Mike culls hard and maintains numbers through the 50-60 replacement heifers saved each year. He synchronizes and inseminates the heifers, starting about June 1. Mike believes his breeding season matches peak forage quality. And except for the occasional short-lived spring storm, March and April calving is easy to manage. He keeps heifers close to the house so he can check them morning and evening, but he seldom gets up in the middle of the night.
Cows calve in the hills unless brought in due to exceptionally severe weather.
Birth weights of heifers' calves average 75 lb. and calves out of cows usually average 85 lb. I help a heifer now and then, but I haven't touched a cow in a long time. I've never had to milk one out. We've never had much scour trouble, so we just don't have to hover over them. After a summer on mother's milk and grass, bull calves will wean at 550 lb. or so, and heifers weigh nearly 500 lb.