Calving is one of the most important times on the production calendar. Management decisions made prior to this period can influence success at calving and ultimately profitability of an operation. NDSU Extension Beef Cattle Specialist Zac Carlson says the time of feeding can have an impact on when calves are born. “I think most producers are probably familiar with the Konefal Calving Method. There’s been studies that show feeding cows at night, reduces the number of cows that calve at night. There’s a lot of good data that’s out there that supports this, especially from Iowa State University. They fed once a day at four o’clock two weeks before calving, and they saw that 82 percent of their cows calved between six a.m. and ten a.m. A little bit more time is better when it comes to feeding prior to calving, so two weeks is good, three weeks is better.”
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