JACKSON, Wyo. — With the snow slowly melting in the valley, new baby cows or calves are multiplying on the fields of Northern South Park every day. Calving season in Wyoming generally begins in late February and early March, and continues through May.
The Lockhart Cattle Company, a sixth-generation, family-owned and operated ranch in Jackson Hole, began when Bruce Porter started the operation in 1938. To this day, visitors and residents enjoy watching from a distance as the cattle herd transitions throughout the seasons.
On Friday, April 4, Buckrail spoke with Chase Lockhart, Porter’s great grandson and Lockhart Cattle Company manager, to see how the mama cows and their young offspring are faring so far this spring.
Lockhart said that the first calf, a bull or male calf, was born on March 20. As of April 4, 60 calves have arrived on the ranch’s fields of Northern South Park.
The week of April 7 marks peak calving season, when up to 20 calves will be born each day. The timing of deliveries is a precise business, according to Lockhart. He said that the bulls were put in with the cows on June 19, making the estimated due date March 31. Lockhart added that the gestation table varies according to the breed of cows. He predicts that the ranch’s final tally of calves will be 307.
“Cows have a gestation period of 283 days, some say 285 days,” Lockhart said. “That’s based on the breed. Ours are cross-bred.”
Lockhart and his ranch team check the pregnant cows every two hours or more around the clock to help ensure healthy deliveries.
“A man is a night calver during this time of year,” Lockhart said. “He starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 7 a.m. Then the day shift starts at 7 a.m. and goes to 7 p.m. Sometimes we are just out there with them. We have to assist around 6 to 8 percent of the births.”
Lockhart said that birth assists can be needed to help a heifer or first time mom. He stressed that backwards calves can break the umbilical cord, causing it to drown from breathing while still inside the mom.
“If it’s taking her too long, we will pull the calf,” Lockhart said. “But, most of the ones we assist with, it’s either a backwards calf — you can sometimes see the back feet coming out of a cow — or, she’s trying to calve and hasn’t made any progress, which means the back feet are underneath her. So, you have to push the calve forward, inside the cow, get the back feet and pull it out.”
Lockhart confirmed that the ranch’s cows and calves have been healthy.
“The weather has been really good for us,” Lockhart said. “The last two years there was still a lot of snow on the ground. We’ve got bare ground to calf on this year and that always helps.”
Lockhart explained that breeders select bull genetics to produce good maternal traits. He said the health of his cows are good because the mothers have such impressive mothering instincts.
“Our cows are just good mother cows,” Lockhart said. “They lick the calve off really well after they are born. They produce a lot of milk. That cow can keep track of her calf within all of the 300+ pairs. She’ll stash it to go get water, come back and know exactly where it is.”
According to Lockhart Cattle Company, calves are born without an immune system, so it’s crucial they receive colostrum (the first milk) quickly after birth, as it contains the antibodies they need to start building their immune systems. Beef calves are usually allowed to stay with their mother until they are 6 to 8 months old, when they are separated from the cow and then weaned. Lockhart said the calves are weaned during the first couple of weeks of November, and started on nutrient-dense hay.
“We call it bawling when you pull the calf off the mom,” Lockhart said. “They moo, they bawl. You want to get them through that process before winter sets in. You also want to give the mother cow 5 to 6 months to put all the energy into the calf that is inside of her.”
Lockhart said that a mother cow can have up to 10 to 12 calves. During summer months, mothers are paired up with their calf on the north side of Munger Mountain while hay is being harvested on the ranch. In the fall, the cows return to the ranch when the calves are weaned. Then, the calving process starts all over again.
