  BeefTalk:
Changing Calving Date Can Impact Income Opportunities
By Kris Ringwall, Extension Beef Specialist,
NDSU Extension Service
The jokes about April Fool’s Day have come and gone for another year. For
North Dakota beef producers April 1 is a milestone, marking the midpoint of the
calving season when producers review the last 20 years of calving records. One
popular topic of discussion among cattle producers is when calving should be.
For non beef producers, this may seem to be a minor point, but in the beef
business, the entire enterprise, and perhaps lifestyle, revolves around when
calves are born.
Weather has the biggest impact on calving time. At least in my lifetime, I
remember the severity of the winter by how each winter impacted the calving
season. With calving, you always need to go outside. Saying "I will wait
for a better day" is just not acceptable.
After tough winters with difficult calving weather, the discussion focuses on
turning bulls out later. Generally, when the winter is mild everybody just
breathes a sigh of relief.
Long-term statistics indicate producer attitudes do change and, as a result,
so do calving dates. Despite the weather, I would guess the factors influencing
calving dates are much more complicated than just the flavor of last year’s
weather.
Data collected through the Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software (CHAPS)
shows the average date for calving is April 1. A closer look reveals the date
has, however, varied over the past 23 years. Coming out of the 70s, calving was
almost a week later than average (April 8), and started getting earlier in the
80s. This trend continued well into the mid 90s. The average calving date for
the years 1978 to 1980 was April 8. For 1981 to 1983 it was April 6. For 1984 to
1986 it was April 4. For 1987 to 1989 it was April 1. For 1990 to 1992 it was
March 28. And for 1993- 1995 was March 28.
Generally, in the free market, economic incentives drive production
decisions. I would speculate the need to cover costs resulted in the desire to
produce larger calves, which prompted a shift to an earlier calving date. There
were, and still are, two ways to produce large calves:
- First, focus on and select for those genes that increase rapid growth.
- Second, calve earlier and market older calves.
The current supply in the industry is a combination of both factors. Cattle
cycles are directly affected by management protocols that have halted the
gradual trend of calving earlier. From 1996 to 1998, the average calving date
moved back to April 4, which indicates producers are trending back to calving the
same time as they were in the 70s.
The change in calving dates also impacts output (calves weaned per cow).
Simultaneously, reduction in costs, also need to be measured. As NDSU emeritus
economist Harlan Hughes stated, "Unit cost of production is the herd's
total costs divided by the herd's total pounds of calf produced. Any production
factor you want to talk about is either in the numerator, the denominator or
both."
If we were racing cars, a yellow caution flag would be waving. Decreasing the
denominator, i.e. total pounds of calf produced, will increase unit cost of
production, if the numerator, i.e. total costs, remains the same.
Bull selection and turn out dates have major impacts for beef producers.
Changing these parameters should only be done after some serious pencil pushing.
May you find all your ear tags.
Your comments are always welcome at www.BeefTalk.com
For more information, contact the North Dakota Beef Cattle Improvement
Association, 1133 State Avenue, Dickinson, ND 58601 or go to www.CHAPS2000.COM
on the Internet. In correspondence about this column, refer to BT0032.
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Source: Kris Ringwall, (701) 483-2045, kringwal@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu
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