PRACTICAL COW AND HEIFER MANAGEMENT OF ......compensatory growth make up and gain weight to develop in a normal heifer at about 18 months or at the most at two years (with normal natural

PRACTICAL COW AND HEIFER MANAGEMENT OF MEDIUM

FRAMED BEEF CATTLE

Arthur de Villiers Arcadia Bonsmaras

ZambiaJuly 2015

Your bull is the most important single animal in your herd- it refers to its huge genetic contribution (50% of each calf) and also his huge physical contribution (up to 40 and more) calves per year

• BUT the best superior bull is of no value if his genes cannot be carried by healthy, well adapted and well managed cows and heifers

• The production and management of your cowherd is the beginning andend of your beef cattle farming operation

• With every decision or action that you take in relation with your cows and heifers – the emphasis should be on conception and re-conception

From birth to wean

• Normally a healthy, good, Bonsmara cow can wean a calf from natural grazing at 220 - 240 kg. That is 900g - 1 kg of weight gain from birth to 7 months + the birth weight of ±35kg

• This heifer calf will have a good start and will reach the desired target mass for breeding – depending on your management

• Give the same lick as that of the mothers – a mineral (mainly P) in summer and a protein maintenance lick in winter

• If she wean too light – she may not reach the target weight of 320 kg – for breeding under extensive conditions

• On the other hand if she get too fat, it will be detrimental to her lifelong potential as a breeding cow

• Fat deposition in her udder and hormone imbalances may cause the problem

• Depending on your area – one oral dosing for milk tapeworm may be necessary before wean

• If you are in a high rainfall, high humidity and warm area – you may have to dose twice before wean

Weaning

• There are different ways to wean. We wean with nose rings – and leave the calves with the mothers for ± 2 months – they learn a lot from their mothers

• This is the least stressful on calf, mother and farmer

• You can take out the nose rings after about 4 weeks and still leave the calves with their mothers

From wean until first mating

• Weaned heifers must run separate as a group on their own

• Heifers can lose weight after weaning to about one year – and then with compensatory growth make up and gain weight to develop in a normal heifer at about 18 months or at the most at two years (with normal natural grazing and normal lick for the area)

• Better for heifers to “climb stairs” than keep gaining weight from wean until mating time

• “Skinny” heifers - for better cows!

• The target weight for mating heifers is 320kg

• If you want to mate earlier – you will have to farm in very good sweet veldt country or you will have to supplement them.

• You can go as low as 280kg – but it is not recommendable

•Tick control

• Tick control varies between areas

• We like to keep quite a few ticks always on the animal to keep up their immunity system

• Do not slip up here!

• Too much is also bad – the challenge for tick borne diseases can be too high or ticks may cause wounds, injure teats and it can lead to unnecessary weight loss

• One round of dosing after wean and one dosing before mating – broad spectrum, for internal and external parasites

• Work together with your Veterinarian or a successful farmer in your area to know the endemic diseases of your area – inoculate against them –remember to give a booster inoculation

From pregnancy to calving

• Pregnant heifers and cows will utilize grazing more effective

• In most cases the pregnant cows will be in a better condition after weaning their calves

• The skinny cows will in most cases be open

• Do pregnancy tests as soon as possible – you must think about the re-conception of that cow in about 8 months time

• Good, rested, natural grazing and the normal maintenance lick are in most cases sufficient

• Think of calves, calves, calves – but also about costs, costs, costs!

• Keep your pregnant cows in the best condition possible – between 2,5 and 3,5 body condition score at the time of calving

• This will have the biggest effect on re-conception and second to this – the cow must gain condition in the mating season

• A good practice is to give your cows and heifers the proper dose of minerals and vitamins ±60 days before calving

Do not let your heifer’s calf too fat – the calf will grow big in the uterus, fat deposition in the birth canal, unfit heifers that do not “push” hard and long enough for a normal birth may be the result

• Difficult births have several disadvantages – the calf is tired, is slow to get up to get that all important colostorum as soon as possible (must be within 6 hours of birth – after that the instinct to suckle go down dramatically)

• If it was a difficult birth the mother may be reluctant to “take” the calf – the experience of calving was too traumatic

• The uterus of the cow take much (20 days +) longer to heal and get back to normal – this will lead to later conception

• With any difficult birth – give the cow a full dose (10ml/100kg) Long Acting Tetracycline

• Work slowly and carefully with you pregnant animals – especially for the first 3 months of the pregnancy

• Resorptions and abortions can occur if you are chasing and working with them too much in this time

From calving to re-conception

• A critical period - when the hurdle of a live, healthy calve is over – then the focus shift again back to the cow, she must re conceive as soon as possible

• In fact, she have only 82 days to re-conceive – to calve within 365 days

• Another mineral and vitamin injection or oral dosing at this time (at the beginning of the breeding season) will have a positive effect on conception

• The best grazing, the appropriate lick, attention, and healthy, fertile bulls are the key in this period

It is very important to let your first calf heifers run apart from your mature cows in the mating season – even your second calf cows must run by themselves if possible

If not possible, then put your first and second calf cows together

• A low cost practice that may give you 10 – 20 % more calves are to separate your first calf cows and their calves every night from each other

• If this is difficult – separate them for 48 hours about 10 days before the end of the mating season

• The pressure in the udder releases hormones that induce the heat cycle

It depends a lot on your farming conditions – wet, humid and warm conditions is perfect for parasites – so know your farm and treat accordingly

It is usually not necessary to de-worm mature cows but young cows and calves may need this

• Cattle drinking from earth dams or open waters are more suspected to parasites – especially liver fluke

Mating at 14 – 16 months to calve at 23 – 25 months

• This is general practice in the USA, Australia and Europe

• It can be done, but there are a lot of challenges

• It is the best way to build your cattle numbers, no negative effect on later milk production, mature cow weight may be ± 30-50kg less than heifers who calved at three years

After weaning – the heifers need special treatment to reach a minimum 280kg before the breeding season

Some will start cycling at this weight – but most Bonsmaras will start at 300kg

• Use calving ease bulls – pay attention to conformation (not coarse bone, no late maturing bulls, and not necessarily small bulls, rather finer boned with good pelvic size)

• Use Breeding values – Birth Direct must be below -0.5kg

• Do not breed the 10% heifers with the smallest pelvises

Let the heifers then grow out naturally – do not stunt them after the breeding season to “keep the calf small” – this may inhibit the growth of the pelvis

But also – do not let them get too fat – problems as mentioned earlier

• Do three times per day observation

• Assist after two hours of onset of birth – if not delivered naturally

• Assist early in the morning or before dark – if the feet are showing and the cervix is open

• Good grazing for mother and calf after the calf is born

• In good sweet veldt – calves can remain with their mothers up to weaning – give at least a production lick

• In sour veldt – our experience for the best conception at the lowest cost is to early wean the calves – at minimum 60 days

• Take the pre-wean weight to get a very good idea of the milk production of the mother

• Give the weaned calves a dairy starter ration – ad lib

• Dose for internal parasites – at least 3 times before weaning age at 205 days

• Good observation – scours – use a Sulpha and other remedies for scours to treat them

Let the mothers go back to natural grazing, with a normal P lick

Give them an extra dose of minerals and vitamins

If you do this you can expect an 85-90% re-conception

Make sure you do not “forget” this young cows when they calf for the second time and have to conceive for the third time – they may skip now!

Keep them apart from the mature cows

General Remarks

• Keep your stocking rate in mind – over grazing resulting in poor condition is the main reason for open cows

• To be a successful beef farmer you must know your grass species and manage it in a sustainable way

• Know your natural grazing – at least 3 climax species, 3 intermediate species and 3 pioneer species

• Give a mineral lick (P) in summer and a protein maintenance lick in winter - start rather earlier than later

• Clean, cool water – always available, is non-negotiable

• Keep records of the performance of your cows and calves – to do proper selection you must measure

• Keep your breeding seasons as close to nature as possible – we tend to breed too early in the spring to get heavy weaners – calf when the game calf/lamb

• Keep costs as low as possible – a penny saved is a penny earned!

• Do not exchange Kwacha’s for Kwacha’s

•Good luck with the future

management of your herd – thank

you!