Subdividing calving pastures and moving beef cows through them
using the Sandhills calving system can reduce the incidence of
scouring, points out Bruce Anderson, University of Nebraska
Extension forage specialist. “In a typical calving pasture, the
concentration of bacteria and viruses that cause scours
increases dramatically as calving season progresses,” says
Anderson. “This means calves born a couple weeks into calving
season and later may get exposed to a very high dose of these
pathogens. In addition, calves are most susceptible to
developing scours during their second and third week of age,
just about the time potential exposure to pathogens becomes
high.” The Sandhills calving system breaks up this scour cycle,
he says. First subdivide your calving pasture or use multiple
pastures. Then start calving with all your cows in one pasture.
After a week to 10 days, move all the cows that have not yet
calved to a fresh pasture. Repeat this process every week to 10
days, always leaving behind the pairs born t