A five-year research project shows that margins were higher, calves healthier and labour requirements less for pasture calving than for its barn equivalent. But a changeover will delay cash flow in the first year
by Susan Mann
Ten years ago, after a nasty outbreak of scours among his new born calves, cow-calf farmer Amos Brielmann decided to change his calving methods.
Brielmann recalls his snowsuit pockets being full of antibiotic bottles and needles as he and three full-time employees worked night and day to treat the calves at Pine River Ranch, near Rainy River in northwestern Ontario. At that time, his 300-cow herd was calving in late March, early April.
“I decided we couldn’t do this,” he says. “It was way too hard on everyone.”