Party til the cows come home...

Ever hear that saying "Party til the cows come home!!"?  Well... I guess our party's over because we brought the cows home a while back!!  Every rancher has a different set up in terms of locations, pasture availability, winter feeding or grazing programs, calving season, etc...  There is no right or wrong answers but you have to make the best use of what resources you have available.  It might even vary year to year within an operation, so the key is flexibility! 

In our case, we happened to end up with an unused pasture last summer so it made perfect early winter grazing for a set of our cows.  Some of our cows went to cornstalks last fall (you can read all about it here and here) but the balance were able to go to this pasture.  The grass goes dormant so that means it quits growing, but if it hasn't been grazed all summer, there is plenty for them to eat.  As it dries down after the first few freezes, it's sort of like the cows eating dry hay but they do the work so you don't have to cut, bale, store and feed! Plus they get more exercise out walking and grazing pastures instead of waiting for their next meal to be delivered!  It's really a WIN-WIN for all of us!!

Watching the process from my rear view mirror!

But as they say, all good things must come to an end.  When the grass is sufficiently eaten down, the weather has turned colder, calving season is nearing, or any combination of these... it's time to bring the girls home.  This year was the first time we actually let the cattle walk home.  It is about 2 miles from our house to the pasture in question, so it wasn't too far.  The alternative is to gather them and load them onto trailers to haul them home.  Since the kids are getting older, the weather was beautiful, and this particular set of cows is very quiet to work, we decided to bring them home via horseback. 

With Nate on his mare, Tilly, and Ally on her mare, Paige, we let the kids practice their skills and head of the process.  Gail had a 4-wheeler to follow up and prevent strays and I was in the lead with the pickup and some hay to entice the girls to follow me down the road.  Nate was in charge of keeping the cows out of the neighbor's fields, while Ally was bringing them down the road. 


My passengers were VERY helpful in the whole process!!

Everything went smooth and they were settled into their new location in less than two hours.  Good help, good cows, and a good time!!  Even the dogs got in on the action... Just another day in the life on our little Nebraska farm!!

What's in a name? (or number??)

Tags made for all calves born today!!

Ever wonder why cows have ear tags or what all those numbers mean on the tags?  Again, every operation has a different system but here's a quick overview of ours...

We tag every calf within 24-48 hours of birth.  The calf gets a matching number to their mama so it's easy to know who they belong to and to get them paired up quickly if necessary.  We also like to include the date of birth on the tag as a reference, and the middle set of numbers represents the sire or "dad" of the calf. 

Getting a weight on this new baby calf

In our case, we use artificial insemination to breed the bulk of our cows to elite genetics.  This means you can purchase a few units of a particular bull without buying the actual bull that can cost upwards of $50,000 to as much as $200,000.  It's a great way to improve our genetics in a cost effective manner!  Tracking these sire groups is very important from a data collection standpoint so having it on the tag is a great reference.

All of the information is also hand recorded on spreadsheets as each calf is born and later entered in the computer.  We collect individual weights on each calf to also help track performance of the cow, sire, and individual calf.  We use different colors of tags to tell the difference between the different breed groups we have but it can also be used for sire groups, cow groups, ownership groups, pasture groups, or lots of other different options.  There are as many tagging systems as there are producers so the trick is finding one that works for your operation!!

At a glance I know this little dude belongs to cow #3009, he's out of Western Cut (WC) and he was born 2/17

Welcome to the World #046

Timing is everything.  And I just happen to be at the right place at the right time to catch this amazing video.  I had taken my lunch break to run home and check on the cows.  They are calving right now and that means we check them numerous times and day.  That even includes the middle of the night!  I had seen cow #046 during the morning check and she had given me some subtle signs that she might be nearing delivery of her new baby.  Sure enough, she was just getting started when I arrived home at noon.  This video shows just how fast things progress in a normal delivery.  This baby will get a tag that matches his momma so for now he is known as calf #046.  He has made quite an impression so far!


A couple of things to look for in the video...

1. That is the head and front feet you see at the beginning of the video.  Normal position delivery is with the front feet coming first and the head pointed down so the shoulders can slip out easier.
2. The photo bomb is compliments of #227.  Her name is Boo.  She was a former 4-H heifer so she's pretty tame and likes to come say hi.  She would NOT get out of the way.  She likes her picture taken...
3. At 40-42 seconds you will see a good video of the head and body and if you watch closely you will see the calf move during the delivery.
4. Note that the calf is completely delivered at 50 seconds into the video and the cow is up and licking her calf by 1:12.  Yes... that's all of 22 seconds of recovery before she's checking to see if her baby is ok. 
5. And yes... that's old 227 in there assisting.  I told you she likes to be in the picture!

Mother Nature is truly amazing.  I am so blessed to be able to witness these daily miracles.  I hope you are as amazed as I am.  It never gets old!