practical cow and heifer management of ......compensatory growth make up and gain weight to develop...
TRANSCRIPT
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PRACTICAL COW AND HEIFER MANAGEMENT OF MEDIUM
FRAMED BEEF CATTLE
Arthur de Villiers Arcadia Bonsmaras
ZambiaJuly 2015
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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
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• 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
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• 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
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From birth to wean
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• 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
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• If she wean too light – she may not reach the target weight of 320 kg – for breeding under extensive conditions
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• 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
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• 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
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Weaning
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• 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
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From wean until first mating
• Weaned heifers must run separate as a group on their own
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• 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
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• “Skinny” heifers - for better cows!
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• 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
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•Tick control
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• 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
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• 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
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From pregnancy to calving
• Pregnant heifers and cows will utilize grazing more effective
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• 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
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• Think of calves, calves, calves – but also about costs, costs, costs!
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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• 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
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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
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• 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
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• The best grazing, the appropriate lick, attention, and healthy, fertile bulls are the key in this period
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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
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• 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
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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
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• Cattle drinking from earth dams or open waters are more suspected to parasites – especially liver fluke
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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
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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
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• 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
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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
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• 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
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• In sour veldt – our experience for the best conception at the lowest cost is to early wean the calves – at minimum 60 days
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• 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
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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
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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
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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
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• 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
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• 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
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•Good luck with the future
management of your herd – thank
you!