Calving angst . . .

[Kathie in Thorp]

I gotta tell you . . . I'm a little anxious. We are a couple weeks to calving. We late bred for this year's calves, AI, to reg'd American British White Park bulls. Have 2 heifers in the bunch. Last year, we pulled a 100 pounder from a BA X heifer (she's a champ!); another heifer (Br. White) we didn't really "catch on" as she started early labor, and we pulled a dead calf from her a day later. The other cows did fine on their own. That crop was sired by a Black Galloway bull, because no BW bulls in the area and we didn't have everything set up to AI at the time. So, cross your fingers for us. I am totally the "nervous Nellie" person.

 

[Nesikep]

Hope everything comes out alright!... I gotta ask though, why do you calve out so late in the year? I find the calves get heat stressed if they don't learn to drink water quickly enough.

Oh, and keep your wind down there!, I've had enough of these gusty southwinds coming up from your area!

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Hope everything comes out alright!... I gotta ask though, why do you calve out so late in the year? I find the calves get heat stressed if they don't learn to drink water quickly enough.

Oh, and keep your wind down there!, I've had enough of these gusty southwinds coming up from your area!

Nesi, we AI'd for this round and we weren't all set up for that last year until late in the season. Yeah, we're sick of the stink'n wind here!!

 

[Nesikep]

I was hauling in my bales, got about 1/4 of the way and a thundershower came through.. just for 10 minutes, but it was VERY wet water that drenched everything.. I was just lucky I was under the hay shed when it broke loose and I could hide out for a bit... Now all my bales are wet and I have to wait a couple of hours for them to dry off.. sun never stopped shining so it shouldn't take long to get the worst off the bales.

I have 3 late calvers.. one seems to be bagging up a bit, I think in the next 5 weeks they'll all have them.. 1 is a prolapse cow so she's certainly on a truck this fall, along with 2 others... I can't afford to get rid of all my problems this year, the 1 late heifer I might keep another year depending on how her calf grows... Meanwhile their job is to keep the corrals free of weeds... I have plenty of old hay for them to eat too, and some broken bales.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

Our local hay people will do well this year, I think. Last year, the first 2 cuttings were pretty much rained out. First cutting this year, there was only a sprinkle before most of it was baled. But prices are way up this year -- probably trying to make up some for last year. We bought orchard grass last year for $200/ton; it's $250 for first cut this year. We could use some rain right now, though, between cuttings.

 

[Nesikep]

I'll have to see what the hay prices do.. $250/ton is pretty steep price.. I have about 40 ton left over from last year, so I'm liking the idea that the prices are up, I've usually been selling at $8/ 80lb bale farm gate...

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

I'll have to see what the hay prices do.. $250/ton is pretty steep price.. I have about 40 ton left over from last year, so I'm liking the idea that the prices are up, I've usually been selling at $8/ 80lb bale farm gate...

Nesi, remember that in Kittitas Valley the hay is grown for export market. Some of that is now over $300/ton. We have some hay people we deal with, but depending on their pricing, we can't always deal every year.

 

[Nesikep]

I "export" my hay to Langley... Delivered the price goes up to $14, so that puts the price at $385 for a metric ton. I have to make them finnicky horse people pay.. it's not the horse that's fussy, it's the people...
Care to come for a drive and buy some hay? hehehe