Seasonal or continuous ?
A question for you farmers. There seem to be quite a few calves around at the moment, which made me wonder how the cycle of animal reproduction works here. (And in tropical countries generally.) Is there a time of the year here equivalent to spring when all the calves are born, (like now for example), or do they pop out all year round ?
Just curious.

No matter which country you are in, cows can have calves at any time of the year, but it more suitable to have a cow calve in springtime because of the abundance of fresh grass and the worst winter weather has passed. A dairy farmer supplying fresh milk would have cows calving all year round.

We just had three lambs and a bull born in the last two weeks, would have been better if they would have come two weeks later just after the rains.They rain makes them very cold so the must be kept undercover, which means fetching their food to them.
Back in the lake again to cut the morning glory, first time was scary,now it just is what it is.Fun

Duncan wrote:No matter which country you are in, cows can have calves at any time of the year, but it more suitable to have a cow calve in springtime because of the abundance of fresh grass and the worst winter weather has passed. A dairy farmer supplying fresh milk would have cows calving all year round.

And here I was thinking that there was something natural about reproductive cycles.

Ed Hammer wrote:We just had three lambs and a bull born in the last two weeks,

would have been better if they would have come two weeks later just after the rains.They rain makes them very cold so the must be kept undercover, which means fetching their food to them.
Back in the lake again to cut the morning glory, first time was scary,now it just is what it is.Fun

Photos', Please,

my quail are laying like egg machines and got a 70% hatch of 300 in the incubator. will do another run soon.

i use a long artificial photoperiod but there is less than an hour difference in day length here so minmal seasonal effect with plants and animals.

we are in the mortality season with newcastle disease for chickens now though, runs through until March. 70% of the national "scavenging flock" carks it each year in these months and the price of moan rises.

you can vax with an eyedrop. costs around 20 cents a head.

Anchor Moy wrote:

Duncan wrote:No matter which country you are in, cows can have calves at any time of the year, but it more suitable to have a cow calve in springtime because of the abundance of fresh grass and the worst winter weather has passed. A dairy farmer supplying fresh milk would have cows calving all year round.

And here I was thinking that there was something natural about reproductive cycles.

That's understandable. I guess it's because you've been hanging around women all your life.

Ed Hammer wrote:We just had three lambs and a bull born in the last two weeks, would have been better if they would have come two weeks later just after the rains.They rain makes them very cold so the must be kept undercover, which means fetching their food to them.
Back in the lake again to cut the morning glory, first time was scary,now it just is what it is.Fun

Tell me more. What is scary about cutting morning glory ? Watersnakes ? I was just watching a guy do that yesterday. It looks kind of swampy, and there's rubbish all around. (This is in town.) When I eat it I try to forget where it's come from.

those fishballs forsoup are sometimes snake.
huge numbers are harvested from the tonle sap

The ovulatory cycle of cows is similar in nature to humans, although the number of days is slightly different, so they are fertile at many points in the year. A good farmer will manage breeding to plan calving in the desired season and according to resources available at that time. Only a poor farmer would allow his/her cattle to be impregnated such that they are calving in a dry season as it's too much strain on the cow.

Source: ex dairy farm kid.