Cows can calve at any time of the year, but the majority of beef cows are calved in the spring. Spring calving cows eat considerably less concentrated feed that those that have calved in late summer and autumn and have to suckle their calves during the winter.

Spring-born calves, particularly those born in February and March, are big enough by May to take full advantage of their mothers' flush of milk when grass starts growing vigorously. That leads to well-grown calves at weaning in October that are able to withstand the stresses of being housed for the winter.

So many breeders of beef cattle are busy supervising their bovine maternity wards. Acting as a midwife to a herd of beef cows can be both very satisfying and frustrating at the same time.

The biggest worries are caused by difficulties at calving when calves can be lost and cows badly injured by giving birth to big calves with wide hips. That can damage the nerves associated with their mother's pelvis resulting in temporary or even permanent paralysis of the cow's hind legs.

Fortunately, one of the consequences of the poor quality silage made on many farms during last year's atrociously wet summer is that cows are leaner than usual. That should lead to smaller calves and less calving problems, with the added advantage that leaner cows tend to get on with their labour unlike fat cows that idly hang about doing nothing.

With so much at stake, stockmen constantly check their cows. Some achieve that during the night by CCTV cameras in the calving sheds connected to monitors in their bedroom, while others don waterproofs and wellington boots to brave the elements. My bedroom used to be within fifty feet of my calving sheds when I was farming, so I was often alerted by the distinctive noises a cow makes as she starts to calve.

Apart from big calves where the cow needs assistance with a calving jack - a ratchet-type device that's attached to ropes - others don't come the way nature intended. Some are in the breach position where the calf's bottom is coming first with its hind legs tucked under its belly, other' s come with one or both forelegs, or their head back, while others come backwards with their hind legs protruding from the cow. Those and other problems have to be sorted out safely, bearing in mind that cows can become aggressive and dangerous when calving and very protective of newborn calves.

Well-designed calving pens and gates should minimise direct physical contact between the cow and the farmer, and have a facility to safely restrain the cow with access to both sides that allows training calves to suckle. Gates should be hung high enough to allow the farmer to roll under them to escape from a cow should she turn nasty. Better still, there should be refuge points in the corners of pens to stand behind. Many people don't realise how dangerous cows can be, and sadly there are fatalities every year.

At one time, a fair proportion of beef cows were bred from dairy herds and, being hand-reared, they became placid beasts. Sadly, the high-yielding Holsteins that are so popular with dairy farmers breed calves that lack "beefiness". As a result, many now breed their own beef herd replacements using traditional beef breeds like the Aberdeen Angus. That makes for a better beef cow, but sometimes they can be temperamental. With most of us working alone, many are now trying to breed docile cattle that are safer to work with - but you should never take chances and investing in safe handling facilities is the wisest investment cattlemen can make.

Once calves are born it's important they suckle their mother's "first-milk", or colostrum within 12 hours of birth. Not only does that special milk start their stomach working properly, it also contains valuable antibodies that protect it from many of the farm's bugs.

Not all calves have the wit to suckle and as a result have to be helped by putting one of the cow's teats in its mouth and squeezing out some milk to give it a taste that encourages it to suckle. That can be a very frustrating task.

After all that, young calves are at risk from diseases like diarrhoea, or scour as we call it, caused by E Coli, cryptosporidia, salmonella or rotavirus.

It's not all plain sailing at calving time.