There are late calvers on nearly every farm. These cows calve later than what is ideal and lead to an extended calving season.
To maximise the profits and benefits that can be obtained from a spring-calving herd, cows need to calf in February and March.
Ideally, the majority of cows will calve in these months and a small number in early April.
Once you go past mid-April, the question is should you have kept that cows in the herd and what impact did that have on her profitability.
Early calving
The reason you want cows calving early in the year is to maximise the number of days at grass and in milk, which is known to drive profitability on farms. Furhtermore, these cows are also more likely going to be easier to get back in calf.
A cow that calves in early February is going to cycle at least twice before the start of breeding in May, whereas cows that calves in April are likely to cycle first during the breeding season.
It is almost impossible to get a cow to calve earlier in the year once it has become a late calver.
Late calvers
Late calvers are less profitable compared to their earlier-calving spring counterparts. This is because they spend more time dry and have a reduced level of production for the year.
They also increase the workload on farms and often require assistance during during calving.
Most farms aim for between 10-12 weeks of breeding, but more often than not the bull is left out longer than this.
If you are planning on calving 100 cows down next year and ten of these are calving later than mid-April, the question is what should be done.
If you have enough heifers these cows should be sold on and replaced by the heifers coming in.
Another option is to buy some high economic breeding index (EBI) heifers or young cows. It is likely that these later-calving cows are older animals with lower EBI values so replacing them with high EBI value animals makes sense.
Many farms also suffered from drought conditions this year, which resulted in grass growth stalling.
This has meant that many farms now have reduced silage stores on farms, so it makes sense to move cows on if they are not being kept.
And, if moving cows on, this should be done sooner rather than later.
This should reduce the amount of silage being fed and reduce the stocking rate on the milking platform – both of which are beneficial as we move into autumn and look to build covers on farms.