Almost there!

Help Support CattleToday:

Joined
Jun 10, 2015
Messages
8,741
Reaction score
9,039
Location
Winfield, KS
There is light at the end of the tunnel! One more calf to go and she's not due until the end of May (slacker;)). Bonus: no injuries (to me) to report this year. Tagging & working the newborns is like:

Mama: What-ever. One 'n done, I'm out.

Mama: Hey, heeeeey! Wanna see my calf? Wanna pet her? Wanna tag her? Got any cubes for me? Love those easy cows; additional time spent lovin' up on the calf.

Mama: Zzzzzzzzzz😴. Unless that calf bawls and all bets are off. Only physics and raging hormones can explain how 1500 lbs. can spring into action in .25 seconds from a complete stupor. You'd be amazed how fast I can run in Muck boots.

Mama: Imma gonna eat you for lunch! Oh, dang, she's not bluffing. Hard pass! I'll give her day (or 3) to simmer.

Mama: Hahahaha, good luck with that! Her calf is clearly the spawn of Satan and my linebacker days are over. Ain't no way. Two months later, calf still isn't tagged.

NO twins this year, no bottle calves, no supplementing, no pulls. All good! Culled hard last year, so should end up with 10 fewer calves in a vain attempt to make my life easier.

A few of my faves:
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210304_091948.jpg
    IMG_20210304_091948.jpg
    1.6 MB · Views: 10
  • IMG_20210412_091828.jpg
    IMG_20210412_091828.jpg
    2 MB · Views: 10
  • IMG_20210412_091925.jpg
    IMG_20210412_091925.jpg
    1.4 MB · Views: 9
  • IMG_20210412_092016.jpg
    IMG_20210412_092016.jpg
    4 MB · Views: 7
  • IMG_20210415_175812.jpg
    IMG_20210415_175812.jpg
    1.8 MB · Views: 7
  • IMG_20210417_152320.jpg
    IMG_20210417_152320.jpg
    2.9 MB · Views: 9
Enjoy...lol.

Calves look great. Love the brockle. I have a match in red.
She's another hand feeder already. Keeping her!!!! Still have her grandma, currently 11 with her 10th calf and the 2nd one to calve this year. Perfect bag, had both her 3rd eyelids removed in '17 because of cancer eye in one but caught it early and she's in amazing condition. I have a ton of her lineage.
 
Thanks, @Jeanne - Simme Valley! I was super proud of my heifers this year. Only had 5 but they all calved within 10 days (well done, Willy!;)) and are great little mamas. My heifer that pelvic measured 232 at 11 months calved in record time: checked on the heifers around 2:00 one afternoon and noticed she was a little antsy but didn't even look very swollen. Fed the main herd, came back at 2:25 and she was licking off her calf. I think she sneezed and blew it out!

Good luck with the AI!
 
There is light at the end of the tunnel! One more calf to go and she's not due until the end of May (slacker;)). Bonus: no injuries (to me) to report this year. Tagging & working the newborns is like:

Mama: What-ever. One 'n done, I'm out.

Mama: Hey, heeeeey! Wanna see my calf? Wanna pet her? Wanna tag her? Got any cubes for me? Love those easy cows; additional time spent lovin' up on the calf.

Mama: Zzzzzzzzzz😴. Unless that calf bawls and all bets are off. Only physics and raging hormones can explain how 1500 lbs. can spring into action in .25 seconds from a complete stupor. You'd be amazed how fast I can run in Muck boots.

Mama: Imma gonna eat you for lunch! Oh, dang, she's not bluffing. Hard pass! I'll give her day (or 3) to simmer.

Mama: Hahahaha, good luck with that! Her calf is clearly the spawn of Satan and my linebacker days are over. Ain't no way. Two months later, calf still isn't tagged.

NO twins this year, no bottle calves, no supplementing, no pulls. All good! Culled hard last year, so should end up with 10 fewer calves in a vain attempt to make my life easier.

A few of my faves:
Probably jinx my self ; 35 on the ground, lost one heifer calf . Found her with mom ,had her neck in a weird twisted position. Only thing I can think of mom stood up and she slipped out and it broke her neck ? Heavy on bull calves #'s . My son and I call those bill payers ! Just a couple more spring calvers and we'll be done till September.
 
Probably jinx my self ; 35 on the ground, lost one heifer calf . Found her with mom ,had her neck in a weird twisted position. Only thing I can think of mom stood up and she slipped out and it broke her neck ? Heavy on bull calves #'s . My son and I call those bill payers ! Just a couple more spring calvers and we'll be done till September.
That sucks. Sometimes I think the neck may not even have to break. Had a few this year where the cow's getting up or standing as the calf comes out and the calf's head gets twisted back and I doubt it could breathe in that position. I'm sure sometimes the calf would be strong enough to flop itself out of that position or the cow licks it rigorously enough to move it but the odd time you'd think it would be lethal.
 
Probably jinx my self ; 35 on the ground, lost one heifer calf . Found her with mom ,had her neck in a weird twisted position. Only thing I can think of mom stood up and she slipped out and it broke her neck ? Heavy on bull calves #'s . My son and I call those bill payers ! Just a couple more spring calvers and we'll be done till September.
Sorry about the calf! You can watch them, do everything you can, intervene when possible, but can't save them all - for whatever reason.

We generally run about 50/50 bull-to-heifer calves but this year we're slightly ahead with heifers. Read: NOT as much $$$ paying those bills!
 
Surprise! NOT expecting this tiny bull calf. Was fairly certain his mama was open & planned on having her preg checked when we work them in May, just to confirm. But it sure looked like she was getting a bag yesterday. Hmmmm. Looked her over; lunch on the left, rugrat on the right. Nope, don't see it. But I definitely saw that little white face, hiding in a draw this morning. He's not even 40 lbs, but bunky, nursing & appears healthy. Brought them to the barn to keep an eye on him (plus, we're supposed to have t-storms later today/tonight). Okay, then, still have one to go.IMG_20210423_100323.jpgIMG_20210423_081054126.jpg
 
Probably jinx my self ; 35 on the ground, lost one heifer calf . Found her with mom ,had her neck in a weird twisted position. Only thing I can think of mom stood up and she slipped out and it broke her neck ? Heavy on bull calves #'s . My son and I call those bill payers ! Just a couple more spring calvers and we'll be done till September.

No matter how hard we try, we will never kill them all!
 
Top