According to experts, the winning numbers in the calving lottery are always the same: 60-25-10-5.
And the Beef Cattle Research Council wants producers to test that theory by using its Value of Calving Distribution Calculator.
Calving distribution is the percentage of calves born in each 21-day cycle during the calving season (which is 63 days for cows and 42 days for heifers). And the ‘winning number’ is shorthand for an industry target for the percentage of females calving in each of the four cycles. In other words, 60 per cent of females calving during the first cycle; then 25 per cent calving between 21 to 42 days; then 10 per cent between 42 to 63 days; and the remaining five per cent calving in the last cycle.
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The research council cites five key benefits:
- More calves born in the first 21 days of the season makes larger, more uniform groups of calves that fetch more on the market.
- Increased cow longevity.
- Heifers born earlier have one more calf in their lifetime (due to greater pregnancy rates and remaining in the herd longer).
- Herd vaccinations are easier to time.
- Increased uniformity allows easier comparison between calves.
The council has a new video promoting earlier calving, featuring both producers and a leading veterinary expert.
“If you don’t have 60 per cent of those cows calving in the first 21 days, you could be leaving a lot of cash behind,” Dr. John Campbell of USask’s vet school says in the video. “It could be 39 pounds for every 21 days earlier they’re born.”
For Brennan Schachtel, uniformity is a key marketing strategy.
“A lot of the times we’re preg checking now, the fertility is improved (and) anything that’s a little later we cull right off the bat if we’re in excess of numbers,” says the producer from Lloydminster, Sask.
A link to video and calculator can be found at the BCRC Blogs section at beefresearch.ca, ‘Tightening the Calving Season.’
