Cattle – Page 2 – The Adventures of Gate Girl

E-Cow-Nomics

FAT CATTLE

I just watched the president of Tyson Foods on the news telling people that there will be no meat on the store shelves which guarantees the shelves will empty even sooner. Of course he was blaming the pandemic for plant closures. The anchor thanked him for working so hard to keep food coming and for giving out 60 million to their employees. Isn’t he a wonderful, generous guy? Well, here are the numbers for the beef side of the equation. Keep in mind that these numbers are averages and estimates based on general numbers. In reality it is a very complicated business, but the general numbers will let you draw some definite conclusions.

On 4/29/20 per USDA reporting the choice cutout value was 357.38/cwt. Cutout value represents the estimated value of a beef carcass based on prices being paid for boxed beef cuts by retailers. The average price paid for live cattle was 97.98/cwt with the average weight of 1,499 and the average dressing percentage of 63.71%. Now let me carry those numbers a little farther.

1499 lbs x .9798 = 1,468.72 paid to the feedlot. The feedlot deducts the feed bill from that amount. Currently that feed bill will run somewhere between 450 and 550 per steer depending on the feed costs, days, etc., so the rancher who owns that steer will receive $968.72. Think about that for a minute. 968.72 for at least 18 months of work and expense. There is no shortage of available slaughter ready cattle. The backlog continues to grow each day as do the cattle (and their feed bill) who are being fed weeks longer than they should be.

Now let’s go to the other side.

1499 lbs x .6371 =955 lbs hanging weight. 955 lbs x 3.5738 = 3,412.98 3,412.98 less the cost of the animal 1,468.72 is 1,944.26. Wow, that is quite the margin. Now that packer is going to say he has expenses, so let’s keep digging.

I went back a year ago to see what things looked like then. The choice beef cutout value per the USDA on 4/30/19 was 231.84. Live cattle on May 1st of 2019 sold for 126.00. That number is not an average. That is what we sold cattle for on that date at a pay weight of 1,372 lbs. That looks a lot better for the rancher. Let’s see if the packer was losing money in 2019.

With those numbers in mind I looked at the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week of March 29, 2019. According to that report packers margins were $140.07 and the cattle owner $149.27. So if the packers could make 140/head while paying 126/cwt and receiving 231.84 what do you actually think they are pocketing now? 126.00/cwt equals a profit for the rancher of $149 so what do you think the loss is at 97.98/cwt?

So remember that guy who is so worried about keeping everyone fed and taking care of his employees. Let’s look at the USDA numbers again. The April 29th, 2020 slaughter is 72,000 head down 49,000 hd from the previous year. I used a margin of $1600 each (using the previous year numbers, I came up with 186 for expenses per animal so I gave them a generous expense increase for this year and came up with a 1,600 margin).

April 29th 2020 – 72,000 hd slaughtered x $1,600 = $115,200,000.00

April 29th 2019 – 121,000 hd slaughtered x $140 = $16,940,000.00

That is the profit made in one day. Doesn’t look like the reduced slaughter capacity is hurting the packers at all does it?

I don’t begrudge anyone making a profit but there is something really, really wrong with this picture.

80% of all meat (chicken, pork and beef) processed in this country goes through the hands of 4 packers – Tyson, Cargill, National Beef and JBS. JBS is a Brazilian company so the money they make won’t even stay in this country.

4 companies – 80%

This is not a new problem. The cattle industry has been trying to get the attention of politicians and consumers for years without any luck. Now we see the results of allowing 4 companies to control our meat industry. The huge profits they are making are built on the losses of the American Rancher and the pocketbook of the American Consumer.

We need everyone to speak up. Call your congressman, sign a petition, email your cousin who works for the brother of your state senator, just do something to get someone to listen!

And if you can, buy locally produced food! You will get a better quality product and the money you spend will stay in your community.

Just a footnote here. As of today, May 7th, Choice cutout reached 458.54/cwt, a 100 dollar increase in a week, with retailers forced to bid increasingly higher prices. Live cattle sold today for 99.79/cwt an increase of 2.00/cwt. You can see these daily reports on the USDA website.

Until next time.

Don’t forget to shut the gate.

Popsicle Calves

February in Missouri is usually not a nice month. This year was no exception. Rain and cold temps is the worst weather combination for new calves. I would prefer snow and frozen ground instead of mud, endless mud!

This guy’s mom picked a really muddy spot to have him!

When weather conditions are bad (35 degrees and under with precipitation or dry with temps in the teens or single digits) we check through the cows and heifers every four hours round the clock. Typically we check heifers more often because the birth process for a heifer takes longer, meaning a stressed calf, and heifers don’t do a good job licking the calf off. We have thermometers-simple 10 dollar Walmart thermometers – in our pockets and every new calf gets checked unless it is up and nursing. A calf’s temp should be 100 to 102 so anything lower than that comes inside to warm up. We have found out the hard way that waiting to see if the temp will come up does not work!

A cold, busy Valentine’s Day! We had 6 out of 8 calves born that night inside to warm up.

Cold calves are put in one of the plywood boxes in the warm garage with heat lamps on them. We give them replacement colostrum (115 IgG) with a stomach tube when they come in, we usually split it into two feedings a couple hours apart. We also dry them off with towels and a blow dryer. It can take a couple of hours or sometimes half a day for a calf’s temp to get back to 100. It all depends on the calf and what his temp was when he came in. Thermometers only register down to 89 degrees after that it reads L for low. That is not a good sign and we’ve had several of those this year. When the calf’s temp is up, he’s had colostrum, and he’s standing on his own he goes back to his mother.

We have learned how to pick up and return the calf so the cow takes the calf back every time. We let the cow lick the calf for at least 15 or 20 minutes then we slip in as calmly and quietly as possible, check his temp, pick him up if necessary and leave. Cows will stay at the spot where they last saw their calf. Sometimes they wander off, but they always come back to that spot. Taking the cow to the pen is usually a mistake because when the cow gets worked up it is hard to get her to take the calf back. Putting the calf down in the same spot will bring the cow running, especially if Mitch does his very convincing calf bawl.

I can only image what the cow is saying. Something along the line of, “Do you want to go to time out young man? I’m so glad you’re back! Don’t you ever run off with those two legged things again! Stranger danger! You’re grounded for the rest of your life!”

Or my favorite “I love you so much!”

Until next time.

Don’t forget to shut the gate!

A True Crime story

Help! My baby has been stolen!

The morning started out like any other morning during calving season. We loaded our gear and headed out on the beat. First stop will be the North Bottom pasture which houses 60 bred heifers. We had noticed a heifer acting like she was going to calve last night so we are expecting at least one new baby.

We find and tag a new calf as soon as we go through the gate, but not the one we were expecting. We find another new one, but not the one we are looking for. Finally there is number 4, but she doesn’t have a calf. She doesn’t act like she is trying to have a calf and she looks “empty”.

Hmmm, this is a puzzle. Detective work is never easy with cattle since you can’t question the witnesses. We do a routine search of the neighborhood, but don’t find any unidentified bodies dead or alive. The next step would be checking outside the pasture in case the calf had somehow gotten under the fence, but maybe we need to take another look at the heifers.

The perpetrator of this heinous crime, #14. She was found guilty and sentenced to solitary confinement until she has her own calf.

This time through we find #4 staring longingly at the first calf we tagged this morning, #14. We took a closer look at #14. She does not look like she has calved. Could it be that she has taken #4’s baby? We sit back an watch for a few minutes. Every time #4 tries to get close to the calf #14 circles in front of her. Now the clues all make sense. #14 thought she could take #4’s baby and we fell for it. The calf is wearing #14 in his ear!

Time to straighten this mess out. We settle for the ATV team instead of SWAT to force #14 to release the kidnapped baby. As we drive #14 out of the pasture and to the pen #4 rushes in and starts licking her baby. It’s a joyful reunion.

#14 will do her time in the house pen where there are no babies for her to steal until she has her own.

This story is actually not that unusual, particularly with first calf heifers. Remember they are all close to calving so hormone levels are high and that urge to “mother” is a strong instinct. That instinct means survival in all species. These girls will all make good mothers, but sometimes it takes a little help from us.

Until next time.

Don’t forget to close the gate!

Calving season has begun!

We headed out the door at daylight to see what had happened overnight. It’s 57 degrees, an extremely balmy February morning in Missouri. Checked on the heifers first. All quiet except for the heifer walking around with her tail up and a bag of waters showing. We’ll give her some time. Time to check on the older cows. Surprise! The first set of twins. Two nice little heifer calves. We worked one and loaded the other one in the ranger. We never leave twins with a cow, even one who takes both of them, for two reasons; cows can’t count so we would have to make sure the calves stay together for a couple of weeks and it’s hard on the cow. She might raise two 400 pound calves, but she would probably be open in the fall so we let her raise one and put the other one on a nurse cow. Then we have two 600 pound calves and she will be bred next fall.

Twin heifer calf waiting to meet her new family.

We start back through the cows and immediately spot a problem. There is a cow walking around with a calf leg sticking out of her. Two feet with the bottom of the feet pointed toward the ground and the head laying on the front legs would be a correct presentation. The bottom of this foot is pointed toward the sky meaning the calf is trying to come back legs/butt first and there is only one leg showing. This is not good.

Back to the house, put the twin in the warming box, set the gates, and grab the four wheelers. We get the cow pulled out of the pasture and to the barn as quickly and calmly as possible. Mitch gets the other leg up,chains on and hooked to the calf jack. It only takes a few minutes and we have a live calf. Time is critical with a backwards calf. The cord breaks as a calf comes out, but because he’s coming backwards he can’t breathe so you have to get him out quickly.

He had a rough start, but you can see he is getting along great now!

Back to check on the heifer. No progress there. We give her about thirty minutes and check her again. Still no progress. It’s time to see what the problem is. The heifers are in a pasture that is not easy to pull from, but she is very cooperative. In the chute we find that the calf is positioned correctly, but he is bigger than we like for a heifer. It’s a tight fit, but another live calf!

Looking happy and healthy the next day out in the pasture with mom.

Okay, now we can go in and eat breakfast! Welcome to calving season where you never know what might happen.

Until next time.

Don’t forget to close the gate!

Snow Day

It’s snowing! When you are a kid the words “snow day” means no school, sled rides, snowball fights, snowmen and snow ice cream. When you are an adult “snow day” means slick roads, melting snow on the floor, wet coats and gloves, frozen car doors, and trying to keep the kids entertained in between forays out into the snow. When you are a rancher or a cow it means cold and wet.

Two different winter views from my deck!

Cattle handle cold really well. They put their heavy coats on in the fall and don’t take them off until spring. They are equipped for the cold, but Missouri weather is known for it’s rapid and extreme changes. Image if you had to wear your heavy coat outside on one of those beautiful 65 degree winter days that we had recently. Those days are harder on cattle than a really cold January day, but snow means wet and being wet means the cows need extra energy to stay warm.

We figure how much hay the cows need by their weight. Since we can’t weigh each cow or each bale of hay we have to use estimates and experience to come up with the right amount. We estimate that the average weight of the cows is 1200. 1200 x 3% = 36 lbs. Again estimating that each bale weighs 1200 lbs Mitch will unroll 9 big bales for this set of 276 cows. On a cold wet day he will add a bale. That amount allows for waste and there will be waste. Nothing they like better than standing on their food. If tomorrow when he goes to feed there is still hay on the ground he’ll cut back a bale.

If you think your grocery bill is high just image watching these girls eat their way through 9 bales at $45 each. Every day!

As I was watching him roll out the hay I saw a cow come out of the woods late and by herself. I decided to back track her trail in the woods to see what had held her up. It looks suspicious.

This is what I found at the end of the trail. An early calf, thanks to the neighbors bull. Everything looks fine. It was a nice surprise on a snowy day and I got to take a walk through the quiet snow covered woods!

Our daughter and grandson having fun in the snow!

Get out and enjoy your snow days!

Until next time.

Don’t forget to close the gate!

Good-Bye Boys

We sent 71 steer calves to a feedlot in KS. This is the first time we have retained ownership of the calves all the way through to finish.

Mitch and Boomer the truck driver are loading the steers. The calves walk up the loading chute into the trailer for the 4 hour trip to the feedlot.

We sent them as NHTC feeders. NHTC stands for Non-Hormone Treated Cattle. Let me explain a little about the NHTC program. It’s a program that went into effect in 1999 when the US and the European Union agreed to put control measures in place to enable the shipment of verified NHTC beef to the EU. Currently the EU and China require that verification for beef imported into their countries. The program prohibits the use of any growth hormones such as those used in implants.

Most cattle entering a feedlot are implanted with a small pellet that contains a slow release growth stimulant. It goes under the skin on the back of the ear. That implant increases feed efficiency and weight gain resulting in a lower cost per pound of weight that they gain (COG – cost of gain). NHTC cattle will have a higher feed bill because they do not receive an implant. Hopefully the premium paid for NHTC cattle will offset the additional cost and leave a little in our pockets.

Each steer receives EID (electronic ID) tag. The tag can be read manually or with a tag reader.

We went through a verification audit to become certified. Certification involved getting letters from all of our feed suppliers, copies of calving records, lots of paperwork and of course…a fee. The calves have to go to a certified feedlot and from there to a certified slaughter plant. At any point the EID tag can be used to learn where and when the calf was born and if he is enrolled in any verified programs.

And there they go. A year of work and money. My fingers are crossed that this works.

I’ll keep you informed on how this turns out. Hopefully in the spring we’ll find time to drive out and take a look at them.

Until next time.

Don’t forget to close the gate!

Preg check time!

We are pregnancy checking our cows today! This is a make or break day for a cow herd. A low breed back rate can signal disease, poor nutrition or bull problems. It also means a huge financial loss. I didn’t sleep well last night just thinking about it. This is how the day went.

7 am – We are out the door to gather the cows. The weather is not nice! A high of 28 and a couple inches of snow on the ground! Mitch pulled all 310 in a 10 acre pasture next to the pens yesterday with the tractor and hay. Today he hits the siren on the feed truck and most of the cows come running while I follow on the four wheeler. After we penned the good cows there is still 50 head out. It’s mostly older cows who have been through this before. Older females are just smarter. We take two four wheelers and start working them in. They keep trying to get away, but they finally go in!

They were easy to pull out of the big pasture with hay because of the snow, but that’s the only thing good about it!

8:30 am – We are gathering up meds and getting everything set. The cows will get a shot of Guardian, a vaccination that gives scour protection to the calves the cows are carrying. They will also be dewormed with Cydectin pour-on.

9 am – The vet, Dr. Melissa DePriest and the three guys who will help today pull in. We spend a little time getting the ultrasound machine set up. Ready to start!

Mitch runs the chute, Adam gives the shot and pours right after the doctor calls bred or open, I keep track of breds/opens and write new ear tags to replace the faded ones.

Cody and Luke feed us cows in a steady line.

It’s a dirty job, but that’s the life of a large animal vet.

The ultrasound is amazing. Take a close look at this picture. It is a calf’s head. You can see the eye socket and the nose!

11:30 am – We have done 160 cows with only a few of the usual problems, a cow that thinks if she crawls through the chute we won’t see her, the one who goes in really slow then takes off like a runaway train so you miss her head and the one who tries to push through the head gate until she chokes herself. Nothing unusual. Time for lunch. I’ve got a pot of hot beef stew and sandwiches in the warm house!

12:15 pm – Back outside. It was kind of hard to leave the warm house. My toes had just started to thaw!

4 pm – We are done! It looks good. I have kept a rough count, but now it’s time to take a better look.

26 open out of 310. That’s a 92% breed back! We are very pleased with that result!

Everything is cleaned up, cattle turned out and hay unrolled. Time to go in and warm up!

Until next time!

Don’t forget to close the gate.

Young Ladies

It cost the same amount to keep a bad cow as it does to keep a good one. The difference between the two is what is left in your pocket after you, hopefully, sell her calf. With that thought in mind we constantly work to improve the genetics of our herd. Bred heifers are an important part of that continued improvement.

Each year at weaning we start taking notes on the heifer calves. We cull hard for disposition. We want calm, easy to handle heifers. We can’t climb fences as fast as we did twenty years ago, but honestly no one should have to climb a fence when you work cattle. We also look at her birth date, her dam & sire and her general appearance.

The 2019 young ladies. They will be next year’s bred heifers.

The heifers spend the winter on pasture. We want them to age and add frame, but not put on a lot of extra weight. The goal is to be positioned so that when the grass greens up the heifers start packing on pounds(a gaining plane) and are ready to breed.

Most years in May we AI(artificially inseminate) heifers and then turn in clean up bulls. We choose bulls that produce calves that are easy to give birth to and carry the kind of genetics we want to add to the herd. The heifers are vaccinated in the spring for Vibrio and Lepto including hardjo-bovis. These diseases cause abortions and infertility. They are spread during breeding by the bulls or an infected fetus. Several years ago we had an outbreak of Lepto hardjo-bovis that resulted in a preg check rate of only 68% on a set of cows! Don’t make the assumption that what you have been using forever is the best current vaccine for your area. Check with your vet! The heifers are dewormed with Long Range. This year the heifers spent the summer in the Kansas Flint Hills on bluestem. All the breeding was done natural service by bulls put in on May 9th.

The 2018 girls – this year’s bred heifers. They start calving on Feb. 15th.

We hauled the heifers home in August and pregnancy checked them using a blood test. We had 91 heifers bred in 56 days (92%). Now they are turned out on pasture here in Missouri, growing everyday, becoming mama cows instead of heifer calves.

The 2017 heifers. They have now weaned their first calf and are carrying their second.

The 2017 heifers are now young cows. We weaned their first calves in Sept. Now they are gaining weight as we head into winter and getting ready to have that second calf.

Heifer 7410 and heifer 7021 both raised nice steer calves. We hope they do as well with their second calves!

Until next time.

Don’t forget to close the gate!

Kindergarten Calves-Weaning Time

Cool nights, warm days, colorful leaves, spider webs, stick-tights and bawling calves. Fall is definitely here. It’s time to wean.
Weaning is stressful to cows, calves and caretakers. We do everything we can to make it easy on everyone.
First the calves have to be separated from the cows, loaded on trailers and hauled home from the pastures they spent their summer on. This is done as calmly and quietly as possible so no one including the caretakers lose it. It doesn’t always work out that way but we try.IMG_0961 Calves walking off the trailer.
The bawling mamas walk in and out of the pen where they last saw their calves for several days then they go back to grazing and totally forget they ever had a calf. Weaning the calf means the cow doesn’t have to give milk so she can gain weight on the good fall grass and go into winter in good shape. That makes the calf she is carrying healthier and lets her breed back early next summer.
The calves go in a pipe corral where they pace and bawl for three or four days. We have to sleep with the windows closed because it is so loud!
It’s a lot like sending a child off to kindergarten.

A crying calf or kindergartner, they are both unhappy that mom isn’t there and they’re frightened of all the new sights and sounds.

A bus/trailer ride, eating different food at a cafeteria table/feed bunk surrounded by kids/calves they don’t know, they have to come when the whistle/siren blows and they have to be vaccinated!

Just like kindergarten!

After the calves have settled down for 4 or 5 days we vaccinate them with a modified live IBR/BVD/PI3 with pasteurella and a combination blackleg/pinkeye. We also deworm with a pour-on. The calves will get a booster in about 21 days.

Within a week the calves are out in a big pasture, eating hay, coming to the call of the siren and very happy!

Now we can relax, too!

One last thing, don’t stress out about crying kindergarten children. That little boy in the picture that cried everyday for a week as he got on the bus to kindergarten, he is now a college professor. I think it’s safe to say he got over his fear of school!

Until next time.
Don’t forget to shut the gate!