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Hello Royal,
We've certainly found seasonal production to be a satisfying and
profitable venture here at River-View Farm.
We now operate on a very tight calving window. Six weeks with cows all
bred AI, we don't breed past that time. There are of course cows that
don't conceive in that window and we then breed again in November with
bulls to get the balance of open cows pregnant for fall calving the next
season. We then sell those cows either just before dry off or carry them
through the winter and sell as springers in mid summer. We started
seasonal production in 1995 with a 12 week window, later reduced to 10
and then eight. The last six years it has been six. More than six weeks
causes challenges with raising calves in one group. There also can be
challenges in feeding late fresheners too well if they calve here in
late April or early May. It means you can't allow them high quality
pasture or the calves get too large before delivery. That's the good
part of early calving while cows are still on dry hay. We generally
start some early grazing in late March here and will get full pasture by
April 15th.
We had some challenges getting cows bred in the tight window early on. I
can't definitely give a reason that has improved but some things that
have changed are genetics, quality of pasture, amount of grain fed and
non fertile cows gone. Our herd is growing from within each year.
Hopefully this is enough to stimulate some discussion.
Regards,
Dave Forgey
Dave and Helen Forgey
Forgey's River-View Farm, Inc.
6032 W Georgetown Road
Logansport, IN 46947
574-652-2461
forgraze@carrollnet.org
www.carrollnet.org/~forgraze
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The Grass is Greener on Our Side of the Fence.
