Recent content by botsfarmer

Out of 1800 births this year we have pulled one dead calf. Losses from PD to weaning tend to be 8%-10%. Cows run in the veld year round and are expected to calve unaided, get up and chase off the jackels and brown hyena then protect their calves from the leopards and cheetahs. Any cow without a...

Nice Photos. I like the photo of the group of calves. Post some more photos as the calves grow.

A beef cow needs 100 mg Cu per day. Injecting Multimin on a 700kg cow uses 7mls. The Cu in Multimin is 15mg/ml so the Cu dose is 105mg. I mix my own mineral and the cost of the trace mineral packs are $7.5. Here in Botswana the cost of 7ml multi min is $1.5. The trace mineral pack contains 100...

I have read Johan's work. The Tuli has a lot to offer but there are none in our area that I know of. I have split a 125ha paddock into five 25ha portions. I want to chemically kill the bush so there will be lots of grass. That will be ideal for AI. I hope one day to try and plant 50ha of...

Hi Andybob, the veld here is awesome. Providing you provide phosphate and trace minerals, and protein in the winter and have enough grass the cattle do really well. I have some introduced Tuli via AI. I have got a Tuli cross Charolais bull which gained 247 kgs over 100 days on feed. My AI this...

An easy way is to look at your cattle and their general health. If your cattle are slow to slick their winter coats off then a lack of copper could be a culprit. Do you have retained placanta's etc? If the mineral you are using is not being consumed at or near the recommended level it would be a...

The cheapest and best solution for pink eye is to spray terramycin or related product directly into the eye. Have done it on hundreds of sheep and cattle with no ill effects. If you have time spray every eye whether infected or not and then follow up daily with spraying the infected eyes.

The posts are treated with creosote prior to our buying them from South Africa. The horizontal wires are fastened with 2mm wire. My wife home schooled our daughter on the farm for two years and then they moved to the capital Gaborone two years so she could attend school. My boss is going to...

We are currently erecting a 6km, 2.4m high, 18 stand game fence as we are taking a 1100 ha paddock and are going to stock it with zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, gemsbok, kudu, red hartebeest, impala and springbok. The key to erecting the fence is lots of labour. All 25 of my labour are working on...

No lions but we do have Leopard, cheetah, brown hyena and jackal. The leopard's eat the most calves but having a breeding season helps as they only take small calves. The hyena and jackal will mostly take a calf during calving. I have some calves with missing ears and tails that have been chewed...

Hi. Your cattle look really good. I especially like your bull.

Hi from Botswana. I am managing a cattle farm located in south west Botswana. The soil is deep Kalahari sand. Carrying capacity is 10 ha per live stock unit (450 kg cow). The average rainfall is 350mm and falls in the summer anywhere from October to April. Temperatures vary from minus 7 in the...