First calf heifers are a crap shoot on how they will take to the new calf. This cow wasn’t too bad but didn’t like the idea. We had to draw milk from her and bottle feed the bull calf to get him started. She eventually took to the calf. Both are doing well.
Cattle Water in Blizzard
December 13, 2010 by 6 Comments
weh
We have a energy free cattle water in one of our pastures. It gets its heat from the deep in the ground. When it is really cold, like this weekend, we check on it to see if we need to push the floats or unthaw anything. So far it has been doing pretty good. The next morning Theo did have to break the ice around the floats so the cows could drink.
Tacy at the Vet
December 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Tacy aborted twin calves last Thursday. Her due date was next month. The boys buried the calves. But Tacy didn’t seem to feel very good. So we took her to the vet. Dr. J said she didn’t have a temperature but did have an infection. He gave her some medicine. She is doing fine now.
Getting Colder
December 10, 2009 by 3 Comments
It is getting colder every day, but to night it got 10 degrees with high winds. So we put straw in for the cows. 15 minutes after we had put the two round bales of straw in, most of the cows had lain down.
By the sign of the moon
November 20, 2009 by 3 Comments
We had been asked a couple of times before if we wean our calves by the sign of the moon. No we did not. We weaned when it fit our schedule. Even though we had heard about weaning by the moon, we never tried it. Well the last time we weaned this summer, the cows and calves relentlessly bawled. So we said next time we would use the sign of the moon date. The date for Nov. started the 19. So we will see how these 5 calves do. The following is how the Farmer’s Almanac explains it:
According to Farmers’ Almanac tradition, when the moon is in the appropriate phase and place in the zodiac, it’s widely believed that activities will be more fruitful or lead to improved results.
No Louisville
November 18, 2009 by 3 Comments
We are starting to get ready for the cows and calves be weaned. It has rained a lot so we can’t get into the fields, because it rained more then 3 inches. We couldn’t go to Louisville because we were in the field. Dad was sad we couldn’t go to the show in Louisville, but maybe we can go next year.
Lean-to comes in handy in very wet weather
November 2, 2009 by 3 Comments
Pictured above are the three cattle we are planning to take to the North American Livestock Show in two weeks. WE had 3 plus inches of rain Thursday/Friday. Boy, did the new lean-to we put on the barn come in handy for them. A place to be out of the rain, dry and not wet under their feet. We had close to 7 inches of rain in the month of October. WE have been feeding them in there and tying them up under the roof. Sure does make it easier on us also.
Final thoughts, this week we also starting to move/ship some of Terry Steinhour’s cattle. Feeder cattle and finished cattle went to Congerville sale barn and we sent about half the cows/calves/bulls to a friend/fellow shorthorn breeder of Terry’s. Hopefully this week he will come and get the rest of them. WE need to take one bull to Congerville this week on Tuesday night. Lifetime building a purebred herd and we will move them to someone else in a few days. Next up, getting his crops out of the fields. Lots of neighbors will help with that.
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