Hello from Deep East Texas

Gather App
Incidentally, here are some better photos of the new ladies…2 are still a bit skittish…the angus x beefmaster and the darker red one still aren’t used to what’s going on…the angus x beefmaster seems a bit high strung…hope she doesn’t turn out to be a problem child…
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1511.jpeg
    IMG_1511.jpeg
    375.6 KB
  • IMG_1510.jpeg
    IMG_1510.jpeg
    410 KB
  • IMG_1508.jpeg
    IMG_1508.jpeg
    354.3 KB
gman4691 said:
I'm thinking of regular old run of the mill creep feed (looks like a slightly smaller version of range cubes - the creep is probably a little under 1/2" diameter) - often called creep pellets - smaller than cubes but larger than the 1/4" creep feed that I've seen…I read that feeding it to heifers to be retained can result in lower weaning weights…don't know if the article was talking about feeding them on regular basis (sounded like it). I was just going to use it once in a while leading up to fence line weaning to get those to be sold familiar with it. At the same time, I could just skip it…I'm confident the ones to be sold would figure it out on their own pretty fast once separated from the rest. They will have already been around the cows when I take them cubes and probably eaten a few cubes along the way. The more I think about it, the more I believe they won't really need a "familiarization" process leading up to weaning…the expression "eats like a cow" comes to mind - they should figure out that it is food pretty quick.
Click to expand...
If i were to keep heifers back i generally wean at 7-8 months old. The only time they have seen cubes is when I pen cows so not so much familiar with the process at weaning age.

I pen in the cow lot. Put out a roll of good hay and make a "big deal" about putting a little feed in a feed bunk. This is the beginning of training to come to the rustle of a feed sack and getting them calmed down and used to me walking amongst them in tight quarters. Doesn't take long, just once and sometimes twice a day depending on how busy I am. After 2 weeks I start tapering off. They never seem to forget after that. This and penning is the only time they get "feeding" other than hay and pasture.
 
Sorry, I hate to say this, because I enjoy your posts..... but I think that is pizz/poor management. If it works for you, guess that's good.
My opinion is that you must have poor milking cows and late maturing females.
My cows would never stop nursing their calves before they laid down and had her next calf. And if I ran a bull with the herd after heifers were 4 months old, I would have babies having babies.
 
Jeanne - Simme Valley said:
Sorry, I hate to say this, because I enjoy your posts..... but I think that is pizz/poor management. If it works for you, guess that's good.
My opinion is that you must have poor milking cows and late maturing females.
My cows would never stop nursing their calves before they laid down and had her next calf. And if I ran a bull with the herd after heifers were 4 months old, I would have babies having babies.
Click to expand...
Understand the sentiment but the cows have always milked just fine and we’ve had no problems for around 50 years
 
I'd say somewhere around 10 months or so…the mothers cut them off or they self wean. First calf is generally in their second year…an exception here and there but usually in the second year. And no, the ones I have are not bred back to their sire. Some of Dad's may have been a number of years ago but none since I've been working with them.

I assume they either self-wean or the mothers wean them at some point in their next pregnancy. I have seen some pretty big ones try to nurse, but the mother will usually cut them off if that happens…doesn’t happen often but it does happen from time to time.
 
gman4691 said:
I'd say somewhere around 10 months or so…the mothers cut them off or they self wean. First calf is generally in their second year…an exception here and there but usually in the second year. And no, the ones I have are not bred back to their sire. Some of Dad's may have been a number of years ago but none since I've been working with them.

I assume they either self-wean or the mothers wean them at some point in their next pregnancy. I have seen some pretty big ones try to nurse, but the mother will usually cut them off if that happens…doesn't happen often but it does happen from time to time.
Click to expand...
OK, so you change bulls every year. Yes, you want a heifer to breed at about 16 mos or so, to have a calf as a 2 yr old. Heifers can come in heat as early as 6 mos. old. How are you preventing them from getting bred for 10 or so months?
 
Warren Allison said:
OK, so you change bulls every year. Yes, you want a heifer to breed at about 16 mos or so, to have a calf as a 2 yr old. Heifers can come in heat as early as 6 mos. old. How are you preventing them from getting bred for 10 or so months?
Click to expand...
Most of the time I haven't retained heifers…I have 5 from a previous bull and if any of these three new cows have decent looking heifers, I will retain them - the cows were already bred by a red angus bull when I got them. This has been done to replace a couple that aged out and some of the ones I culled early on (3 or 4) because they were dangerously crazy, and 1 barren cow. The herd is fairly young at this point…no first timers but relatively young in terms of breeding cattle.

As far as being bred too early - just haven't any problems with it… so far. And I don't change bulls every year…the one I have now is making great calves and is about 3 - 3 1/2 years old. I'll keep him a while longer. Haven't retained any from him. The calves I sold this year are the first bunch from him and I sold all of them to offset some of the infrastructure expenses.

Correction: the five from the previous bull will be first timers
 
Last edited:
gman4691 said:
Most of the time I haven't retained heifers…I have 5 from a previous bull and if any of these three new cows have decent looking heifers, I will retain them - the cows were already bred by a red angus bull when I got them. This has been done to replace a couple that aged out and some of the ones I culled early on (3 or 4) because they were dangerously crazy, and 1 barren cow. The herd is fairly young at this point but relatively young in terms of breeding cattle.

As far as being bred too early - just haven't any problems with it… so far. Things can always change and I’ll change with them accordingly. The ones I retained from our previous bull will be the only first time calvers this coming spring.
Click to expand...
 
Had a little tractor issue yesterday…I’m no mechanic but did manage to figure out what was blowing the fuel injector solenoid fuse. Got it back up and running after two dead ends, blowing 3 fuses trying to track it down, and giving the tractor just a little bit of mild verbal abuse…lol. Still gonna call it a success.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top