Page 15 - MWC 3-31-2022s

Calving Season Benchmarks
The Midwest Cattleman · March 31, 2022 · P15

By Olivia Amundson, SDSU Extension Cow/Calf Field Specialist

Breeding following the breeding season equate recovery time following
back first or calve late in the calving sea- calving. Others may challenge
calf heifers son. Correct management of their heifers by allowing only
and 3-year- heifers is imperative to main- a short (30-day) breeding peri-
old females taining herd longevity. Proper od to push selection pressure
can be a reproductive management of on reproduction. Ultimately,
challenge young females may include young females are still grow-
Cows that calve on time are and can disrupt the bottom breeding 2-3 weeks prior to ing and have higher nutrient
the number one indicator that line if those females are open the mature herd to ensure ad-
cattle within that operation fit continued on page 30
the managerial program. This
happens simply from timely
reproduction. Reproductive
performance of an operation is
important to the overall suc-
cess and bottom line of that op-
eration. Benchmarking may be
beneficial as it can help focus
limited management time on
critical areas of an individual’s
beef cow business. This year
may provide opportunity to de-
fine an operation’s bottom line
through outlining the calving
season.
Mature Cow Herd
Calving distribution is one
way producers can evaluate
their herd’s reproductive per-
formance from the previous
year. The North Dakota Beef
Cattle Improvement Associa-
tion Cow Herd Appraisal Per-
formance Software program
(CHAPS) put out production
benchmark data for calving
distributions. According to
CHAPS, 63% of the mature
cow herd should calve with-
in the first 21 days, 87% by
42 days, and 96% by 63 days
of the calving season. If cows
calving in the first 21 days is
less than 60% and cows calv-
ing in the second 21 days of the
calving season is greater than
25%, re-evaluation of the herd
needs to occur.
First Calf Heifers
Heifers are traditionally
bred to calve prior to the cow-
herd. Benchmarks related to
first calf heifers include: 42%
of heifers calving prior to their
scheduled calving date, 76%
of heifers by 21 days, and 88%
of heifers by 42 days. The one
group failing to meet these
benchmarks are 3-year-old fe-
males. While every other age
group has the largest percent-
age calving in the first 21 days,
3-year-olds have a larger per-
centage calving in the second
21-day period.