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Beef Cattle Teaching Farm FINCA MONTAÑA |
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the rest (n = ± 250) are Charolais x Senepol crossbred cows in the commercial herd.
Herd Management
1. Breeding season of approximately 100 days, from may 1 to august 8. Heifers start the breeding season 20 days earlier.
2. Natural Mating: each bull is allocated an average of 25 to 30 cows.
3. Artificial insemination and embryo transfer is utilized in the top 10 percent purebred Senepol cows.
4. Rectal palpation is performed in September or October.
5. Aside from very few exceptional cases cows and heifers that are open at the end of the breeding season are culled from the herd.
6. Close to calving, cows are brought to small pastures close to the corrals for better observation and attention, prior to and during calving.
7. Weaning takes place when calves reach an average of 7 to 8 months of age. Data collected includes: calving date, calving difficulty score, cow and calf number and genotype, sire number and genotype, calf sex, cow and calf weight, weaning date, cow and calf weight at weaning, date and type of vaccination or other health treatments provided, and reasons why a cow or heifer were culled from the herd. In addition, all purebred Senepol calves are registered. |