This has been one of the wettest springs I have encountered. It seems like every time the ground gets dry we get another two inches dumped on it. First cutting of hay got dumped on, our replanted corn is back under water for the second time, and the pasture has more water than grass it seems like! Hello aquaculture!
However the rain hasn't stopped the calves from growing. They have found the creep feed and are really starting to shine. This is one of the most complete and balanced set of calves we have ever had and I couldn't be more excited. Some of the young lads are already showing that they could be nice herd bulls and the ladies have that special "look" to them.
So if you are in the area this summer and want to look over the herd and talk cattle stop on by or give me a call. Until next time.
Alex
Monday, June 20, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Finally Done
This breeding season has been challenging, exciting, and extremely educational for me. At the start, I set out to A.I. my whole entire herd. I had carefully thought out matings, bought the necessary drugs to bring them into heat, and set up the barn to accommodate the process. Throughout the entire process the biggest thing I have learned is that when dealing with A.I. anything can and will happen.
The biggest learning experience of all came on the very first heifer that I A.I.'d. She came in on her natural heat and 12 hours after seeing her stand, I got everything ready to go. After loading her in the chute and bringing all of my equipment out I was ready to go. That's where things went wrong. First, I pulled the straw out of the cane and thought the canister was right beneath the cane and dropped it and the 4 straw left in the cane all the way to the bottom. Then, I loaded the straw into the wrong gun and needed handle the semen again and put it in the right gun. Finally I get inside and nothing feels like what I had been taught or practiced on. So needless to say I pretty much put the gun in and hoped for the best.
The next heifer that I did worked a lot smoother. I didn't have any semen malfunctions, everything felt like it should, and I emptied the gun where I should. After anxiously waiting 18 days to see if they came back into heat, of course the one that sticks is the first heifer I did and the one that went smoothly came back into heat. That is when I realized that you can do everything right and still not get the expected results. After that experience breeding has become a lot less stressful and easy going!
I have also learned to expect the unexpected when breeding cows. Mostly I would bring 4 or 5 at a time into heat using a shot of estrumate and estrotect patches. Well one day I decided to bring a group of 6 into heat. So I give them their shots and turn them back out into the little pasture and two mornings later I go out to check cows and notice a new addition to the little pasture. Well apparently during the night the electric fence charger decided to short out and the cleanup bull was able to jump the fence and breed 4 of the 6 for me! Needless to say it has been an interesting breeding season for me!
Well that is it for now but be sure to check back for pictures of the calves and cows!
Alex
The biggest learning experience of all came on the very first heifer that I A.I.'d. She came in on her natural heat and 12 hours after seeing her stand, I got everything ready to go. After loading her in the chute and bringing all of my equipment out I was ready to go. That's where things went wrong. First, I pulled the straw out of the cane and thought the canister was right beneath the cane and dropped it and the 4 straw left in the cane all the way to the bottom. Then, I loaded the straw into the wrong gun and needed handle the semen again and put it in the right gun. Finally I get inside and nothing feels like what I had been taught or practiced on. So needless to say I pretty much put the gun in and hoped for the best.
The next heifer that I did worked a lot smoother. I didn't have any semen malfunctions, everything felt like it should, and I emptied the gun where I should. After anxiously waiting 18 days to see if they came back into heat, of course the one that sticks is the first heifer I did and the one that went smoothly came back into heat. That is when I realized that you can do everything right and still not get the expected results. After that experience breeding has become a lot less stressful and easy going!
I have also learned to expect the unexpected when breeding cows. Mostly I would bring 4 or 5 at a time into heat using a shot of estrumate and estrotect patches. Well one day I decided to bring a group of 6 into heat. So I give them their shots and turn them back out into the little pasture and two mornings later I go out to check cows and notice a new addition to the little pasture. Well apparently during the night the electric fence charger decided to short out and the cleanup bull was able to jump the fence and breed 4 of the 6 for me! Needless to say it has been an interesting breeding season for me!
Well that is it for now but be sure to check back for pictures of the calves and cows!
Alex
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Spring
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. Today was a great day spent with family and enjoying some great beef at Covington's Beef House!
I would like to welcome everyone to our new blog! I will try and keep everyone updated on the happenings at the farm. We are a little over half done with calving. The early calves are really taking off and looking great. We have a great set of AA LF Airline 849 ET, AA LF T-Bone 9132, MCF Fully Loaded 701, and AA 29F Boomer 620 calves on the ground.
Breeding season is in full swing. We moved all the cows to summer pastures on Saturday and will be moving bulls in on Monday. We have A.I.'d a handful so far and will be synching about 20 more. We have some exciting matings for next year. The A.I. sires we chose to use this year are Star TCF Shock & Awe 158W ET, the reigning two time Supreme Champion at Denver, CRR About Time 743, the 2009 Supreme Champion at Denver, TH SHR 605 57G Bismarck 243R ET, a great performance and maternal herd sire from Topp Herefords, Harvie Dan T-Bone 196T, an exciting outcross bull from Canada, SHF Rib Eye M326 R117, a great carcass and heifer bull from Sandhill, and AA HRD Chuckwagon 0138, an exciting young herd sire from Able Acres that we bought a share in, look for him this upcoming show season!
Check back often for updates and pictures of the calves!
Alex
I would like to welcome everyone to our new blog! I will try and keep everyone updated on the happenings at the farm. We are a little over half done with calving. The early calves are really taking off and looking great. We have a great set of AA LF Airline 849 ET, AA LF T-Bone 9132, MCF Fully Loaded 701, and AA 29F Boomer 620 calves on the ground.
Breeding season is in full swing. We moved all the cows to summer pastures on Saturday and will be moving bulls in on Monday. We have A.I.'d a handful so far and will be synching about 20 more. We have some exciting matings for next year. The A.I. sires we chose to use this year are Star TCF Shock & Awe 158W ET, the reigning two time Supreme Champion at Denver, CRR About Time 743, the 2009 Supreme Champion at Denver, TH SHR 605 57G Bismarck 243R ET, a great performance and maternal herd sire from Topp Herefords, Harvie Dan T-Bone 196T, an exciting outcross bull from Canada, SHF Rib Eye M326 R117, a great carcass and heifer bull from Sandhill, and AA HRD Chuckwagon 0138, an exciting young herd sire from Able Acres that we bought a share in, look for him this upcoming show season!
Check back often for updates and pictures of the calves!
Alex
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)