Calving season 2011 for me

[Nesikep]

Oh, OK... what do you think delivery fees would be from TX to BC though lol... most likely more than the bricks

[Kingfisher]

Oh, OK... what do you think delivery fees would be from TX to BC though lol... most likely more than the bricks

Yea I was thinking about that too...........but you got some really nice calves and when else am I going to have an opportunity to visit BC and hunt lions!? You ain't too far from some good fishing too I suppose?

[Nesikep]

Yeah, there's a fair bit of fishing around here.. some 8 ft Sturgeon have been caught in the river if that's your thing, rainbow trout in lakes and streams...

But I'm a farmer.. I have to time to fish!

[Kingfisher]

Yeah, there's a fair bit of fishing around here.. some 8 ft Sturgeon have been caught in the river if that's your thing, rainbow trout in lakes and streams...

But I'm a farmer.. I have to time to fish!

They got a saying down South.........." All work and no play makes for a dull boy..."

[Nesikep]

I try to make my work play.. OK, so no matter what I do, I can't find much fun in shoving irrigation pipes... but working with the cattle is fun, every friday night I come on here for a while, and then usually end up playing some pool and having a beer with a couple friends


Apart from that, the scours I've had, well, they haven't gone away entirely, the two calves that had them pretty god last friday still have them, though not nearly as bad, they never were dull and were always sucking on mother, though they did stop eating solid food for a couple days... the one that wasn't tame, well, I was never able to catch her, so she couldn't have been that bad off, and she was the worse of the two, the second one I gave neo-sulfalyte boluses to, and they really didn't seem to do much when I compare with the one who didn't get any, however, she liked them, she ate them out of my hand so it was no trouble in her case

We are down to 2 calves left to go, had 2 calves in the last 3 days, one light and vocal heifer, and one big steer from a tiny cow, had to pull a little bit on him, she's not known for milk, so I'll see if she can feed him. The only 2 left to go are my old girl and another one which we aren't even sure is pregnant.

[Nesikep]

Well, in a couple days the old girl should have her calf, and the other, we're having more and more doubts if she's in calf at all, so she's in "jail" and getting fed garbage hay

Had one more calf get some scours, but I think these are milk scours and she doesn't seem to be dehydrating or getting weak, so I'll just keep an eye on her

the heifer who had the 120 lb calf is doing fine, she's been off tetracycline for 3 weeks and seems to be healed up alright, her calf is doing well too, but I had to separate him from the rest since he was far too skilled a milk thief and the other calves were suffering from it (he was SO persistent he'd end up getting adopted)

[Nesikep]

Well, I think my last calf hit the ground, I have one more to go, theoretically, but I'm thinking she's open... so all I have for today is a vid of the my old girl Rosie having her 14th

[3waycross]

What do you figure he weighed. Looks like 110 easy!

[Beefman]

Great Video. I wish more of mine would calf out like that. She is a good momma alright. I agree with 3waycross, looks like a large calf.

[angusdave63]

are all your calves shorthorn gelbvieh cross calves

[Nesikep]

Which one looks like 110 lb? the last vid? that was about an 80 lb heifer, the first vid was a 140 lb bull calf.
All but 2 of our cows are shorthorn x hereford/red angus/Saler, and the 2 that don't have shorthorn are herf/Saler... Rosie, in the last vid I posted is herf x Saler. Both cows in the videos are maternal sisters, one with a shorthorn father, the other Saler (see it in the tailstock).
I'm really liking that little heifer calf, she may be a bit small in the falltime since she's 2 months younger than the oldest, but I might keep her as a replacement for her mother since you never know when a 15 year old cow will quit... That being said, once a cow gets to a certain age, they seem to have "momentum" and can go for a long time... I give her some extra feed when I can since she loses condition easily now

[3waycross]

Which one looks like 110 lb? the last vid? that was about an 80 lb heifer, the first vid was a 140 lb bull calf.
All but 2 of our cows are shorthorn x hereford/red angus/Saler, and the 2 that don't have shorthorn are herf/Saler... Rosie, in the last vid I posted is herf x Saler. Both cows in the videos are maternal sisters, one with a shorthorn father, the other Saler (see it in the tailstock).
I'm really liking that little heifer calf, she may be a bit small in the falltime since she's 2 months younger than the oldest, but I might keep her as a replacement for her mother since you never know when a 15 year old cow will quit... That being said, once a cow gets to a certain age, they seem to have "momentum" and can go for a long time... I give her some extra feed when I can since she loses condition easily now

Nesikep I would never call on you but if that is an 80 lb heifer then my 80 pounders really weigh 65lbs. Did you actually weigh her?

[Stocker Steve]

All but 2 of our cows are shorthorn x hereford/red angus/Saler, and the 2 that don't have shorthorn are herf/Saler... Rosie, in the last vid I posted is herf x Saler. Both cows in the videos are maternal sisters, one with a shorthorn father, the other Saler (see it in the tailstock).

What did the Saler cross do for your brood cows?

Is there a max heifer calf birth weight in order to keep them for replacements?

[Nesikep]

3waycross, no, I didn't actually weigh her, but she's WAY smaller than most of the rest of them that I did weigh... should we call a truce at 90? heheh... So what does the 140 lb'er look like to you?

Stocker Steve... Salers gave us good frames, they have small good udders but milk well...
Here is the cow in the second vid at 11 years old, She's gotten bonier in the last 4 years, but the udder is the same.

With Salers, like Red angus, if it's important to you, you really have to look for the docility, our bull was as nice as any, but Salers tend to be wild bastards, Rosie pictured above is an exception but that's because she had the most docile mother around. we have another 1/2 saler left, and she's 11 years old, and after that much time you'd think she'd slow down.. not a chance... Salers are known to be good mothers, and if it means being aggressive mothers, so be it.. a distant neighbor of ours had a herd of 3/4-PB Salers and never had problems with wolves, but since he went RA, he's been losing calves to wolves.. The Saler mothers would surround the calves like buffalo and nothing would get at them, while the RA don't. The Salers, along with the Shorthorn we got later has given us GIANT pelvises, which means that it's rare we pull a calf (seems to be 1 a year), and 2 of the last 3 were hind legs first, which is just asking for help.

Another unrelated thought I had that I'd like feedback on is "It's easier to breed good traits in than bad traits out".. Agree, disagree?

[Stocker Steve]

I ordered a Rice pelvimeter last winter. It was back ordered and came to late to help this spring...

With the instructions they listed average yearling pelvic area by breed. No Shorthorns on the list, but Salers were the biggest at 174 sq. cm.. and Hereford were the smallest at 146 sq. cm.. I assume part of the difference was size of the animal, and part of the difference was a breed trait.

I had some Saler crosses back when I ran stocker heifers. I kept a couple for replacements and they are really good doers, but when it came time to load out the rest I had to tell the my helper to get out of the corral so the Salers stayed in it.