Aborting cows

[WBar Farms]

SO I have some cows that ended up staying open this summer after aiing never worked and the clean up bull came up crap.  So the guy i put my cows with bought a bulla nd now my cows are gonna get bred and have may june calves and i will be really behind on my program of aiing next year.  I was wondering the possibility of giving them all a shot of lutalyse and just either getting them out of there or trying to get them in a differnt part of the pasture.  This guy doesnt care when his cows get bred hell have some calve in december some in june he deosnt care and I obviouly do so was wondering is it gonna be really hard on my cows to abort like that if they have been bred then stay open till next may and june?

 

[ruhtram]

Are they bred now? How long have then been bred?

 

[cowman 52]

Go to it

 

[kiblercattle]

Sell the cows buy 1/2 as many bred ones and you ll still be ahead no sense in having open cows standing around for another year.

 

[WBar Farms]

Well im just starting my herd so selling them would just set me back farther.  The money isnt the problem its just if my cows would be really bad off if I were to abort them and leave them open.  3 weeks along at the most

 

[CAB]

With feed costs what they are right now I don't know if I would want them to be open any longer than they had to be. I would think that a calf would be better late than not @ all.  JMO, don't really know your whole situation, but aborting the cows won't hurt them either.

 

[jbzdad]

late calvers are a real pain... one of the most difficult things is getting the calving pulled into that 8 week period... I agree with selling  them and buying  back... you will have the opportunity to buy all sorts of 5 month bred heifers at the female sales this fall

MCF and GVC come to mind

If you have one or two that you HAVE to keep because you prize those genetics then abort them and use them as donors ... then you should be ready to go  in 6-8 months for next breeding and implant season

those breds you buy this fall will have a calf to sell and be carrying a calf or embryo that is 4 mos along this time next year... those opens you carry over will have that pregnancy but no calf to sell

 

[CAB]

late calvers are a real pain... one of the most difficult things is getting the calving pulled into that 8 week period... I agree with selling  them and buying  back... you will have the opportunity to buy all sorts of 5 month bred heifers at the female sales this fall

MCF and GVC come to mind

If you have one or two that you HAVE to keep because you prize those genetics then abort them and use them as donors ... then you should be ready to go  in 6-8 months for next breeding and implant season

those breds you buy this fall will have a calf to sell and be carrying a calf or embryo that is 4 mos along this time next year... those opens you carry over will have that pregnancy but no calf to sell

Good advice IMO.

 

[Bi-Lane Livestock]

If you abort 4 months into pregnancy you will be adding a lot of complication....ask your vet but I would not reccomed it.

 

[maineanjou87]

I wouldnt do it now late calves are better than no calves if your going to sell out and buy more I would just wait and with feed cost i wouldnt leave them open.  Also some of the cattle farmers im close to wont even induce cows or heifers because they have had complications and it has ruined some of there cow idk if it would have the same effect.

 

[leanbeef]

Aborting a cow or a heifer in the first 30 days isn't that big a deal on her reproductive system. After that, particularly after 60 days or so, it can get messy & there can be complications. However, in this situation, I would agree that it doesn't make sense to abort pregnant, late bred cows & hold them open a whole year. I would sell & replace them...not ever what you really want to do probably, but I think it's the option that makes the most sense in this scenario from a production standpoint. We can't always have things work out as we'd like for em to, and it sounds like that's the boat you're in. Sometimes we have to kinda step back & try to see things as objectively as possible in order to make the best decision. 

 

[Glorifying Pastures]

IMO, a late calf is better then no calf, I had two heifiers that way last year, to leave them open and feed them for another year and get no return on them is not a wise idea, feed cost are just to high right now. Do agree with jbzdad.

 

[leanbeef]

Yes...most people might agree a late calf is better than no calf in most cases, but for a lot of us, late calves don't really work much better than open cows. We have a tight calving season, so from a management standpoint, a straggler becomes a headache in the mix. In terms of marketing the calves, late calves introduce more issues. If you're raising show cattle, there isn't much interest in summer calves. And even if you're just selling your calves across the scales, late calves are lighter weight at sale time & either bring less money or you have to hold them & sell them later.

We have both spring and fall calving cows, and one advantage to that system is a cow can be moved to the other herd if there's a reason we just don't want to sell her, but she has to be a special female or have special circumstances to get that consideration, and it usually counts as points against her. In most cases, cows in our herd that breed late or come up open get replaced.

 

[Top Knot]

Sell the cows and buy open heifers. They'll eat less and will calve the same time as your cows if you were to abort them. Another thing to think about - you might get those cows AI'd next spring, but what will happen with them the following year? They didn't settle this year. How many of them will be able to rasie a calf and rebreed on time consistently from year to year? I learned long ago not to enable cows to hang around that don't work in my environnment with my management. If it's not working now, and the pastures aren't going to change, and the management's not going to change, then the cows better change. Find what works for you and go with it. Good luck.