Calving Season
Few times in the beef production year carry as much promise, pressure, and long-term consequence as calving season. Each healthy calf represents not only immediate value, but also the success of months of management decisions made long before the first signs of labor. While genetics, weather, and management all play a role, nutrition remains the quiet driver behind calving ease, calf vigor, milk production, and a cow’s ability to breed back on time.
At its core, the cow-calf system is built on a remarkable biological partnership. Grazing cattle convert cellulose and fibrous plant material that humans cannot digest into high-quality protein for human consumption – nutritious, wholesome beef. Across the domestic cow-calf sector, production systems, forage resources, and breed types vary widely. Yet despite these differences, the nutritional demands of the beef cow remain surprisingly consistent, especially during the final stages of gestation and early lactation.
And there is no point in the year when those demands escalate more sharply than during calving season.
At BioZyme®, we produce VitaFerm®, a line of nutritional supplements for beef cattle that maximizes energy and forage utilization for successful production. Feeding VitaFerm supplements at least 60 days pre-calving ensures both mama and her calf start strong in the calving lot and helps with quicker breed-backs.
Nutritional Demands Peak During Calving Season
For most of the production cycle, acceptable-quality forage is often sufficient to meet a cow’s baseline nutritional needs. However, that changes dramatically during the last 60 days before calving and the first 60 days post-partum. During this window, cows experience a sharp increase in basal metabolic requirements driven by three major biological events:
- Rapid fetal development and preparation for parturition
- Initiation of lactation and colostrum production
- The return to a fertile state in preparation for the next cattle breeding season
Spring-calving herds often enter calving season during winter months, when forage quality is declining, and environmental stressors are elevated. Producers may also be managing first-calf heifers, which are still growing and have not yet reached mature body size. These females must partition nutrients toward their own growth, fetal development, and calving simultaneously, making precise nutrition even more critical.
Optimizing nutrition during this period is not an option. It is foundational to production efficiency, cow longevity, and reproductive success.
What’s Happening Biologically in Late Gestation?
Understanding the biology of late gestation helps explain why nutritional gaps during calving season can have lasting consequences.
During the first and second trimesters, fetal development focuses on organ formation and skeletal-muscular growth. By contrast, the third trimester accounts for nearly 75 percent of total fetal growth and prepares the calf for life outside the uterus.
At the same time, cows must accumulate sufficient energy reserves to withstand the physical stress of calving and transition smoothly into lactation. Nutrient partitioning during this phase prioritizes fetal growth and calving readiness, but only if those nutrients are available in adequate and bioavailable forms.
In addition to energy and protein, cows require vitamins A and E and trace minerals such as copper, zinc, manganese, and selenium to support immune function, colostrum quality, and calf vigor. Deficiencies during this stage can result in weak calves, delayed nursing, and compromised immune transfer.
Addressing the Fear of Over-Supplementation
Some producers remain hesitant to supplement cows during late gestation, often because they fear that increased nutrition will lead to excessive birth weights and dystocia. Research indicates that calf birth weight is influenced by the maternal plane of nutrition. However, birth weight alone does not determine calving ease.
Calving difficulty is multifactorial. Outside of abnormal calf presentations, the cow’s energy status and glycogen reserves play a critical role in her ability to deliver a calf unassisted. Thin cows with limited energy reserves may actually experience more difficulty calving, regardless of calf size.
Research has shown that calves born to cows on a higher pre-calving plane of nutrition stand and nurse sooner than calves from cows on a lower plane of nutrition. This early nursing is essential for colostrum intake, passive immunity, and thermoregulation, especially in cold or wet conditions common during spring calving seasons.
In short, proper nutrition supports calving ease, rather than compromising it.
Lactation: Nutritional Requirements Continue to Rise
Calving is not the end of the nutritional challenge. In fact, nutrient demands continue to increase for nearly 60 days post-partum, when approximately two-thirds of a cow’s total milk production occurs. Energy, protein, vitamins, and minerals are all essential to support milk quantity and quality, which directly influence early calf growth and weaning weights.
If a cow’s nutritional intake fails to meet lactation demands, she will mobilize body reserves to compensate. This can result in:
- Loss of body condition score (BCS)
- Increased risk of metabolic disorders
- Suppressed immune function
- Reduced reproductive efficiency
Because individual milking potential varies among cows, it is especially important to monitor females that appear to be losing weight or showing signs of illness. Cows that lose weight during the breeding season consistently show lower conception rates, extended calving intervals, and reducing herd profitability.
Nutrition & Breeding Preparedness Work Together
The calving season nutrition conversation comes full circle when breeding season approaches. To maintain an economically viable production cycle, cows must:
- Calve unassisted
- Raise a healthy, high-performing calf
- Maintain adequate BCS
- Return to estrus and conceive within a defined breeding window
Nutrition is the common denominator in every one of these outcomes. Cutting corners during calving season may save short-term feed costs, but it often results in longer-term reproductive inefficiencies that are far more expensive.
The goal is not to overfeed cows, but to optimize nutrient utilization, particularly when forage quality is variable or declining.
Improving Forage Utilization During Calving Season
Forage remains the foundation of beef cow diets, but its nutritional value fluctuates with maturity, harvest conditions, and storage. During calving season, maximizing the value of every bite becomes especially important.
Research-proven prebiotics like AO-Biotics® Amaferm®, help cattle extract more nutrients from available forages by promoting intake, digestibility, and nutrient absorption. Improved forage utilization supports adequate energy availability for calving, lactation, and reproductive recovery, while helping cows maintain body condition.
BioZyme offers a variety of products in the VitaFerm line that combine Amaferm with highly bioavailable organic trace minerals to support both the cow and her calf during the demands of calving season. Organic forms of copper, zinc, and manganese improve mineral absorption, while elevated vitamin E and selenium levels support immune function and overall production efficiency.
VitaFerm products come in various nutritional levels, depending on your management and operational goals. All of them contain Amaferm for increased digestibility.
VitaFerm® ReproMaxx®
Leading the industry in reproductive technology, VitaFerm® ReproMaxx® products provide high vitamin and mineral fortification and research-proven components to take reproductive success to the MAXX.
- Includes verified, research-proven levels of Zinpro organic zinc, copper, and manganese.
- Maximizes reproductive success of the herd while supporting colostrum quality and bull soundness, and fertility.
VitaFerm® Concept•Aid®
Our line of VitaFerm® Concept•Aid® products promotes effective, easy breeding when fed 60 days pre-calving through 60 days post-breeding.
- Includes organic copper, iodine, and zinc for maximum bioavailability, innate immunity, and hoof health.
- High levels of Vitamin E support reproductive tract repair and milk quality.
VitaFerm® ONE
For producers in need of strong foundations, VitaFerm® ONE provides one solution to conveniently and consistently promote cattle health and performance in all seasons.
- Meets or exceeds nutrient requirements throughout the production cycle.
- Formulated with research-proven organic copper and zinc for enhanced bioavailability.
Give your Newborn Calves a Strong Start from Day One
While cow nutrition drives many calving season outcomes, newborn calves may still experience stress during the transition to life outside the womb. Cold temperatures, delayed nursing, or difficult births can compromise early digestive and immune function.
Targeted nutritional support can help calves get off to a stronger start. VitaFerm® Sure Start Gel is specifically formulated for calves, designed to support immune function and overall health during the critical post-birth period. IgY antibodies provide broad-shield protection, along with prebiotics like Amaferm and MOS support gut health. This dual-action approach strengthens the calf’s first line of defense, enhances nutrient utilization, and supports the immune system during the crucial first 24 hours. Sure Start Gel sets the stage for increased calf vigor, stronger growth, and improved lifetime performance.
Reduce Calving Season Stress with Optimum Nutrition
Calving season is often described as the most rewarding yet stressful time of the year for cow-calf producers. Long nights, unpredictable weather, and high stakes leave little room for error. While proper nutrition cannot control every variable, a quality cattle diet can dramatically reduce risk and improve consistency.
By prioritizing proper nutrition during calving season, producers set cows up to calve unassisted, produce high-quality colostrum and milk, maintain body condition, and return to estrus on schedule. The result is a smoother calving season, healthier calves with increased vigor, and improved breeding preparedness.
Take the stress out of calving season with timely nutritional support, powered by the Amaferm advantage in VitaFerm vitamin and mineral supplements.
Get Your VitaFerm Today
Your calving season success – for both mama and calf – and that of future breeding seasons, depends on the plane of nutrition she is on before and during calving season. That’s why a quality nutritional supplement like VitaFerm that helps get more from every bite and gives your herd a strong start is vital.
Get your VitaFerm products from an authorized BioZyme dealer today. Our extensive dealer network is here to help you meet mineral needs.
Want to learn more about VitaFerm and our BioZyme family of brands? Sign up for our electronic newsletter to stay in the know!