Cattle Prattle
 

I was thinking we might have a thread just for random thoughts, ideas and sharing.
You know, for when you might not have a question or feel like starting a whole 'nother topic
just to say you are happy (or not) with your hay crop or whatever.

We could all maybe get to know eachother better.
There have been some new posters lately too.

I have been doing quite a bit of farmsitting this summer.
This last weekend I taught an orphaned at birth char cross calf how to eat grain.
The folks had been bottling him, but now at 5 weeks and with them being gone so much
they were worried that he might not get enough to eat.
So I religiously handfed the pellets into his mouth after each bottle until the lightbulb came on for him.
It only took 2 feedings. Isn't he a smart boy? LOL

That is such a happy feeling of accomplishment. :)


What's new around your place?

Glad to hear it's going well for you~ playing with the calves all summer!

I'm getting ready to haul in 5 steers for butcher~ 2 this friday~ 1 next thursday and 2 more the next thursday~ I don't have a proper stock trailer so I have to crowd them into a horse trailer and haul them a couple at time. All dairy steers raised by my two pet nurse cows in 2012. We did three last year. This year was supposed to be six....but the bull calf didn't get the job done with the cows yet so he gets a reprieve through to spring so he can get the 2014 calves on the girls for me before we butcher him. Thats ok~ I am kind of intimidated by how fast all of this is moving and am already twitchy at the idea of trying to load up the 5 steers (did you read last years nightmare taking the bull calf in?!?), keep track of all the customers~and who wants what and who has paid for what (I can't walk and chew gum at the same time!).

I can do it~ I've been working my way up the last couple years~ and I better be able to do it cuz next year I've got the bull calf......and EIGHT calves I put on the girls this year! The girls are troopers working nice and hard for me. Thats why they have not bred back~ and thats actually ok~ if they don't breed back but stay in milk I can put another set of four calves on them in November. Getting the girls to raise the calves is the easy part~ organising, selling and hauling them to butcher is nerve wracking!

And truth be told I'm still afraid of them a little~ don't tell the steers!

I just found out today that one of my cows can wedge her head in the wrong side of a closed stanchion. I also learned today not leave her in that way while milking. Thank goodness for the air bladder on my milking machine. It saved my pump's bacon. (Again)

I'm halter breaking two heifers, it's odd how they can be so different. One is laid back, easy going, no trouble to speak of, the other is tail over her back goofy. Born together, raised together and weaned together, but not learning at the same rate at all. Always make me wonder why.

The vet was out Friday to AI my Guernsey cow and heifer. I have one more heifer that will be bred around the end of the year. Our three Angus heifers are hopefully bred (did a month sleepover with a good looking bull). We're going to have them preg. checked soon.
It's so darn dry here that we're already feeding hay. We have 25 acres in pasture and hay fields but are hoping for one more cutting if the rain starts up again. If it looks like there's not to be any more hay we'll fence off some of those fields and let the cows and horses graze it.
It's amazing that we went from so much mud that the animals could barely wade through it to cracks in the ground so big that you can trip on them!

Lost a steer last week - three weeks before processing. He bloated due to a stuck apple. Since I only process two "calfs" a year, this means that I lost 50% of my crop. Oi.

That's a heartbreaker. Sorry to hear it.

That really stinks. I lost one two weeks ago because he got his head stuck under a gate and got his body twisted. I presume he suffocated. For the life of me, I don't know he was up to.

I need to mow our lake pasture. It has a spot or three of ragweed popping up. I normally hold this pasture out of the rotation to save it for the 3 dairy girls. There is a lot of really great forage there and I didn't just want to cut it. But with temps hitting 100 here, I decided to let the beef herd "have the pool" as soon as they were ready to come out of the shade. It isn't an easy move because it across a really large pasture that they just came from, through 3 gate systems. At 5:30 I found them up at the waterer by a gate, so I let them fly. They must have known what I was up to, because they negotiated the pasture and gates like mice in a maze.

I think I saw a cannon ball or two...

I always refer to the cows as hippopotomi when they are chilling out in the pond.
Pretty funny to see 100 head all crammed in there together.
Gotta stay cool somehow. :cool: :cow:

Heck of a ragweed crop this year, dont you think? :p

I like this idea!

I've been without cows for a few months - sold my Jersey cross cow giving much more milk than we cared for with no kids around and milk sales illegal.

I will get a few British White/lowline cross heifers next Sunday. Eventually plan to just steal a quart or two from them for my cereal. Might have one calve in spring and one in fall to alternate milk production and butchering of calves.

I won't go without cows again! The past two months have been painful mowing grass they could have been eating, and having scraps and garden stuff for them. I had some sheep which I just sold, but they don't eat a lot of stuff cows do, like corn stalks and deformed carrots, or extra zucchini.

And the sheep didn't appreciate a good back scratching.

I named the newest heifer to freshen ... "Tempest"! :help:

A month and a half ago, a cow became lame. I put her in the chute to look her over before my friend/vet came. To pass the time, before he got there, I treated her with a back pour-on for flies and parasites. When he arrived, he said, "what's that smell?" I showed him the bottle of pour-on. He said, "nice going...now you have to keep her for 48 days." Otherwise we could have taken her to the sale barn. I guess that I thought she would be better in a few days and we would go on as usual. She had a ligament injury in the back right quarter. She has been babied with her own grass, feed clean water, salt and minerals...and will be until October 2.

@Bret,

When it comes to livestock, I like the wisdom, I hate the lesson.

@G-a-M,

Ragweed is pretty nasty this year, just ask my puffy-faced son. I have something else out there that I'd like to ID. It is growing strong in some troughs with poor grass. Although I'll still treat it the same way: mower.

We have our meat steer and 2 calves getting weaned over at our son's place. They have been there almost a month, settled in nicely, quit bawling in 2 days. But last week they broke thru the fence on the back property line and joined the neighbor's herd. (One of the calves is still a bull, you just know he was the ring leader) The neighbor said, leave them for now and let's re-do the fence like we already talked about. Our cattle came home on their own Thursday, the fenceline got re-done on Friday. Neighbor has a bulldozer and cleared a 20 foot fence break out of the trees and brush that had grown up. He also was able to push the poles into the ground with the machine, no digging or driving t-posts by hand. Our share of this whole deal was only $300, plus using up some barbed wire we already had on hand. We also put in a gate so any future fence jumpers can be returned to their own side more easily. Nothing better than a good neighbor!

Thats the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth!!!

Larry
A World Away

I thought that I would speed chore last night and get back to town. It changed. Picked up feed. Unloaded feed. Fed every thing. Notice cows in heat. Brought the cows up the lane and tied a hot wire at the lane. One cow saw the program and sprinted down the lane and jumped the poly wire, breaking it. She was on full alert and like roller skates. I think she was charged up and the one doing the mounting. I wanted her with others in the pen. I could not do anything with her. She kept 300 yards away and defied all normal handling driving protocol. I bred the first one twice. Looked right. Felt wrong. I could not get through the cervix. I am still learning and practicing. The sweat was rolling down my back. My emergency tyvek paper breading overalls were covered in crap. The shoulder length glove was below my elbox. I ripped the crotch crossing a poly from knee to navel while stepping over a poly wire. Did not cool me even at that. The new solar powered breeding chute light was working well even thought I could not make my left arm get the cervix on the rod. I bred the second with slightly better confidence. Only once this time. It's pass or fail. Either it is all right or all wrong. Right? I needed a coach. When you are the only one in the cockpit, you have to do the landing no matter what. Oh well, I wanted to learn. That is the goal. Calves are a bonus.

Sounds like quite an adventure. Thanks for sharing. This is something I'll have to learn in a few years. Just starting to make pasture from timberland at this point.

Hope all goes well and keep us updated please.

Larry
A World Away

Spent the last 3 evenings cutting silage to fill the pit planted goliath silage corn this year from schumways instead of just bin run corn they werent kidding tassels are taller than the stack on the 806 14 inch ears . pastures are dried out and burnt up so i m feeding the dry cows feeders and beef cows green chop straight out of the corn field for about 2-3 weeks now i just run a single row through the chopper head and it fills a feeder wagon and lasts about 2 days , more than that starts to get warm before they eat it . Bought 8 new baby heifer calves today to put on the nurse cows . Getting fence materials ready for trip to missouri new farm next month going out for 5 days to put up perimeter fence . Haven't cut any firewood for the winter yet . Goats feet need trimmed . my non farming Neighbors love me i stacked about 50 round bales in my front yard because we have so much hay this year and no where to put it . underground power cable for well at the house broke not having water and 5 kids is horrible now have a piece of romex run temporary from well head to pressure switch under house . last night tank bolts on toilet in master bath corroded through major leak on floor (atleast its clean water ) shut water off to toilet use bucket to flush (wife not impressed ). Plus 44 hours a week at a day job . I ll be glad to get the new missouri farm done and scale back and relax a little for once . Some days i wonder why we do it ?

Shame to let an awesome thread like this die . . . so pardon me while I resurrect it ;)

Loaded our #3 cow into the chute to get her AI'd today. Big ol' #4 decided she wanted some luvvin' too, so she forced herself into the chute beside #3. Busted the back gate that keeps the cows from backing out of the chute and strained the posts that make the chute. My chute is now 6" wider than it used to be. I really thought the sides were going to pop. Finally got ol' #4 to back her butt back out and got #3 caught in the headgate.

Spent yesterday rounding up piglets on pasture. Had all 8 of them quietly corralled in the cattle squeeze chute -- until I picked up the first. Immediately, the other 7 scattered like cockroaches and forced themselves through holes that would scrape a squirrel . . . Today, after patching holes in the chute, I noticed that two of the piggies had rejoined their mother in the corral. I got the big male :D he was as big as a 3-liter Coke! Score: Copperhead 2, Piglets 6 :pig:

Came home from work and asked my husband if he checked the cows and if there were any new calves. "I checked them and nope, nothing new".
Went out a bit later and find a new bull calf all dry and full of spunk. No way he was born in the last hour. Hubby needs to look a little closer.

This getting up two hours early for work to take care of the 15 new jersey bull calves is getting old! I look forward to the routine getting down to dropping the bottles in a holder and then gathering them up for cleaning a few minutes later.

Busted. I hate it, when I get busted. :)

LOL I remember those days!

Larry
A World Away

I'll jump in here in his defense. I've searched for hours looking for newborns in medium grass that hid right under my nose. They can be right against a tree limb, or bush, or clump of grass, that unless you have the perfect viewing angle you will never see them. Now I go out during their dinner hour and find them at the cow's side. Any other time seems to be a waste of my time. The little boogers....

Little Stinker might have been foolin' both of ya! Last year, both my cows calved on pasture. Both times (a month apart) I found the damp calf, picked it up, checked it, and let it be. Both times, I came back, about an hour later to check on the calf one more time. Both times, it was hiding in the tall summer grass. Both times, it let me approach to 5 or 10 feet. Both times, it took off like a black rocket, shot the entire length of a 20 acre pasture, and shot through the electric and barbwire fencing that has perplexed cows, goats and pigs. For the first one, I had a goat halter in my pocket and tore after it and was able to catch it, only because it stumbled in a hole and fell down. I caught her, haltered her, dragged her back to my pasture, dragged her back through the barbwire and electric fence, and declared her Ms. Wilde for forever and a day!

For the second one, I said heck with it and come back tomorrow. Sure enough, there he was, trying to get his tender beak back through the electric and barbwire fence to get back with his Momma. I slowly worked my way around, BEHIND him, got within 10 feet and SQUIRT, he shot through the fence and found his Momma. He was a bit thirsty but otherwise unharmed.

I was gonna call him SQUIRT, but he got too big :D

I have made a minor change to the milking routine that seems to have made a significant impact on the overall milking time and the cows are more relaxed. I have a 3 stanchion parlor & 3 cows in milk. I still do not have the alley fence complete from pasture to door, so I have about a 30' walk from pasture gate to parlor door where the cows are "free to move about the country". My parlor is a couple of feet smaller in all directions than what I would have made it if I did it all over again, but it is what it is.

The first time I brought the cows in as a group, it was a complete catastrophe. The milking equipment was bowled over, horns and hooves were flying, and I was lucky to sort it out and stay out of the ER. So for the past several months, I have been walking the girls in one at a time, getting the machine rolling, while I prep and/or exit another cow. It was very difficult for me and stressful for them--the dominant cow would always try to take a run at the lessor cows. And the stubbornness. Oh the stubbornness! (Although I must admit that I really beefed up myself from the workout.) It was manageable with the help of my son, but that really stunk because I really felt like it should be a 1 person chore.

I had been watching YouTube videos of milking operations, where they let the cows in all at once, and in my gut I knew it was the right way to do it. So last Saturday with all three cows at the gate and my son ready to help, I grabbed the gate and said, "Just stand back."

My son objected, "Are you nuts? This is a bad idea!"

I said, "Maybe, but I think they know what to do now." I opened the gate. The cows walked through the gate in reverse order of their dominance, from the least to the most, to their stanchions. It was a breeze. It has been exactly the same all week. The least dominant will stand at her stanchion, but not in it, until the other two are committed to theirs. Then she steps in and eats. I still exit each cow when they are done, time permitting, but I don't have to maneuver a cow behind one that is hooked up to the milker. The flow is wonderful. It is so easy and relaxed in there now. I even have time to finish a cup of coffee before it gets cold.

I have a few months until calving starts, bad timing for winter birthing but when you have to borrow a bull you get what you pay for. I have Dexters and just purchased a lowline 3 in 1 package and then what do I see??!!! BRITISH WHITES! These have to be the most beautiful cattle ever. I had been planning to transition from Dexters to Lowlines but now I'm trying to decide if there is a spot for the British Whites.

I'm going to begin learning to AI this fall and if I can learn how to get er down then I could purchase a BW older cow, (should be cheaper) and AI each to meet breeding needs. This may sound simple but I've had it pounded into my brain that you buy a bull and make sure the herd fit the bull. This mind set has made it so difficult to understand how to make AI work and so I'm really excited to finally hook up with someone who is willing to mentor me in learning this technique.

My current dream herd, 5 Lowline calving in spring and 5 BW calving in fall. I could raise that number if we have good rains and no drought, like that would happen. lol

I dropped the electric fence today so that DH could move a round bale in for the cows. One big Angus ran past the tractor to freedom then proceded to run all the way around the 200x100 garden and orchard at full speed. She stopped at the point of escape and looked at us as if to say "I didn't do anything"! then walked back into the pasture.
Crazy cows!

Our neighbor down the road is letting us chop off an eleven acre field of new alfalfa.
He doesn’t want the weeds going to seed, and sold his chopper when the cows went.
So we’re trying silage!

I hate it when I get careless. I stopped at the ranch Sunday morning and found a cow coming into heat. She was on alert and did not want to come to the barn so I used what I call my hired hand--a movable poly wire tied near the gate entrance with me at the other end of the reel to funnel the cows where I need them. While setting up for the procedure one of the other cows was getting a little excited and ran from behind me and to my left swinging the hind end towards me and kicking out at me when it went by. It tagged me in the left thigh. I don't have a visible bruise...just a little nagging spasm that remind me of being stupid. I know better than to let them get that close when they are wound up. I could have easily stepped over another poly wire that makes up the lane to give her room to romp.

Oh! Be careful! Couple years ago a cow kicked me in the thigh~ I got a big bruise but could walk so didn't think much of it. Couple months later my hip starting hurting all the time~ after a month back and forth to the Dr an MRI showed my hip was broken clean through! Seven weeks in a wheel chair and a couple pins in my hip for that mistake. Be careful!

Wow! Better now I hope.

It's cattle working day for us tomorrow. We are doing 20 cows w/ calf, 2 bulls, and 10 assorted odds and ends. It will just be DW and me. Prayers for our safety would be appreciated. I hope to be able to sort by myself with DW on the safe side of the gate applying pressure as I need it. No one is getting weaned or sold, so the sorting shouldn't be too difficult. I think we will run the calves into the chute first, because they are more exhausting and generally not much fun.

Done with the vaccines and wormer. Ahhhhhhhhh. DW was an awesome helper. Sorting was a snap. The calves were super easy. Note to self: next time, bring the whole medicine cabinet out, not just the stuff for that day. The only casualty of the day was the hinge on our head gate. On the fourth to the last cow, we had a mishandling boo boo and one snapped the hinge. It will need welding.

Don't feel bad Suemc, horses do the same thing, only difference is if one goes the rest follow. My husband learned the hard way to latch gates. He made it in the pen with the bale and closed the gate-thought it would stay, it didn't. Fourteen horses out the gate and the driveway into my EX's back yard.:bash: Of course he ran out the gate behind them (good way to get them to stop), fell on the ice in the driveway on his bad hip. Couldn't get me at work. He finally remembered what I'd always told him-FEED, rattled the can and they beat him to the gate. Some animals just have to have some excitement in their lives.lol

Had so much fun moving the cattle, was using horse to push them about 1/4 mile. Well, they were having none of that horse behind them so I let them follow, unfortunately my older cow is so prego that she lost sight of the herd and so turned around and went back into pasture. Got the rest of them moved into new pasture and walked back up for cow, thinking, I'll get her up with feed into the corral and load into trailer so she won't have to walk so far.......checked corral and a big elm has fallen across the gate, smashed, and won't open so corral unusable. So slooooowwwly walk old girl down the lane and across the creek almost there....What is Milagro, young cow, doing walking down the drive???!!! Then spent the rest of the day finding all the shorts in the electric fence, she got out 3 more times before we got it all working. The best satisfaction was watching when she put her wet nose on the fence, the last time.

Get a Fence Compass from Kencove.com . . . don't leave home without it :D

I have one of those fence compasses~ it's still frustrating fixing all the shorts but much less frustrating when they are easier to find!