The Red Angus bull that we are leasing for the 2014 breeding season. Don’t mind the spots, he is recovering from a bout of ringworm that he got at a different farm.
Here on the farm, a new breeding season is officially underway. Our leased Red Angus bull arrived at the farm a few weeks ago and our 10 heifers and 10 cows enthusiastically welcomed him! Our ten calves were a bit curious at all the excitement. In way of introduction, Nebula bull sniffed the rear of each heifer and cow. After he made the rounds and satisfied himself that no breeding was needed at that particular moment, he commenced to grazing.
With one breeding season and one calving season under our belts, we have learned a bit more about what we want in a bull. We have high hopes for this bull and all reports lean towards him being a calving-ease bull. Time will only tell. Check back with us in May 2015! 🙂
As with our breeding season last summer, we are taking detailed notes on any and all breeding activity and signs of estrus/cycling in the herd. A large majority of active breeding tends to happen between the hours of 7pm and 7am. Therefore, we are conducting our twice-daily, 30-minute minimum observation sessions during this window of time. We transfer our written notes into our CattleMax software. Cattle Max allows us to keep an organized account of breeding as well as notes on cycling and related behavior.
Ready or not?!
Nebula bull is a very interesting bull to watch. He is extremely thorough and he is constantly checking each female to see if she is ready for him. When Nebula isn’t eating or drinking, he is making the rounds of the herd. We are extremely pleased with his performance as well as his personality thus far.
Fleman responseFlehman response.
I have seem him exhibit the Flehman response (curls back upper lip to detect if female is cycling) more times than I can count.
We are just three weeks into our 60-day breeding season, but we believe that the majority of our 20 cows and heifers have been bred. Jeremiah or myself have either witnessed the breeding act itself or observed a bent/lifted tail on one of the heifers or cows that had been followed by the bull, which would indicate a recent breeding. Of course, there is no guarantee that all of the breedings took or that the pregnancy will be viable. As the breeding season progresses, we will be watching closely to see if any of the females that we thought were bred come into estrus again. If some or all do not cycle again, we will feel confident saying that that animal is pregnant!
For the next month and a half we will work hard to continue with our observation sessions and note-taking in the hopes of our remaining girls being bred. In November, we will once again have another pregnancy check and see how well Nebula bull performed.
We only have one breeding season under our belts so we are far from being experts on this subject. We are learning every day and we welcome advice and tips.
Today we would like to share what our day-to-day routine was during the cattle breeding season as well as other information we feel is important to consider and understand during the active breeding season.
The work doesn’t stop when your breeding season starts. The most critical and important work is just starting…..
In our case, our leased bull was owned by the same person who sold us our 10 heifers (our friend, Gene). Therefore, we figured it would be easier all around if he just came along with our heifers in late-June.
Because our bull came with our heifers before our breeding season started, we had to set him up in a pasture on his own. Oh my, was that the longest three weeks in all of our lives! He cried for those heifers, and he stormed around his pasture like a, well, like a bull on a rampage! He was not impressed with the situation.
Yearling black Angus bull with the herd. 2013 breeding season.
We let the bull into the herd on July 13, 2013 and he was literally off and running. He bucked and ran and started mounting the heifers like it was going out of style. The heifers were running around as well, bucking, headbutting and mounting each other. It was quite the show to say the least.
That bull was in heaven. He was with his ladies. All was right again in the world. So, with that flamboyant introduction, our first task was done, the bull was with the herd and we were off and running on our first breeding season!
If you were to ask us what the key ingredients are to having a successful breeding season, we would say that, besides having good animals, it would be to document, document, document, record, record, RECORD! We can not stress enough the importance of good documentation and organized records during the breeding season. Essential, you are working in the dark in regards to when you calving season is if you don’t keep consistent and accurate records.
Prior to the start of the breeding season, we made an Excel spreadsheet to record our observations during the breeding season. We noted the date we introduced the bull and noted that the herd was cycling when we introduced him. In addition, throughout the season, we made notes specific to each heifer, on whether she was showing signs of estrus and if we had seen her bred, and any other pertinent observations or comments on the herd and the bull.
2013 breeding season
Our priorities during the breeding season were to try to observe and record active breeding as well as pinpoint when the heifers were in estrus or cycling. To help accomplish this we had twice daily, 30-minute minimum, observation sessions of the herd, where we simply watched the herd and documented our observations.
Our goal with these sessions was to simply sit/stand and observe the herd. We did not want to bring any attention to ourselves and/or distract the herd. We simply wanted them to go about their normal activities.
While we were hoping to pinpoint active breeding, we were also interested in any behavioral activity that would suggest the heifers were in estrus or cycling. This includes mounting each other and/or the bull, headbutting each other, sniffing each others rear areas, aggression, a bent tail, and vaginal discharge, with the last two as possible indicators of a successful breeding.
Yearling black Angus bull. 2013 breeding season.
In addition, we also learned to watch how the bull moved around the herd. If we walked between him and a heifer and he did not move back to that heifer, odds were she was not cycling. On the flip side, if the bull was almost obsessively following a heifer, sniffing and nudging her, she was likely either in estrus or about to come into it.
At times, the bull would also exhibit the Flehmen response, where he would curl his upper lip back and extend his head out in an effort to detect if a particular heifer was cycling.
This was our first breeding season and we were breeding a yearling bull to heifers, so we were all newbies. There were often times that we observed a heifer “acting” like she was in estrus (headbutting, mounting) but we thought she was pregnant! Our friend, Gene, reassured us that sometimes pregnant heifers and cows still like to get a little frisky! But, there were a handful of heifers that simply did not take their first cycle and truly were cycling again. For whatever reason that pregnancy did not take or wasn’t viable.
As the breeding season progressed, we got a bit more confident in our ability to detect breeding behavior and started to anticipate our heifers next estrus cycle. By the end of the breeding season, we felt pretty comfortable with stating that at least eight of our 10 heifers had been bred. We had observed a mating session and they did not come back in estrus again during the season. As for the other two heifers, we did not observe an actual mating session but they did show signs of estrus at some point during the breeding season. We assumed that they had been bred as well. But, considering this was our first breeding season, we needed to be certain that all 10 heifers were pregnant. Financially-speaking, it would make no sense for us to carry open heifers into the winter. Any open heifers would be culled from the herd. We needed calves on the ground in the spring and every heifer needed to contribute to that calf crop.
So, we made a phone call to our veterinarian and scheduled a pregnancy and wellness-check on our farm in mid-November.
We had written this post BEFORE our calving season started. With four calves on the ground, we feel that we need to add a few caveats. In fact, we have written another post, partner to this one, adding information and “words of wisdom” in selecting a bull. Please click here to read that post.
Bull selection is one of the most important elements to having a successful cow-calf operation. Having the right genetics that match well with your environment is critical to your herd’s performance. Because calves will get half of their genetic material from the bull and a single bull can breed many cows, choosing the right bull has the greatest single influence in improving the genetics of a herd. You need to carefully consider the goals of your breeding program and your operation as a whole and what traits and genetics you are looking to add to your herd.
Some questions you should consider in selecting a bull are:
Will you be using a bull from within your own herd or will you be leasing a bull?
Using your own bull is ideal as you are familiar with his genetic and heath history. In addition, your bull should be comfortable and familiar with your property and with you. Furthermore, you do not have to contend with a lease contract, a breeding fee and the dynamics of transporting the bull. However, bulls typically must be purchased from a seedstock operation or another farm to avoid genetic problems due to inbreeding.
Leasing a bull is a great option for those without the financial means, facilities and/or the desire to have their own bull. Here are some things to consider:
When leasing a bull, you need to consider the health of the bull and of the herd that he is coming from. You do not want your leased bull to introduce a disease to your herd. You want him to be in the best physical shape possible, with current vaccinations. Ask to see his pedigree and his health records. Ask to see any and all records on him. Ask about his breeding success and the condition and performance of his offspring. Conformation is important to consider in selecting your bull. Your bull should be well-muscled (too much can be a negative, though) with a deep chest and short, muscular neck. He should have a good coat (indication of good diet) and alert eyes. He should be docile and quiet and allow you to get close to him and walk around him.
Pay close attention to the condition of the other animals on the farm and of the cleanliness of the farm as a whole. If the farm has sickly animals and has unsanitary and/or unsafe facilities and pasture conditions, you need to think twice about leasing a bull from them – even if the price is a good deal. This is not the time to ‘save’ money. You know the saying “You get what you pay for”? Remember that when deciding on a bull to lease.
Have a written lease contract with all conditions and restrictions clearly outlined, including all fees.
What type of calves work best in your operation?
Are you looking for a bull that throws large calves?
With a larger calf, you have the opportunity for more gain, a higher weaning weight and a larger paycheck in the Fall when you sell the calves as feeders.
A larger calf may be able to handle weather-related and other stress better than a smaller calf.
A larger calf, though, can make labor and delivery more difficult on the cow, especially if you have a small-framed cow and/or a first-calf heifer. You may have to provide a lot of assistance to the mother cow during delivery.
Do you have the facilities, equipment and the know-how to assist in pulling calves?
Do you work on the farm full-time or do you have a job that takes you away from the farm during the calving season?
Are you looking for more compact, smaller-framed calves?
Labor and delivery, especially for a first-calf heifer, may be easier with a smaller calf. Nothing is guaranteed, though.
Possibly less or no assistance needed at delivery with pulling calves.
Advantageous if you have a full-time job away from the farm and/or do not have good facilities for calving (e.g., barn with a stall to restrain mother cow while you pull the calf).
Smaller calves will obviously have lower birth weights and you need to consider such impacts on weaning weight and average daily gains if you sell these calves as feeders and also, yearling weights if you are using these calves as replacement heifers or adding to your herd.
Are you breeding heifers?
When breeding heifers you especially need to consider the size and age of the bull and the type of calves he produces.
You may want to consider a calving ease bull for your first-calf heifers.
Putting a mature, low-calving ease bull on a first-calf heifer may produce a very hard and difficult calving for that heifer and leave that animal in poor physical condition. The stress of a difficult delivery could affect the rate and degree of bonding with the calf, milk production and the success of being bred-back.
Calving ease. Heifer calving ease EPDs were calculated using a multi-trait animal model including birth weight and calving score data. The result is a heifer calving ease direct and heifer calving ease maternal EPD, as defined below.
Calving Ease Direct (CED): Calving Ease Direct EPD is expressed as percentage of unassisted births, with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf heifers. It predicts the average difference in ease with which a sire’s calves will be born when he is bred to first-calf heifers.
Calving Ease Maternal (CEM): Calving Ease Maternal EPD is expressed in percentage unassisted births with a higher value indicating greater calving ease in first-calf daughters. It predicts the average ease with which a sire’s daughters will calve as first calf heifers when compared to daughters of other sires.
Are you breeding cows?
While CED is intended to be considered in breeding first-calf heifers, some of the top Angus breeding programs, such as Beckton Stock Farm in Sheridan, WY encourage using their calving ease bulls on your cows as well. They explain that calves from these cows can provide a good source for replacement heifers in your herd.
Using a non-calving ease bull may also be appropriate for breeding your cows. A mature cow has had more experience in calving and in maternal care-taking than a first-calf heifer. As such, she may be better equipped to deliver a calf not sired by a calving ease bull.
Calving Ease and Gestation Length
The ideal bull in the cow-calf operation is one who throws small calves that have high weaning weights in the fall. The advantage of having both calving ease and high pay weights is an attractive one, and can often be achieved by using short-gestation bulls.
The standard gestation length of a cow is around 283 days.
The fastest period of calf growth in the womb is during the last days of pregnancy (often around 1 pound per day, or more)
By being born several days earlier, a calf with fast growth potential can be born at a lighter weight, making for easy calving, and still achieve a high weaning weight in the fall.
Short Gestation Length (SGL) bulls produce smaller calves that will still reach maturity at a large size. Therefore, calves from these bulls should not be kept as replacement heifers with a smaller mature size in mind. Your cows may have low birth weights, but they’ll still be large at matureity.
That said, you can have a short-gestational bull that is ALSO a calving ease bull. Our friend and mentor has had great success in using these SGL, calving ease bulls and does use some of these calves as replacement heifers and/or additional heifers to his herd.
Even more time and thought needs to go into planning your breeding season when using SGL bulls, though.
Using a SGL bull can be advantageous for your heifers and cows.
An earlier birth allows the mother more time to start cycling again and to build back her body condition for being bred back.
Feed Efficiency/Forage Convertibility:
Economically viable characteristics in a cattle herd include the ability to maintain weight on low quality forage. In fact, beef cattle were originally developed to take advantage of lower quality forage that wasn’t fit for dairy cattle, sheep and other livestock. Producers should look for a bull that can maintain his weight or even gain weight on a grass-only/roughage diet EVEN when that grass and roughage is of a lower quality.
Easy-keeper/easy fleshing: A bull that can convert forage efficiently is considered an easy-keeper, or easy-doer. This trait is often described as fleshing ability. The ability of a bull to maintain his weight on a grass-only or roughage diet is desirable, but is often related to smaller mature frame, which can sometimes impact market demand for your cattle.
Many bulls are growth-tested on a high octane ration that isn’t a realistic situation on the average cattle farm. These bulls may gain lots of weight in the feedlot, but turned out to pasture they can fall apart. If a bull loses weight or cannot maintain his weight on a grass-only/roughage diet he is considered a hard-doer and will cost producers more in feed. Tread cautiously in leasing a bull that is a hard-doer. Do you want to bred that into your herd? If your operation is grass-only/roughage, you may struggle with daily gains and weaning weights in feeder calves from sires that are hard-doers.
There are many factors to consider when developing your breeding program and quite frankly, for newbies like us, it can be a tad bit overwhelming. We are learning every day, as we consider the genetics we want bred into our herd and how to develop a breeding program that meets the goals and needs for the growth of our operation and performance of our animals.
Two sets of genetics go into making a calf and therefore, much thought and genetic consideration needs to be taken into account when deciding what bull to breed to which heifer or cow.
Speaking from personal experience acquired in just these past few weeks, a calving ease bull or a bull with calving ease genetics does not 100% guarantee a small calf and/or an easy birth. Please click here to read more about our experience.
Developing a successful breeding program takes many years and careful thought and consideration into the genetics you want in your herd.
Deciding the timeline for your breeding season is an important step for every breeder and one that needs to be given a lot of careful consideration.
Our second calf. A red Angus bull calf. Born on April 28, 2014
Here on our farm, we are in the midst of our very first calving season, with 4 of our expected 10 calves born.
We are anxiously awaiting the births of the rest of our calf crop.
June 28, 2014 – The day our first herd of red Angus heifers arrived.
Last spring, we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first herd of beef cattle -10 red Angus heifers. We still had a month or so to go before they arrived but we already had cattle on the mind.
We needed to decide when we wanted our breeding season to start. We pored over pictures we had taken in the past month, looking for that transition from winter to spring, snow to green grass. We needed to decide when our breeding season would start and for how long it would last.
New grass sprouting on May 3, 2013. One of the pictures we looked at when deciding when we wanted calving to start.
After considering the weather and analyzing our pictures, we decided we wanted our calving season to start in late-April/early-May of the following spring. We planned on the snow essentially being gone, and the grass starting to green-up at this time. This put us at starting our breeding season in mid-July, for a 60-day breeding season. We felt it was important to have a definitive start and end date to our breeding season, as to give us the most accurate prediction of when calving would start. Perhaps more importantly, having all calves born in a tight window of time makes for a more uniform and saleable calf crop.
By not knowing when your actual breeding season is, you leave yourself open to a lot of surprises and very little clue as to when or even if, your animals will calve. For some farmers, they have an open-breeding season, where the bulls have access to the heifers and cows year-round. Others restrict access of the bulls to a certain window of time, such as a 30 or 60-day period.
It can be tricky to complete natural breeding in only 30 days, but certainly not impossible for the seasoned breeder. After years of developing a solid and consistent breeding program, with superior genetics, these breeders continue to have high pregnancy rates and a large crop of healthy calves on the ground each year.
For the beginning farmer and breeder, though, a 30-day breeding season may not be realistic. It certainly was not for us. For example, if you are breeding a yearling bull(s) to heifers, they may need a few cycles to successfully breed. Heifers and cows are in estrus or standing heat (open to being bred) on average every 21 days. There is a short window of time for the bull to act once the cow comes into heat (typically 12-18 hours), though. Therefore, your first-time bull may not get the job done the first time or even if the females appears to have been bred, the pregnancy may not take or be viable.
Perhaps a 60-day breeding season may be more appropriate for your program. During the span of a 60-day breeding season, you animals should cycle two, if not three, times.
Some questions to ask yourself when deciding the time-frame for your breeding season.
When do you want your calves to start dropping?
You need to consider the weather conditions and the scope of your farm.
Do you have the facilities to accommodate calving during a snowstorm, in the middle of winter, with -30 temperatures? Even the most seasoned and equipped farmer can lose calves in these conditions.
Consider the typical weather and ground conditions for the time of year you want to calve. You might still be calving in a snowstorm (our first calf) even though spring has supposedly arrived
Consider the pros and cons to early-versus-late calving
Advantages to Early Spring Calving
Calves have more days for growth and weight gain
Higher weaning weight for your feeder calves
Higher yearling weight for your replacement heifers and/or additional heifers.
Disadvantages/Challenges with Early Spring Calving
Need the proper equipment and facilities to accommodate early calving, especially during inclement weather
More calves lost due to cold winter conditions, crowded facilities and muddy yards
Higher feed cost to keep cows in adequate physical condition to have healthy calves and breed back on time.
Advantages to Late Spring / Summer Calving
Warm weather and green grass are great for calf health and survival
Barns, shelters and other facilities less necessary
Lower feed cost due to availability of green grass
Better breed-back rates closer to summer solstice
Disadvantages/Challenges with Late-Calving
Shorter period of time for growth and weight gain (smaller calves in the fall)
How long of a breeding season do you want?
30 and 60-days are common breeding season lengths. Some breeders may extend to 90-days or simply keep the bull with the herd year-round.
As I am typing this post, I can see 10 very pregnant red Angus heifers, munching on hay and resting in the springtime sun. It is a beautiful sight. Winter has been long and hard on these girls (and us, too!). But, we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Temperatures have been climbing into the 40’s and 50’s this week and for us, that is a heat wave. Bring out the sandals and shorts!
We have been sighing a collective breath of relief for our heifers. We feared they would be calving in the midst of a raging snowstorm, with temperatures well below zero. Our fellow beef cattle farmer and mentor has been doing just that the last month. Luckily, he has the facilities and know-how to accommodate such conditions. Here on our farm, we are just starting out and we don’t have quite the same facilities yet. So, because of that, we tried to plan out our calving season for nicer weather. Easier said than done, right?
Our next series of posts will focus on different aspects of Cattle Breeding including deciding when your breeding season will be and factors to consider in selecting a bull or bulls for your breeding program.
Pregnant heifer bagging up
As of right now, many of our heifers are bagging up nicely and could drop a calf at any time.
