The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-01-24
APRIL AND ocToseR.
The Best Time for Cows to Calve-A
Stock Raiser Gives HIS Views.


The Best Time for Cows to Calve-A
Stock Raiser Gives HIS Views.
The calves of Holstein- Friesian cows
are. according to my experience. twenty
five per cent larger than those Of any
other breed, says . writer in the
Breeders Gazette. The weight Of my
pure-bred Holstein-Friesian calves has
run from eighty to one hundred and
twenty pounds, and l have heard of
other breeders who had them in . few
instances to weigh one hundred and
forty pounds on the day Of their birth.
Having lost so many calves from heifers
that were bred to calve the spring they
were two years old, some time since
adopted the plan Of holding them back
six months. This brought number Of
heifers to calve during the fall months,
at which time it is the nature Of COWS
to grow their calves at least twenty-five
per cent. smaller in size and weight
than at spring births. Since arranging
to have heifers make their first births
in the fall have had no trouble nor
losses, whereas with spring births l
have not only lost many calves, but also
lost two heifers that cost me $500 each.
And what hurt mo no less was that
some of my brother breeders whom I
had persuaded that the Holland cattle
were the best dairy cattle in the world
also lost in the same way and equally
with me.
had three beifers Of the same age,
sisters on the side of their sire, and
equally we'll bred on the side of their
dams. One of them permitted to calve
in the fall when she was two ears old
and she came through all right because
she made small CALI The second
heifer attempted to give birth in the
spring when she was thirty months old
to calf that was pressed to death in
the pelvic cavity and l was even glad to
have saved the mother. The calf
weighed one hundred and twenty
pounds. The third he:3er calved in the
fall when she was three years old and
came through all right, of course. 1t
takes, am aware, more than few
isolated facts or even the experience Of
one man to make general rule. But 1
think we may set it down that fall
born calf will be smaller than a spring
born calf, all other circumstances being
equal.
Much depends upon the age and con-
dition of the female at breeding time.
Virgil told us long time ago that the
female at breeding time should be thin
in flesh but healthy in all her parts.
We can feed the dam during pregnancy
so as to produce more or less fetus
growth, and the same foods will have a
like influence that they would have if fed
to the calf after its birth. know of no
period during dairy cows lifetime
that she should be made fat, but think
it best to give them fat-producing foods
only when they are in full milk flow,
and as far as | can control their organ
ism / would have them send most of the
fat of their foods through their udders.
have seen both heifers and middle
aged cows injured in their milking
qualities by being made and kept beef
fat.
If l could choose the two months dur
ing which all my calves should be born
they would be April and October.
live in latitude 80 degrees; further
north l should think the spring calves
ought to be later and the fall calves
earlier. Further south the spring
calves would best come in March and
the fall calves in November. A cow
that calves in the spring months will
give more milk than if she calves in the
fall, but for dairy purposes we want at
least half of them to calve in the fall;
and now l always give the heifers the
preference of this time of calving. 1t is
also good plan to make the time be-
tween the first and second calving eight
cen months, and to keep them giving
milk all this time even though the guam
tity may be small part of the time. This
fixes the milk-producing habit very per-
in their constitutions. If they
have been bred quite young the first
time they very frequently take a holt
day of their own accord; and when they
do they use the time for more growth
toward normal maturity.