Recent content by Ann Bledsoe

A teaspoon of liquid rennet (for cheesemaking) to a scouring calf will usually clear him right up. Rennet is naturally produced by the stomach of a milkfed calf. Stress will upset rennet production and can lead to scouring. Giving rennet allows him to properly digest his milk during the time...

Our area (Okeechobee) got hit pretty hard by the rear eyewall, we were 30 miles from the center of the eye (eye was 55 miles in diameter), but we were very lucky and had minimal damage (knocked out a screen on the wrap-around porch, tore up a screen door, plus lots of trees and 1 fence down)...

I had a 4 week old calf killed a month ago by a cow. She ran him down and broke his back. Ann B

What do you mean? They expect a portion of the kill? We have always given a portion of the kill to the landowner. Our landowner in Nebraska used to love us -- we appreciated access to their land so much that not only did we give a portion of what was killed on their land, but also a portion...

I'm sure you'll get some good information from the great folks here, but you also might like to check out the following site focusing on the family milk cow http://familycow.proboards32.com/ Ann B

They look like Angus to me. That sunburned hair will shed out and the new hair underneath will be black. Ann B BTW -- Black is dominant to Red -- Black can produce Red, but 2 Reds can never produce a Black.

All of his antics were funny the first few times, but after that it started getting real old! Heck the calves started scouring from getting too much milk! He's at a collection center right now. Posts have been set and the pipe corral tied to them and I changed all the gate latches, so we'll...

Some of the Mini's are polled, but Pvt. Pyle was dehorned when he was a calf. Ann B

I just don't see that it could be that much worst that living in "tornado central"! Or "blizzard central"!! At least there is warning before a hurricane, a Nebraska tornado is on top of you with no more then a few minutes warning. We lived 2 miles from the debris path left by the tornado that...

Hey DR If things don't go well and you decide to ship her and the calf is still pretty small, give me a holler -- I've got a Jersey that's looking for a new foster calf. Ann B (Okeechobee)

And they don't have to be big to have those problems either. My Mini Jersey bull (43", 550 lbs, gentle as a kitten, and broke to ride) can push a fence over, can stick his head through a pipe corral, pick it up, and carry it away, and the little devil can open gates. (he's a pushover for calves...

Came home one day to a heifer turned upside down in the feed bunk. I've had calves stuck in the bale feeder and in the panels. Also had a steer get his head stuck in one of those net hay bags for horses, luckily he was halfway halterbroke so he didn't fight it -- but he wasn't real happy when I...

Could be nothing more than your screen resolution setting. Ann B

The size of the udder really doesn't relate to milking ability -- a big bag could be mostly fat with very little working mammary tissue, while a small bag can be all mammary tissue with no fat at all. I've seen many, many dairy and beef cows with huge udders that produced very small volumes of...

Rumen digestion is based on microbes/bacteria -- the rumen microbes DO take the food value out whole corn. Research shows that even though the corn may come through "looking" undigested, when analyzed, it was totally depleted of it's starch content. The rumen microbes extract the starch for...