Having a defined breeding season can increase profit potential for cow-calf producers and make many aspects of management easier and more efficient. However, some producers are hesitant to implement a defined breeding season because of concerns about some cows not getting to breed.
What if you could get the benefits of a defined breeding season and keep bulls with the cows for seven to eight months out of the year?
Working through a potential scenario can help illustrate this approach. If the goal was to calve from January to April, bulls could be turned out from April 5 to July 4 for a 90-day breeding season. This would result with calves being born from about Jan. 11 to April 11. If calves were weaned at about 7 months old, weaning would occur around mid-August. Once calves are weaned, bulls could be put back with the cows from weaning until calving starts again to allow bulls to breed any open cows. With this approach, bulls would be with cows for three months during the planned breeding season and then another four to five months. This would allow for any cows not getting bred during the planned breeding season to be marketed as bred cows instead of open cows.
To reduce the risk of heifer calves getting bred while they are still nursing, a breeding season should not last more than 90 days – and in some cases even less. By limiting the breeding season to 90 days, the oldest heifers would be 180 days old when the bulls were removed. Young heifers getting bred by herd bulls while they are still nursing occurs much more frequently than many folks realize. If a defined breeding season is not going to be established, then heifers should be sold before they are 6 months old.
Compared to leaving the bulls out year-round, a defined breeding season has many benefits. The fixed calving season allows calves to be born at a time that best matches forage resources and marketing strategies. It also allows producers to participate in weaned calf sales and reduce feed costs because all cows are at a similar stage of production. Non-lactating cows are not overfed like they would be when they are mixed with cows nursing calves. Herd health plans are also easier to implement with a defined calving season.
