Ready, Set, Calve: How to Prepare Yourself and Your Beef Operation for the Upcoming Calving Season

“Let’s compare farming seasons to athletes in performance and off seasons. When you’re calving, it’s not exactly helpful to be focusing on pieces that help you with preparation. It’s go time. Just like an athlete, when they’re performing, it’s not time to focus on how to learn a new skill. It’s time to perform – and to the best of their capabilities.”

– Erica Leniczek (The Brand Erica), a mental health consultant in the AgKnow Counselling Network, an Alberta-based group of agriculture informed therapists

1. Prevent disease before it starts by having a biosecurity plan.

• Think you don’t have to worry about biosecurity because you have a closed herd? Think again. Many things can introduce pathogens into your herd such as neighbours coming to visit, clothes or boots that were wore to an auction market, fence line contact with other cattle, etc. Make sure to clean and disinfect surfaces, tools, clothing and vehicles.  
• Avoid comingling any new cattle with pregnant cows and implement strict quarantine times for animals coming back to the main herd.   
• Separate classes of cattle into different areas so you can manage risk based on what group is most susceptible to disease. Naïve animals such as first calf heifers and new calves should be kept in the highest risk category. Consider implementing a calving strategy to help minimize calfhood disease.  
• Print off a Google map of your calving areas so you can strategically plan how to move through groups of cattle in your day-to-day chores to prevent the spread of contaminants to high-risk animals.  
• Eliminate possible contaminants such as old feed piles, manure and deadstock. Think ahead to spring melt and be prepared for wet areas and how drainage can lead to standing stagnant water and disease reservoirs. Always have adequate dry bedding available when it is not possible to move cattle to clean and dry areas.  
• Clean your equipment. Ensure that the loader tractor you used to spread manure in the fall has been properly cleaned and disinfected before using it to bed new calves.   
• Create areas on your farm specifically for sick animals. Ensure those animals do not share water or have cross-fence contact with healthy animals. Never place sick animals in the same area as naïve animals, such as first-calf heifers.  

2. Do inventory on your supplies needed for calving.

Make sure you have the following calving supplies on hand in case they are needed: 

• Colostrum: Ensuring calves get colostrum within the first 24 hours is essential for calf health going forward.  
• Electrolytes: Sick calves are at high risk for dehydration, which is often what kills calves. Knowing when a calf is dehydrated and when to administer electrolytes can help save calves.  
• Bottles and stomach tubes for administering colostrum and electrolytes: Have separate supplies for colostrum and electrolytes to prevent cross contamination and exposing newborn calves to pathogens from sick calves.  
• Record-keeping supplies: Whether it is a paper and pen, an Excel spreadsheet or an app, having your calving record-keeping system ready to go can help when that first calf hits the ground. Take some time to review last year’s records and decide which data is useful to record so you can make the best decisions for your operation. Not sure what data you should record? Consider taking our free record-keeping e-courses.
• Talk to your veterinarian about any vaccines, medications, vitamins or mineral supplements recommended for your calves.  
• Calf tags and identification: If you tag calves at birth make sure to have all tags you use on hand.
• Supplies for assisting with difficult calving: Having supplies on hand such as palpation sleeves, antiseptic soap, lubrication, calving chains, etc. is important to ensure quick intervention. Hover over the pins in the image below for descriptions of common calving supplies.

3. Prepare yourself and your people for a busy, stressful season.

• Prepare meals in advance: Eating nutritious meals is important to keep going during stressful times. You wouldn’t put gas is your diesel tractor, so make sure you are also fueling your body appropriately. Making some freezer meals ahead of time can help you have something quick and easy to cook during the busy calving season.  
• Set realistic goals: What are the things you want to accomplish during the busy season that you can control and work towards (e.g., keeping on top of your records, making sure all calves get tagged within 48 hours)? Remember goals are important, but calving season is unpredictable and it is ok if you don’t always meet your goals.  
• Sleep when you can: Getting a full eight hours of sleep is not always possible during calving season, but sleep is essential to rejuvenate your mind and muscles and keep you able to make the best decisions in the moment. When you can, practice good sleep hygiene to help you get a more restful night’s sleep:  
  • Try not to look at your phone one hour before bed.  
  • Avoid caffeine after noon.  
  • Use your bedroom only for sleeping. 
  • Develop a bedtime routine.  

• Take care of your body: You may not be able to get to a gym during calving season, but you can take small steps such as moving your body daily, dressing warmly for long periods outside, taking time to rest even if it is only for a few minutes.  
• Take a deep breath: When the season gets stressful or feels overwhelming, remember to stop and take a few deep breaths. It can be helpful to look at the horizon and remind yourself of some things you enjoy about being a beef producer.  
• Check in with yourself: Consider using AgKnow’s anonymous self-check-in tool, How Are You Really.  
• Remember you can’t plan for everything: Focus instead on choosing how to respond in hard situations, finding gratitude where you can and drawing strength from past successes during stressful times.   

4. Print or download handy decision-making tools and resources.

Calving time can be busy, and while having information at your fingertips can be great, sometimes it is nice to have a printable resource you can hang up in your barn for easy access. Because of this, the BCRC has developed some new, practical options for producers to access vital information from the Calf 911 series in an easily accessible format.

Calf 911 checklists with practical management tips have been printed on a durable cardstock and are currently available to producers through veterinary clinics across Canada. The 8.5″x11″ checklists are perfect for posting on the calving barn wall and are easy to read and reference when you need quick and accurate information.   

Calving season can be stressful, but taking the time to gather equipment and prepare your farm, your team and yourself can help make the season run smoothly.  

More calving information is available on the BCRC’s Calving & Calf Management topic page.

Thank you to the following therapists from the AgKnow Counselling Network for providing mental health advice for this article: Jenna Ibach, Michael Fedunec and Erica Leniczek. 

Sharing or reprinting BCRC posts is welcome and encouraged. Please credit the Beef Cattle Research Council, provide the website address, www.BeefResearch.ca, and let us know you have chosen to share the article by emailing us at info@beefresearch.ca.

Your questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. Contact us directly or spark a public discussion by posting your thoughts below.

• biosecurity
• Calf 911
• calf management
• calving
• colostrum
• dehydration
• mental health