Backbone Ranch
Well-known member
It has been a while since I have posted on these boards. I graduated from the Texas A&M Veterinary School in May of this year and have been working in north Texas as a mixed-animal veterinarian for the past few months. In all honesty, there has been a bit of a learning curve, but I really am excited for several more decades in this career!
The drought here has been hard on our pastures, but we have been fortunate that the cattle are holding up so well. We will be weaning early this year, likely in the next 2-3 weeks. Some of our smaller groups, such as the first-calf heifers, have been getting hay here and there, but we have not had to start feeding the main cow herd yet. The fall-calving group of heifers has done well this year. The first expected due date was September 23rd. By October 4th, 14 of our 15 heifers had calved. We still have one hold out, but she has bagged up and is due at any time. We used a young bull this year that appears to be shorter gestation, but his calves are born with natural thickness and vigor, despite being on the smaller side. That same bull, BB Backbone's Brigadier, bred a large chunk of our cow herd this spring, including some of our framier females, so I am curious to see if that continues to hold true.
301 Bull- This was the first bull calf born in the spring 2023 calving season. He is sired by Fox Hill Francois, a Murray Grey bull that was born and raised in New York. He has had tremendous thickness from day 1 and continues to impress us with his growth and natural muscling.
303 Bull- This bull is honestly one that I am really excited about. We have been needing to add some darker pigmentation to the herd for several years now, and at this point in time, this bull looks like he has potential to be a herd bull candidate. He was 78 lbs at birth and is pictured here at 7 months of age. His dam, BB Goldie, is an 8 1/2 year old daughter of Cadella Park Golden Boy and is our most consistent producer.
304 Heifer- This heifer is a 7 month old daughter of BB Backbone's General that can be traced back to our old Guernsey cross cow. She is 7/8ths Murray Grey x 1/8th Guernsey.
305 Bull- This particular calf is sired by the New Zealand Murray Grey bull, Ballee Thumbs Up. His dam is a daughter of BB Uncle Tony and this is just her second calf.
312 Heifer- 6 1/2 month old daughter of BB Backbone's General and out of OK Sally (full sister to BB Uncle Tony)
BB Gypsy- A BB Backbone's General daughter with her first calf.
And this last picture shows BB Backbone's General at 8 1/2 years. He is the sire of the females pictured and he has been our predominant herd bull for the last 5 years. We have 11 of his daughters in production currently and 14 more in our replacement heifer group. Two of his sons will also be utilized in the summer 2024 breeding season. This bull is one that we raised and sold as a yearling, and then bought back as a 3 1/2 year old. He has truly been a game changer for our program and we were fortunate enough to collect semen from him so that we can continue to have his calves for years to come.
The drought here has been hard on our pastures, but we have been fortunate that the cattle are holding up so well. We will be weaning early this year, likely in the next 2-3 weeks. Some of our smaller groups, such as the first-calf heifers, have been getting hay here and there, but we have not had to start feeding the main cow herd yet. The fall-calving group of heifers has done well this year. The first expected due date was September 23rd. By October 4th, 14 of our 15 heifers had calved. We still have one hold out, but she has bagged up and is due at any time. We used a young bull this year that appears to be shorter gestation, but his calves are born with natural thickness and vigor, despite being on the smaller side. That same bull, BB Backbone's Brigadier, bred a large chunk of our cow herd this spring, including some of our framier females, so I am curious to see if that continues to hold true.
301 Bull- This was the first bull calf born in the spring 2023 calving season. He is sired by Fox Hill Francois, a Murray Grey bull that was born and raised in New York. He has had tremendous thickness from day 1 and continues to impress us with his growth and natural muscling.
303 Bull- This bull is honestly one that I am really excited about. We have been needing to add some darker pigmentation to the herd for several years now, and at this point in time, this bull looks like he has potential to be a herd bull candidate. He was 78 lbs at birth and is pictured here at 7 months of age. His dam, BB Goldie, is an 8 1/2 year old daughter of Cadella Park Golden Boy and is our most consistent producer.
304 Heifer- This heifer is a 7 month old daughter of BB Backbone's General that can be traced back to our old Guernsey cross cow. She is 7/8ths Murray Grey x 1/8th Guernsey.
305 Bull- This particular calf is sired by the New Zealand Murray Grey bull, Ballee Thumbs Up. His dam is a daughter of BB Uncle Tony and this is just her second calf.
312 Heifer- 6 1/2 month old daughter of BB Backbone's General and out of OK Sally (full sister to BB Uncle Tony)
BB Gypsy- A BB Backbone's General daughter with her first calf.
And this last picture shows BB Backbone's General at 8 1/2 years. He is the sire of the females pictured and he has been our predominant herd bull for the last 5 years. We have 11 of his daughters in production currently and 14 more in our replacement heifer group. Two of his sons will also be utilized in the summer 2024 breeding season. This bull is one that we raised and sold as a yearling, and then bought back as a 3 1/2 year old. He has truly been a game changer for our program and we were fortunate enough to collect semen from him so that we can continue to have his calves for years to come.
