BioZyme: 4 Tips To Prepare For A Successful Calving Season
You made breeding decisions months ago and have been
patiently waiting for nine more months to see the outcome of your diligent
planning. Yet, researching and plotting breeding decisions is only half the
battle. When calving season comes, it is time to plan all the important details
that help deliver your calf crop and ensure they are thriving from day one.
Regardless of when you calve, fall or spring, we offer four tips to make sure
you are prepared for the approaching calving season.
1.
Prepare Your Calving Kit
There is nothing like getting the first calf on the ground,
then scrambling trying to find the tools or supplies you need to assist a
successful delivery or get a calf going. Make time prior to the first due date
to check your inventory and see what has gone missing or needs to be replaced
or updated.
VitaFerm has prepared an online checklist of important
supplies and equipment that you will need for assisting with deliveries,
getting the calf up and going and properly treating calves as well as information
on where to purchase these items. View the checklist.
2.
Protect Cows and Calves from the Elements
With the variety of weather extremes that producers
experience across the country, it's best to be prepared for all situations, and
that starts with understanding the circumstances that apply to your herd.
First consider if you are calving out mostly cows or
first-calf heifers. First timers aren't always the best about finding the most
ideal spot to calve in. In that regard, evaluate your facilities and decide if
you need to lock first time calvers in or create new calving pens or corrals.
If you do not have the facilities or equipment to do so, be sure to have a
calving check schedule so that you can keep an eye on the herd frequently.
Next, consider the exact weather circumstances you may be up
against. If you are encountering snow and cold winds, be sure to have sheltered
areas where momma cows can get in and bed down or have large windbreaks to
provide strong wind and snow drift protection. Be sure you have taken an
inventory of available bedding options such as straw, shavings, chips, etc.
Ensuring that you have plenty of dry areas in your pens with
protection from the wind can make the difference in calf survival, especially
once winter arrives and wind chills dip. In contrast, if you come from a warmer
climate or you calve later in the spring, consider providing shade or covered
areas for the cows and calves to get out of the heat. If your mommas are in a
pasture with a pond or flowing body of water, consider locking them up away
from the pond to avoid calving situations near standing water.
3.
Get That Calf Up and Going
Once the calf is on the ground you want to ensure that it has
the best start to life possible. You should always consult with your
veterinarian about health protocols and your nutritionist about a feeding
program. To reduce stress, look for ways to accomplish many processing tasks at
once, such as tagging, vaccinations and navel care.
Another way to ensure your calf gets the proper start is to
keep fast-acting calf supplementation on hand. It might be a good idea to
always have a supply of colostrum in case of emergencies. Two other products
that should be readily available for your newborns include Vita Charge Gel and
Vita Charge Neonatal. Both products provide a jump-start to the digestive
system to protect calves during stress and help calves recover quickly while
supporting immunity and performance. Vita Charge Gel also provides the perfect
boost for mom if the delivery was stressful.
4.
Help Cows Recover with Nutrition
Calving is stressful on the cow. Whether you have first-time
heifers or seasoned cows, calving season puts a lot of stress on your females,
and they will need some assistance nutritionally to stay in good shape and
condition to provide for the calf at side. You should consult a nutritionist to
help with your supplement or ration needs. Here's a few more nutritional
considerations to keep top of mind:
• Feed higher quality hay (with more energy) and expect cows
to increase intake during cold stress. Without a forage analysis, you cannot be
exactly sure of your hay's energy level, which can lead to inadequate
nutrition. BioZyme offers complimentary hay testing and nutrition analysis to
its customers and potential customers through its nationwide dealer network and
Area Sales Managers. For more information, visit
https://vitaferm.com/hay-report/.
• Feed a supplement that contains BioZyme's prebiotic Amaferm
to improve digestibility of feed and help ensure that they are extracting all
of the energy possible. Research shows that feeding a supplement that contains
Amaferm has similar benefits to feeding at least 1lb. of grain.
• Consider moving cows to locations with protection from the
wind and wet weather. The energy requirement of beef cattle increases about 3%
for each degree that the wind chill is below 59 degrees F. This increases even
further in wet conditions and prior to fully developing a winter hair coat.
This is a major reason programs fail during an abnormally severe winter.
• Match animal nutrition requirements to the quality of your
forage. Heifers and thin cows require a more energy-dense diet, compared to
older or fleshy cows. Sorting animals into groups based on body condition
allows you to feed the available forage more effectively. Start by targeting
your higher quality, more immature forages toward heifers and thin cows. These
earlier harvested forages will be the most energy dense as energy declines
considerably with maturity. The older and higher body condition cows can then
be fed slightly more mature forage. This allows you to maximize the use of your
forage supply while better targeting the nutritional needs of your entire herd.
• A good guideline during an extended cold or wet winter
period is to feed 3-6 lbs. of energy supplements like soyhulls, corn gluten
feed, or corn to avoid weight loss during these stressful periods.
Calving season is much less stressful when you plan ahead and
enter into it with a strategy. Both your cows and calves will need some
assistance to be successful and recover, so plan to have the tools you need to
help your calves get a jump-start and your momma cows to bounce back quickly.
This is just the beginning of your next adventure of seeing your genetics grow
in your herd, and with some nutritional advantages along the way, you'll be
sure to see performance that pays.
For more information, visit www.vitaferm.com.
Source: BioZyme news release