Calves over winter question.

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Lucasbranham

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I'm in the Louisville ky area. I'm leasing 50 acres of fenced land. About 30 acres being pasture and 20 being wooded. There is a pond and 2 springs on the property. The owner of the land says in the last 25 years he's never had to give water, even in the winter. There have been no animals on the property for the last two months. Before that he had 9 head on it. There is a lot of vegetation standing in the fields. There are no buildings on the property.

My plan is to buy 5 cow/calf pairs in the next month. Is there any reason that the calves will have issues over the winter with momma to watch out for them. I will feed hay when needed over the winter. Do you guys see any issues with my plan?

Thanks for any help in advance.
 
Will they have access to the wodds or are they fenced off? The only issues I would see is if you get enough cold weather that the ponds would have ice form over a quarter inch or so along the edges.
 
One possible issue I see is that if the grass has not been cut in 2 months it has seeded out, shed those seeds, and is now most likely rank and unpalatable to a cow. It also contains little nutritional value, so the cows are going to have a hard time raising calves without additional feed.
 
They will have access to the woods as well as the pasture. There are many nooks and crannies in the woods for them to get out of the weather.

Land owner says that the springs never freeze. So I hope that isn't an issue. There is city water there as well if need be.

Is it possible that with 30 acres of growth that this will still provide a lot if their nutrition? What is the difference in nutrition between hay and grass standing in the field?
 
Lucasbranham":2kbg3f7s said:
They will have access to the woods as well as the pasture. There are many nooks and crannies in the woods for them to get out of the weather.

Land owner says that the springs never freeze. So I hope that isn't an issue. There is city water there as well if need be.

Is it possible that with 30 acres of growth that this will still provide a lot if their nutrition? What is the difference in nutrition between hay and grass standing in the field?
Calves frequently are too stupid to find another source of water then a pond then they are used to drinking from, that would be my concern about the ice.

Hay is cut, when properly times, so that it is at a high nutritional value. Grass that has gone through the reproductive stage loses a good deal of the nutritional value and is little more then filler. Even hay that is cut too late is similar in as much that the nutrtion value is seriously reduced.
 
People stockpile grass for winter forage. You will be fine. Keep a protein block in front of them.
 
Lucasbranham":sdoevlzk said:
What supplements are you guys putting out? Brands?


I switched to liquid, but when I use to put tubs out I used MLS. I like the MLS because it is hard they don't bit chunks out of it like the soft tubs. I tried Purina and a few other tubs but my cows ate them way to fast. Range cubes I buy a few different local brands.
 
Ferd":1lboq5w7 said:
People stockpile grass for winter forage. You will be fine. Keep a protein block in front of them.
Stockpiled grass is late growth and has not gone through the repro stage. It's still all leave. Stockpiling is normally late summer through fall growth not spring and summer growth, unless it has been hayed so the seed heads have been removed.
 
Lucasbranham":1zgfyd3b said:
What supplements are you guys putting out? Brands?

We usually didn't graze stockpiled hay, but when we grazed corn stalks we put out CrystalX protein tubs - usually 5 or 6 tubs for 60 head of cows.
 
We acquired our first two head today. A registered Hereford cow and her steer calf from a registered bull. She was a little protective at first, but warmed up. She's halter broke. The calf is NOT. He looks beefy though. It was an awesome experience. Can't wait for more. G :banana: onna keep em in the corral for a week then turn them out. :banana:
 
So far so good with the first pair. If all goes well. I should have 10 head by Sunday evening. Next step is have the vet come out to take a look, Figure out AI schedule for the non bred cows, and wait 8-12 months to collect my money. :banana: Sounds so simple. I'm excited to see what this first year has in store for me.
 

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