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By Alice McFarlane

Calving tips

BCRC calving distribution calculator shows impact on revenue

Feb 19, 2026 | 12:16 PM

Tightening up calving distribution provides one of the biggest economic benefits for cow-calf producers with smaller herds.  

Dr. John Campbell, with the Department of Large Animal Clinic Services at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, said it’s basically shrinking the breeding window down.  

“Usually it’s 63 days for cows and 42 days for heifers. That’s the most standard recommendation in the industry,” Campbell said.  

The Beef Cattle Research Council (BCRC) has a calving distribution calculator which allows producers to see what their current calving distribution is and what the impact on their revenue would be if they move to the industry target.  

Campbell said the nice thing about the calculator is it shows producers something beyond just a pregnancy rate.  

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“You may have a 90 per cent pregnancy rate, which seems pretty good. But if you don’t have 60 per cent of those cows calving in the first 21 days, you could be leaving a lot of cash behind. It could be 39 pounds for every 21 days earlier they’re born. That could be well over 70 pounds of weaning weight difference between those two calves,” he said.  

Campbell said heifers born in the first 21 days are more likely to stay in the herd longer, and they’re more likely to get pregnant.  

“In fact, a recent research paper would show that they give one more calf in their reproductive lifetime than a heifer that was born later in the calving season, which is a significant economic benefit.”  

Brennan Schactel, a cattle producer from the Lloydminster area, said they try to sell as consistent of a calf crop as possible direct to the feedlot.  

“So, we’re trying to create uniformity, and you can have a spread in gap with your calving intervals. Even this year being a little drier, we tightened it up a little bit,” Schactel said. “We kind of went down to 50 days on the cow herd and a lot of times when we’re preg checking now, the fertility’s improved that anything that’s a little later, we can cull right off the bat if we’re in excess of numbers.”  

A well-defined breeding and calving season is one of the Beef Cattle Research Council’s five management tips to make a big impact on small herds. You can find the article and videos on BCRC’s website.   

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com