105 days are up.

Therefore, at weaning we must condition score and sort up the cows into five groups:

1. Drys
2. Early calving cows in better condition
3. Early calving cows in poorer condition
4. Late calving cows
5. First calving cows.

Try and keep only those due to calve in the first 6 weeks of calving.

We now have cows in mobs of feed priority:

• late calving mature cows
• first calving cows
• early calving poorer condition cows
• early calving better condition cows.

It is important to remember that it is pointless feeding a fat cow just because a few of her herd mates need feeding. The main reason for putting cows into mobs of feed priority, is to maximise the use of available feed resources and utilise the cow's ability to 'feed off her back'.

Pre-calving

Pre-calving is the last time you will be able to easily sort up cows if needed. If any of the cows are not at their target condition score at this stage they could be drafted off and put onto better feed. Also draft off any that are well above the target condition score, as they can afford to utilise more condition over winter and could perhaps be fed less than the others.

Target weights for cows before calving:

• early calving mature cows — CS 2.5 to 3.0, and fall to 2.0 to 2.5 at end of winter
• early calving first calving cows — CS 2.5 to 3.0.
• late calving mature cows - CS 3.0 to 3.5.