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Calve In The Daytime
ELDON COLE
MT. VERNON, MO.
If you’ve been involved in the cow-calf business for awhile you surely have heard about how late in the day feeding of pregnant cows or heifers results in more daytime calvings. That’s not just coffee shop “wisdom”, it really works and has stood up to University research trials.
I encourage persons with heifers to calve, especially to give it a try. They’re the ones most likely to have trouble. Of course, if they use calving ease bulls the chances of dystocia is lessened.
Here’s how to implement the process. About a month or a little more before calves are expected to hit the ground, begin feeding them in the afternoon and the later the better. This works especially well if there’s not much pasture for them to graze. If you have pasture, you’ll have to use your imagination on how to implement the “daytime” calving practice. I admit it won’t give you 100 percent daytime calves but it certainly helps. I’ve had sheep producers tell me it also works on ewes. ∆
ELDON COLE: Extension Livestock Specialist, University of Missouri
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