How do you know when your mutual funds are going to distribute dividends?

I know mutual funds can be turned on to automatic dividend reinvestment, but how many times in a year does your mutual fund distribute dividends? How do you know on what date they will be distributing? Is anyone doing this, and if so, how do you make it work? I believe employing dividend-paying stock in dividend reinvestment is a superior method. Still, I could be wrong if someone can accumulate cash in their account that contains the mutual fund to reinvest along with savings at a later date on a discount.