Calving Season Just Ahead - BCS Now
ELDON COLE
MT. VERNON, MO.
Hopefully, your cows that start calving around February 1 are in respectable body condition scores (BCS). Respectable to most researcher’s data means mature cows are a 5 or 6. There’s no need to have them fleshier than 6. If they’re first calf heifers they definitely need to be 6’s in order for them to rebound from calving, growth and lactation stress. Failure to have them at the 6 level will extend their interval from calving to estrus.
The difference between a 5 and a 4 is a fine line in appearance. The researcher’s definition is the 5 does not have the last two ribs visible unless the cow is shrunk. The 4 does have the last two ribs very noticeable and the foreribs are slightly noticeable and they may show signs of muscle loss in the hind quarter.
Purdue research in the 1980’s reflect a relation of BCS and the average interval from calving to first heat after calving.
To maintain a bunched calf crop and a 365 day PPI (Post Partum Interval) a cow or heifer should come back in estrus and breed and settle by 82 days. If you compare the table and reality on your farm, I’d bet you’d find your 4, BCS cows don’t respond as well as the Purdue cows did.
On a predominantly, Ky31 fescue forage we discovered long ago that cows calving around September 1 typically bred back more quickly than those calving in the spring.
This is because the fall calvers come into the calving season in a better BCS with very few 3’s and 4’s. As a rule fall calvers are in a higher BCS than late winter calvers.
If you keep good records on your herd pick out a few of your extreme BCS cows and record it in your Redbook or other record keeping system. Remember you can’t change a BCS quickly. You need to add around 80 lbs. to move from a 4 to a 5 or from a 5 to a 6.
A great BCS publication was put out by the University of Nebraska with excellent pictures, called Body Condition Scoring Beef Cows, EC281. It’s available online at http://extension.unl.edu/publications . ∆
ELDON COLE: Extension Livestock Specialist, University of Missouri
