Winner, winner, chicken dinner

They don't ever tell you about the downside of free-range chickens. For us, it's all about finding that elusive secret stash of eggs. Most chickens are compliant and lay their eggs in the nesting boxes we provide.  But others.... well let's just say they are the rebel chicks.  There's always gotta be that one stray hen. So when we do find a pile like this they all go in the trash because we don't know how old they are or how long they've been here.  And by trash I mean the dogs and cats get to eat them. Food safety is important and we only sell eggs that we can guarantee have been picked up the day they are laid. "Farm fresh" is a real deal around here. Besides, my farmer husband doesn't like sitting down on a pile of scrambled eggs!  As for this chicken...she's has decided laying in the skidloader might not be the best choice so she's back in good standing. For now...

Sunshine and Cows

I have yet to meet someone who doesn't love a beautiful fall day.  Mild temps, warm sun, fall colors, and appreciating one more day in the great outdoors can all add up to a perfect day.  With old man winter knocking on the door, I take these precious fall days very seriously.  Three things can make a fall day even better in my book... 1) a little one-on-one time with my girl, 2) an excuse to get the horses out, and of course 3) anything that involves cows!

Normally in the rush of everyday life we would just jump in the pickup and drive down to check these girls but today, we decided to ride the horses down.  It was about a 2 1/2 mile trip each way just to get to the pasture but we had a nice chat along the way.

One of the highlights was finding this little gem. 

We brought the rest of the fall calving cows home a week or so ago but this momma just couldn't wait on us.  And once she did deliver her healthy little calf, she proceeded to hide it from us.  Really well....  But now he's old enough to hang with the rest of the herd like a big boy.  One of these days we'll haul him and his momma home so they are with the rest of the pairs.  Until then, he's a one of a kind.

It was a nice 3 hour break in our day and a rare moment to slow down and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us!  I highly recommend it to everyone!

I check water.... a lot!

I check water.  A lot.  It may seem like a pretty unimportant job to drive into a pasture every day and look down at your reflection in the water tank.  But I do it anyway.  And you get to know the grazing and drinking habits of your herd pretty quickly.  Did you know cows are creatures of habit just like you and I?  I can generally find this group at the tank for a drink around 5:30 every night.  Tonight, instead of my usual reflection, I saw a nearly empty tank.  The pump was running constantly but no water was coming out.  Dang.  We called the well repair man and he said he would come out tomorrow.  

In the meantime, the cows have no other source of water in this pasture so the kids and I went home and pulled out the portable water tank and started filling it up. [It would've been good entertainment value to watch the three of us trying to carry that big bulky tank.  We may or may not have dropped it on Nate...but no child was hurt in the process.]  It only took about an hour to put in 350 gallons of water.  The slow part came in draining it back out and into the stock tank at the pasture.  It runs by gravity flow so it took a couple of hours to empty it back out but in the end the water tank was nice and full again and I knew it would hold the cows for the night until the well guy could come fix the problem.  Besides, we went for a walk, played some catch with a football, and caught up on some e-mails on my phone.  Always, always, be prepared to entertain.

Turns out it was an easy fix for him and we are up and running again.  Just another example of the hard working people who contribute to agriculture.  And a good reminder of why I am supposed to check the water.  Every.Single.Day.

  

My vet assistant

 Last weekend was the 4-H beef check-in day.  This is when all the young 4-H'ers bring in their new beef animals to be identified and enrolled in the 4-H beef project.  Each animal gets weighed and receives a visual ear tag along with an electronic identification tag (EID).  For animals going on to state fair or other shows, we also need to collect hair follicle samples to have for a DNA test.  The heifers also received a permanent ear tattoo that will help identify them as they enter the herd as breeding animals.

Since I am on the 4-H council, I usually help at the annual weigh in event.  Nate wanted to go along so they put him right to work.  His job was to assist the vet in collecting the DNA samples and matching the envelopes to their ear tags for verification purposes.  He did a great job of getting things organized and I'm pretty sure he learned a lot.  He was also allowed to apply ink to some of the tattoos and learned how to properly tag and tattoo an animal.

I'm proud of him for wanting to learn new things about our beef industry and I'm thankful for awesome volunteers that are so willing to work with our young 4-H'ers to teach them along the way.  Dr. Jamie was super patient and took the time to explain the "whys" of all she was doing. 

4-H is full of teachable moments and it takes a tremendous amount of volunteers to make the most of them.  You'll notice there are no ribbons or shows in this post.  4-H is about so much more than that.  I can only hope the youth, volunteers, and supporters continue to focus on that!!

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!