This was a fence building project we did that will pay off this winter by holding the cows where we want them.
The first and hardest part of this project was taking out the old fence. The fence had been there for years. Trees had grown up in it and the wire was old. Rolling the wire up went great with this tractor powered roller, after we got the wire loose!
The old fence.As soon as we had all the wire loose from the posts and the trees, we used the tractor and rolled it up.Then the old posts had to be pulled and the trees cleared out.
Next comes the “easy ” part, putting up the new fence. Jayce runs the skid steer driving the pipe and the posts as Mitch lines them up. Carter and Garret are tying the fence as the wire is rolled out.
A new fence with 6 good wires and gates that swing! The cows and new calves won’t be able to crawl through now. It was a lot of work, but we’ll have a much easier time calving this year.
Maybe next summer we can get another stretch done.
Until next time!
Don’t forget to shut the gate! (it actually swings now)
Today we checked on all the “out cattle”. We bring all the cows home during the winter and spring months. It makes our lives much easier having them close during calving time and when we need to feed hay. After the cows come home the weaned calves go back out on the “out” pastures.
These heifers will be spayed in April and then sent to the Flint Hills in Kansas to graze for the summer.They all come running when they hear the truck siren. To them the siren is like the music of an ice cream truck. We added the siren to the truck because horns wear out quickly and they aren’t as loud. The cattle will come from a mile away when they hear that siren song. They will follow that siren anywhere-even into a pen. They do love their feed!These heifers are replacements. They will come home in the spring to be AI bred and hopefully become part of the cow herd.A siren and feed-the best way to line the cattle up for a good head count.
It was a good January day to be driving around in a warm truck, soaking up the sunshine through the windows, and looking at cattle.
The past couple of years have been rough. I’m hoping for better things in 2022, but if the craziness of the world gets to me, I’ll just take a walk on the creek. It’s comforting to know some things don’t change. The sun still rises in the east and sets in the west. Spring always follows winter, no matter how hard the winter might be.
Winter is cold, dreary and quiet. The creek keeps rolling while the land around it sleeps. It is a world colored in browns and grays, unless it decides to dress-up in a bright, brilliant white.
Spring brings high water and surprises. Gravel bars move, trees fall, and things change. The creek will have a new face in the summer.
Green doesn’t describe the color of the sycamore leaves against the bright blue sky with the white bark accents. It is spring green.
Spring brings the promise of warm weather and green grass.
And then suddenly summer is here!
Summer means cookouts and playing in the water.
And then comes fall! So many colors! I love fall, with its cooler days and that sense that we need to be enjoying the outdoors because winter is coming!Those beautiful spring green leaves change color and float down to the water. And all too soon winter is here. Then we start all over again.
When the world gets crazy find your quiet place and relax.
Wishing you a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2022!
I admit it. I love calving time. It’s like a birthday that lasts for 75 days. Sometimes it makes you feel really old and tired, but most of the time it’s like opening new packages every day. The question is, will you get a vacuum cleaner or that new camera you’ve been wanting? You never know if your party will take place in sunshine or snow. Will this be a birthday that makes you cry or has you laughing? Every day is different during calving season and I will miss it when it’s over.
The interesting face, black eyes, and a charolais!
A red calf! One with a black and white nose!
Milk – it helps you grow and it’s good for your complexion!
Come on! Let’s run! So much energy!
After they are done playing tag it’s time to stop at a friends house for lunch!
You have to adjust when Mom wants to take a nap and you want a snack!
Mom and that guy on the 4 wheeler will never find me if I’m really quiet. Especially since I crawled through the fence!Look what I can do, Mom!
They are always so entertaining. We are almost done for this year. In the next couple of weeks we will get the pairs worked and turned out on summer pasture. I’ll miss the excitement.
But in just 9 and 1/2 months, we start it all over again.
February was a rough month! Missouri’s average temperature for February is around 45 degrees. This was not your average February! We had snow and extremely cold temperatures.
The first calf AI bred heifers started calving on Feb. 4th and the older cows started calving on Feb. 12th. During that 18 day cold stretch we had 78 calves born, with 53 of them ending up in the warming boxes and 4 dead calves. We drove through the heifers and the cows every two or three hours. When the temps are that low with snow on the ground we had to pick the calves up quickly or they would freeze. We put the LED lights on the top of the calf “ambulance” to good use finding those cold, popsicle calves.
When the calves came in we checked their temperature-it should be 100.5 to 101.5. The cold calves temps ranged from 89 to 97 degrees. We put them in a box under heat lamps and dried them with towels and blow dryers. We always give them colostrum via a stomach tube or a bottle. Calves need colostrum (first milk) within the first few hours to get off to a strong start. It gives them passive immunity against numerous diseases and pathogens. It also contains necessary enzymes and hormones, and it is high in nutrients and energy. Cold, wet newborn calves need extra energy. Their small bodies don’t have reserves to draw from.
All four boxes were in use. We had a nine calves inside one night. We had to tag them ASAP or we would lose track of which calf belonged to which cow!
So cute!Ready to go back out to mama!
We’ve had normal temps for several days now. We are finally getting some much needed sleep. The babies keep coming, but they don’t need any extra attention. It’s wonderful!
I considered burning my coveralls, coat, hat, face mask, scarf, boots, and gloves because I was so tired of pulling all of them on and then off – over and over again. I think it would make me feel better, but the cold weather could come back tomorrow! I better wait until spring is really here. Come on spring!
Our calving season is ready to begin. We have been busy getting ready.
The heat lamps are up with new bulbs, fresh straw in the box, and a stack of clean, old towels.
The warming boxes are ready. This one in the heated garage. Mitch built a small room in the working barn with a similar 5 x 5 box in it also. We carry cheap digital thermometers in our pockets. Usually a calf with a temp under 100 will come in. Hopefully, we won’t need to bring anything in, but it is wintertime in Missouri!
The “tool box” is ready.
We tag our bull calves with blue tags and heifers with yellow. They are tagged with their dam’s number and their birth date. Each calf gets a dose of Optimizer gel. Optimizer contains antibodies for scour prevention, probiotics, and vitamins. We’ve used it for several years and haven’t had any outbreaks of scours. We do also vaccinate the cows with a scour prevention vaccine and use the Sand Hills Method for calving rotation. They also receive an inter-nasal dose of Inforce 3. Inforce 3 is a modified live vaccine for IBR, BRSV, and PI3.
We’re ready with colostrum. We give it either with the stomach tube or a bottle.
It is extremely important that calves get colostrum in the first few hours. We make sure that a calf that is too cold or too weak to stand and nurse gets a full 2 quarts of 100+ IgG colostrum so that he has the best start possible under difficult circumstances.
The LED light bars are on the Ranger for nighttime runs. We carry sticks to keep mad mamas off of us as we tag calves. The lid is on the bed so we can bring calves to the house easily.
We’re also ready for calving problems. Backwards, too big, leg back or any other issue that requires assistance. We keep a bucket with a set of chains and handles by the laundry room sink. With just a little soap and hot water we are ready to pull a calf. The J-Lube canister and the calf jack are setting beside the chute.
55 AI bred heifers will calve in the next two weeks and the forecast does not look good! There are several days when the temp does not get above freezing! If the forecast holds true we will be checking on the heifers every few hours. It’s going to be a long couple of weeks. Good thing we are ready!
The cows are all home, preg checked, vaccinated, and turned out to wait. I took a run through them tonight on the 4 wheeler. I couldn’t pass up a 5o degree day in January. Here are some pictures of the cows and the wildlife I saw.
I never go out this time of year without seeing at least a dozen deer.
Cows spread across the hillsides.
Well rounded mama cows! These girls are very happy, but I’m getting impatient. Another month and calves will start dropping!
Look closely! This bobcat ran in front of me when I went through some timber. He stopped just off the road thinking he was well hidden.
The sun is setting. Time to head back to the house!
Sometimes it’s tough to keep all the acronyms used in this country straight. In this case we aren’t talking about a private investigator that specializes in underwear. In cattle industry terms PI BVD stands for Persistently Infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhea. A disease that costs the industry between 1.5 and 2.5 billion, that’s billion with a b, every year.
There are a lot of misconceptions about PI BVD animals so lets start at the beginning with how a PI is made.
PI calves are created in the uterus before they are born. PI calves look normal, but they shed the virus for their entire lives. A non-PI animal can be infected with BVD at anytime, but within a week it will either die or recover. That animal will never be persistently infected, but it will spread the disease while it is sick. BVD is a very contagious disease that spreads easily. Just like this:
5 cows are standing beside a neighbor’s fence. He just went to the local sale barn and purchased some calves. One of the calves is a PI.
Cow #1 is between 1 and 45 days bred. BVD causes her to abort her calf. She will get bred back again but she’ll be late calving and end up open the next time. So the loss is 60 to 100 lbs on her calf and the cost of replacing her. Approximately -$1,150.00.
Cow #2 is between 100 and 150 days bred. BVD causes her to produce a calf with nervous system abnormalities. He has problems walking and ends up dying a couple of weeks after birth. The loss of the calf and replacing the open cow amounts to approximately -$2,000.00.
Cow #3 is between 125 and 150 days bred. Her calf is normal but twice as likely to experience a severe illness in during his first ten months. We’ll assume he survives but the treatment cost is $75 and he never fully recovers. So he is 200 lbs. lighter than he should be for a loss including meds of -$375.00.
Cow #4 is 200 days bred. Her calf is stillborn. BVD can cause abortions and stillbirths at anytime from Day 1 to Day 283. The loss -$2,000.00.
Cow #5 is between 1 and 125 days bred. Her calf is born as a PI BVD calf. The calf’s body “thinks” that BVD is a normal part of it’s system. The calf will shed the virus in all body fluids at extremely high rates for it’s entire life. So the seemingly normal calf will grow at his mother’s side in the cow herd passing the disease to other cows in the herd and spreading sickness in the other calves also. Next season there will be more abortions, stillbirths, and PI calves born in the herd. The calf goes to the sale barn and ends up in a feedlot creating more havoc.
The losses from that one calf are enormous and continue for years.
The vicious cycle continues.
These calves have all been tested and are PI BVD free. They have also been vaccinated for BVD.
I’ll cover how to test and protect your herd from BVD another time.
In the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the Island of Misfit Toys is where all the unloved toys are sent. The toys all have problems, like the cowboy who rides an ostrich or the train with square wheels. Here at the ranch we have the barn of misfit calves. All of them unloved for some reason. All of them sent to the barn for the the nurse cows and I to care for and love.
#365 lost his mom to a uterine prolapse and 2Y is an unwanted twin. #567 and #550 both have moms that are 15 years old. Their milk wasn’t great so we pulled the calves and will sell the cows.
The nurse cows allow us to raise calves that wouldn’t make it out in the pasture. A calf that has problems standing, a twin that gets left behind or a calf whose mother doesn’t have sufficient milk will either die or end up as a small “bum” calf. I get the calves that would never reach their full potential because they would either be sold as a baby or raised on a bottle. Once we had a calf that the cow stepped on and broke her back leg. I had to lift her up and steady her while she ate until she could do it by herself. She is now in the cow herd and raising good calves.
Out of almost 400 mama cows there are always some problems. This year I had 6 nurse cows with 17 calves on them. Of the 17 calves; 6 belong to the nurse cows, 4 orphans, 3 “spare” twins, and 4 off old, thin cows with bad bags. They are a lot of work from February to August. Twice a day I turn the cows in with the calves and then back out when the calves are done eating. In June I cut them back to mornings only and in August I will wean them. This fall those calves will match the “loved” calves we wean off the cows.
I enjoy watching the calves grow. They all have different personalities and habits just like the nurse cows. 2Y is the most stubborn, 415 gets very pushy if I don’t get the gate opened quick enough, 4450 is extremely jumpy, and 550 like having her ears scratched. The calves learn who their cow is and which gate to go through by the time they are a few weeks old. The cows also have preferences. Sugar and CoCo will take any calf I put on them and don’t mind if I have to get in and help the calf learn to suck. Candy is fine with any calf as long as she has her own also, but she does not tolerate stupid calves so they have to be able to go straight to nursing.
Sugar has done a great job with #567. And the other three she has also raised! Each cow gets 1/2 of a five gallon bucket of feed every morning and night.
This is Honey with three calves and Pumpkin, Honey’s 2 year old daughter who is raising #365 and 2Y.
Candy has three calves right now. She raised four, but I weaned the oldest one last week. You can tell that the calves are enjoying their food by the milk mess they make.
It is almost time to wean the calves. The cows and I need a break! The calves are big enough now that they are hard to push around!
Next year the barn will be open again for any unwanted and unloved babies.
There is no way around it. If you have cows you have to have bulls. Bulls are expensive to buy, expensive to feed and a pain to deal with. These are our boys. For the most part they are Balancer (Angus/Gelbvieh cross) with a couple of Sim/Angus cross. We have been using Balancer bulls for over ten years.
We start calving in mid-February so bull turnout was May 10th. The bulls spend the winter together in a 50 acre pasture. Generally they get along really well, but there is definitely a hierarchy. The younger bulls won’t even get close to the older, bigger bulls. There may be a few minor problems when they are turned out in the bull pen, like a bull ending up in the road because two others pitched him over the fence. They do literally gang up on one bull. Now you know where the term bully came from.
In the winter pasture.
Before they can go out with the cows they have to go through the pre-breeding tests. Dr. DePriest showed up to check each of the 16 bulls. The bulls also received a vibrio/lepto vaccination and get dewormed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly (no one gets hurt and all fences remain standing) and they all test well.
Collecting and checking the semen.
Measuring scrotal circumference
He doesn’t look very happy.
One bull did not pass. He was injured last breeding season and will not be able to breed cows this year. He will be headed down the road. Everybody else will go out to pasture.
Four bulls are going in with 105 cows. They were all purchased as 18 month old bulls from B/F Cattle Company in 2014 so this will be their 7th season. Still have good feet, good body condition, and good test scores. Feet are a big problem with bulls. Fescue, rocky hills and their weight all take a toll, but these four are still good.
Off the trailer and into the pasture to check out the girls. These two bulls are in a pasture with 58 cows.
Bulls are fun to watch until they tear something up. The minute they think you are trying to move them they start fighting. And there is no way to break up a fight. That is 1,800 pounds of muscle totally focused on beating up another 1,800 pound critter. They don’t hear or see anything else. They will plow into and through fences, trucks, or trees. They concentrate totally on that other bull and nothing else matters until one of them gives up.
Have you ever watched kids play king of the mountain? A bull will stand in a gate opening, bow his neck to look tough and dare the other bulls to go through. It’s hilarious unless you’re the one trying to get them through the gate!
If you put bulls side by side in pens they will try to show who is the toughest by bellowing, pawing the ground and just carrying on. I’ve noticed sometimes the one that makes the most noise is the one that stays out of the way when there isn’t a fence between them anymore. The noise they make will make you wonder what kind of wild animal is out there!
For 75 days these guys will be busy earning their keep. Then they will come home and go out to pasture to relax until next breeding season.
Bulls can be the easiest and the hardest creatures to get a long with. Hmmm, I think that goes for most male creatures!
