August Pictures

[creekdrive]

Thought I'd share a few more pictures from the past couple of weeks. It's been an odd year weather wise. No rain to speak of this spring at all. Hay crops were terrible. Pastures were starting to burn up awfully fast. The last month we've had 4 inches of rain (2 inches yesterday) in this area. Other parts of the province haven't been so lucky. The winter feed situation is still not looking the best for us, but it's looking a lot better than it did a month ago. The rain came just in time to turn the grain crops around, and we were lucky enough to miss out on the hail a lot of our neighbours got a couple weeks ago.

Here's some pictures:

Big steer calf

#15 - not quite sure how old she is but she's got to be getting up there. We bought her 8 years ago and she was no spring chicken then. She's probably the biggest cow on the place and she'll raise the biggest calf every year. Two years ago her 7 1/2 mth steer calf weighed 795 lbs (that's after an hour on the trailer to the auction). Her heifer calf this year will stay as a replacement. It might be time to sell the cow this fall though - prices are high, feed is short and she's not getting any younger. Makes me sad to sell such a good cow though.

heifer calf out of a purebred RA dam and a SimAngus sire

RA cow

Red & Tan commercial cows with Gelbvieh sired calves

2nd calver - she fell behind a bit this year and didn't calve until July. Hopefully she catches back up a couple months this year.

same cow playing peek a boo (more like trying to eat the trim off the truck)

a different pasture, starting to run out of daylight.

Thanks for letting me share!

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Good cattle and truck... :cowboy:

 

[creekdrive]

Good cattle and truck... :cowboy:

thanks - that truck was an upgrade and is honestly way too fancy and new for this operation haha. Have had it since February and it still doesn't feel like a 'farm' truck yet. Gotta admit it does look pretty sharp towing a stock trailer or hauling a load of bales though ;-)

this year

last year

 

[HDRider]

Nice, nice, nice.

Good luck to ya.

 

[Black and Good]

Nice cattle! Nice pics! Thanks for sharing. B&G

 

[Williamsv]

Good looking cattle. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Expecting big sell offs of cattle this fall out there? Have been hearing crazy prices for hay both in Ontario and AB

 

[strihafarms]

Great looking cattle

 

[Oldtimer]

heifer calf out of a purebred RA dam and a SimAngus sire

Yeah- its been a weird year as far as the weather ... We got very little dryland hay this year...At least these late summer rains have filled the ponds and creek waterholes.....

I see from the pictures where you are having a bumper crop of Curlycup Gumweed too! This is one of the years it is really doing good... :roll:

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

Great Looking Cattle! I Really Like that Cherry Red Heifer. I might should think about getting me some Red Angus cows.

 

[creekdrive]

I see from the pictures where you are having a bumper crop of Curlycup Gumweed too! This is one of the years it is really doing good... :roll:

That weed is honestly everywhere this year! I've never seen it like this before...some of the pastures it's in I didn't even know it was there until this year.

I was in Edmonton yesterday (a 2 hour drive) and came home feeling very lucky. Saw lots of areas that obviously had a lot less moisture than we did. I imagine there will be a number of cow herds dispersed this fall as soon as the pasture runs out. We never buy hay but some of the prices I've been seeing have been stupid high. At $200 a bale I just don't see how anyone could make it work. Especially if guys have to feed into June like we did last year...

Great Looking Cattle! I Really Like that Cherry Red Heifer. I might should think about getting me some Red Angus cows.

Thanks! We love our Red Angus cows!

 

[creekdrive]

another picture - just because ;-)

 

[Oldtimer]

I see from the pictures where you are having a bumper crop of Curlycup Gumweed too! This is one of the years it is really doing good... :roll:

That weed is honestly everywhere this year! I've never seen it like this before...some of the pastures it's in I didn't even know it was there until this year.

I was in Edmonton yesterday (a 2 hour drive) and came home feeling very lucky. Saw lots of areas that obviously had a lot less moisture than we did. I imagine there will be a number of cow herds dispersed this fall as soon as the pasture runs out. We never buy hay but some of the prices I've been seeing have been stupid high. At $200 a bale I just don't see how anyone could make it work. Especially if guys have to feed into June like we did last year...

Great Looking Cattle! I Really Like that Cherry Red Heifer. I might should think about getting me some Red Angus cows.

Thanks! We love our Red Angus cows!

That's a beautiful valley !

We luckily got some hay contracted early this year- so aren't paying so much (but still plenty) and we decided with the good steer calf prices not to keep as many bull calves (which was kind of a mistake, because we tentatively have all the bull calves we kept sold to one outfit, which would have taken more)...One good thing is we have lots of straw available this year...

As far as the Curlycup Gumweed- this is about the worst year we've had in years... It seems to show up in cycles when conditions are just right... The Native Americans and oldtimer's used to use it as a herbal treatment for asthma, heart disease, kidney disease, colic, saddle sores, etc., etc. ....

http://montana.plant-life.org/species/g ... quarro.htm

 

[creekdrive]

Haven't taken a lot of pictures the last couple weeks but here's a few from the other day.
All purebred RA cows & calves. And please ignore all of that curlycup gumweed (thanks Oldtimer for the name of it, I wasn't sure what it was called before) this pasture is covered in it in a couple of spots and of course that would be where the cows are when I go to check on them and take some pics.

same pair as above, different view

first calf heifer and her bull calf. the cow in the picture above is the mother of this heifer.

Bull & a couple of his ladies

heifer calf - wish she had a prettier face, but the rest of her looks not bad.

another pair

That's it for today!

 

[Nesikep]

Nice pictures, all of them, and the cattle too!.. for a dry year they seem to be in decent shape.

 

[insurman]

Great pics and some good looking cattle...so where in Canada is this?

 

[xbredcattle]

another picture - just because ;-)

Just made this my desktop background on my work computer ... any day with a view like that makes life better :clap:

 

[gizmom]

Beautiful cattle and country. I love that red heifer she is a dandy.

gizmom

 

[Supa Dexta]

I have a heifer this year that is built more like a bull/steer - solid calf. Really packed on the pounds. (well I have a few, but 1 in particular is catching my eye)

In the past I would always ship these heifers, both cause they weigh good, didn't wanna keep the fattest heifers, and I just tended to keep more feminine looking females. But this year I'm thinking I want to try her out, her mother is a big solid cow and I'm interested in what she may become.

What do you do with those type heifers? The ones that compete directly with their brothers in the gain race, they aren't 'pretty', but have good genes in em. I almost think some of my cows have gotten too feminine in a sense, and it wouldn't hurt to have a little more grit in em again. Big old ugly cows, become big old ugly cows for a reason.

Her mother looks similar to your 4th pic - a barrel on legs, but a little meaner lookin'

 

[creekdrive]

Great pics and some good looking cattle...so where in Canada is this?

I guess I should update my profile some - it's East Central Alberta.

Nice pictures, all of them, and the cattle too!.. for a dry year they seem to be in decent shape.

yes, most of them are fat toads... We always stock our pastures for the worst case scenario so on bad years we still have enough grass. The last month there has been plenty of rain - came to late for a lot of the hay but the pastures are sure looking nice and green considering it's almost September.

Big old ugly cows, become big old ugly cows for a reason.

[
I think that is very true, especially in a commercial herd. We have quite a few cows that aren't 'pretty' by anybody's standard but raise a heck of a nice calf year after year.
When we choose replacement heifers a lot of the decision is based on how good of a cow her mother, sisters, grandmother etc is. Of course they also have to be sound and have a good temperament. But they don't necessarily have to be 'pretty' to stick around. I think you can get to the point where they are too feminine as well. Somewhere in the middle is what we usually try to aim for. Usually we sell the biggest heifers with the steers, but not always.

The cow in the 4th pic is pictured again, the last picture in the second group of pics. Her heifer calf will probably stay as a replacement this year.