Breeding season puts a lot of demands on cows. During this time she is expected to provide adequate nutrition for her calf while her body recovers from giving birth. Then she is expected to get back into estrus just before she is bred again. All of this is expected to occur within 90 days after calving to maintain a yearly calving interval.
This is the type of cycle that is expected in order for a cow to be considered profitable. If she does not provide a calf every year or 2 then she is not getting a return on what the producer is spending on her. With the ever-increasing input costs that producers have been seeing over the last year not getting a return on investment is not an option.
The key to getting your cows bred again is adequate nutrition. There are some considerations to look at in order to meet her nutritional demands. The things you should be looking at are the quality and quantity of forage consumed, her nutrient requirements, and understanding what feed options are available to you.
What is your forage base at breeding
Forages form the very foundation of any successful nutrition program. Not only are they more economical than buying feed but her rumen needs a certain amount of roughage in her diet to function properly. When it comes to your forage base there are 2 things to consider: Can she eat all she wants in a day? And what is the quality of the forage that she is consuming?
The quantity and quality of the forages can differ depending on different things like drought. During drought or drought conditions we can see reductions in both the quality and quantity of your forages. how you handle this type of situation can be very crucial. If you are looking for more information related to forage management during a drought then check out some resources by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
Another factor that can play a role in how much forage she will need is the amount of milk that she produces. The larger the amount then the more high-quality forage she will need to consume. You want to select for traits where she will produce just enough milk for the calf but not too much where she will need a lot of feed.
When your breeding season is will play a role in the quality of the forages available. For most native-type pastures forage quality tends to peak sometime in June. After that, it will start to decline from July to November. Knowing the quality of your forage and the BCS of your cows will be a big part of knowing how to proceed. Having your forages tested regularly will tell you what the overall quality of your forages is.
Forage quantity
In many cases, the amount of forages available is just as important as the quality. There are 4 methods that you can use to estimate your pasture’s yield:
- Cut and weigh: This is the most accurate method. Use a 0.25 sq meter frame and trim all the forage that falls in that frame to ground level. You should take at least 10 different measurements across your pasture to get the most accurate amount. If we assume the grass is 20% dry matter multiply the wet grams of forage by 0.2 to get the amount in dry matter. Then multiply the average weight of dry matter by 35.69 to convert it to lbs/acre. The actual conversion rate can differ depending on ground cover and forage type.
- Use a grazing stick: This is the most commonly used method for estimating yield. Walk the pasture and take about 30 different height measurements to get a good estimate. Take the average of all of your heights then multiply by 250lbs/acre/inch. Again the conversion rate will depend on forage type and coverage.
- Falling plate method: This uses a grazing stick or a yardstick to measure the height of the forages under a heavy plate. The compression from the plate leads to a more accurate height estimation because you will not be eye-balling to forage level. As with the other, you should do this multiple times in each pasture to an average measurement. Using a height in inches multiplied by 432lbs/acre/inch to get a forage estimate in lbs/acre.
- The rising plate method: As opposed to the falling plate method this uses a rising plate meter to take measurements. Walk the pasture and take about 30 measurements. Take the average forage height and multiply by 126/lbs/acre/inch to convert it to lbs/acre.
Her nutritional needs at breeding and beyond
The cow’s stage of production will impact her overall nutrition requirements. Her age will also play a part since during this time she could still be growing herself. Generally when they are moving from mid-to late-gestation energy requirements will increase by 25% and protein by 10%. After calving will see her greatest nutrient demand due to lactation.
If she is going to lose weight it will usually occur after calving due to an inadequate supply of nutrients to support milk production. Forages alone are likely not gonna provide all that she will need so supplementation is likely gonna be needed. What type to use will depend on what the forages lack and what she needs.
If forages are not providing all of the nutrition that is needed there are some management actions you can take. One of these is to wean your calves early. Early weaning can be advantageous when dealing with 2-3yrs old cows that are losing condition. This helps because once she no longer has a demand for lactation she will no longer need as much forage. The difference in forage intake among a lactating vs non-lactating cow is about 5lbs of forage per head per day.
Other feed sources that are available
When it comes to dealing with drought conditions you may need to replace forage. As I said before her rumen needs a certain amount of roughage in her diet to promote microbial activity. Without them, she won’t be able to effectively digest the starches in the feed.
When deciding what feed alternatives to use you should look at what your needs are and what your budget looks like. I went over some options to use in a previous post “How to replace hay in a drought year”. With fuel prices being how they are it is a good idea to source your supplements locally.
One thing that some people do not do correctly is to begin supplementing too late. You should begin supplementing at the first signs of forage inadequacy. If you wait too long then you will have to “catch up” and that can be more expensive in the long run.
If you are needing to supplement remember that not all protein is created equal. Though it may be high in crude protein does not mean that the cow will be able to metabolize it. To increase the supply of metabolizable protein a protein source high in rumen undegradable protein may be needed.
