Dumb things i do!

[kenny thomas]

On November 14th i helped haul 24 cows, 10 calves, and 2 bulls to a special cow sale. They belonged to my brother in law who is no longer able to care for them. Once at the stockyard we sorted the calves into a pen away from the cows. 5 hours later i went back to match up the cow calf pairs. I knew 5 of the 10 pairs but the other pairs we had to try one cow at a time. It went fairly quick and each calf sucked except 1 calf. Never could match it with any cow.
I bought 5 of the pairs during the sale and the calf we couldnt match sold by itself. Everyone happy it seemed.
After the sale i decided to just go back early the next morning to haul and work what i bought. When i went to load them the guy loading said one of my cows must have had twins because he turned the calf we couldn't match in with my cows and it went to sucking. Oh well, i dont care for twins anyway.
Got home, worked them and turned them out. Thats on Friday morning. Didn't check them Saturday or Sunday but Monday morning the cow had a bag full of milk. The calf i had matched with her was not hers. Put them in my barn and as long as i give her some feed and stand there she will let it suck. Its been 7 days now and i still go twice a day. They both know the routine now. Not sure how long it may take but i hand feed steers morning and night so im there anyway.
Stupid mistake but glad i got the pair instead of someone else.

 

[farmerjan]

But if your pair was not matched.... then someone elses was not matched right either...

 

[kenny thomas]

But if your pair was not matched.... then someone elses was not matched right either...

No, the calf that was supposed to be on my cow was sold by itself as a head calf. The calf i got i have no clue where its cow was. Im still stumped.

 

[Brute 23]

I had to re-read it a few times. Its like a riddle. I hope I got it when I ask my question...

Yall didn't want to try to swap them with the other buyer?

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I split groups of cows up and haul them to different pastures. After mixing up pairs once or twice I started tagging the calves with the cows number also. Now it's easy to tripple check I have them paired up correctly before I haul them 15 miles apart.

 

[kenny thomas]

I had to re-read it a few times. Its like a riddle. I hope I got it when I ask my question...

Yall didn't want to try to swap them with the other buyer?

Of course i did but he only wanted a black heifer calf. The mistake calf i got was a steer

 

[kenny thomas]

I split groups of cows up and haul them to different pastures. After mixing up pairs once or twice I started tagging the calves with the cows number also. Now it's easy to tripple check I have them paired up correctly before I haul them 15 miles apart.

Everything on my farms get matching tags. These had nothing until i bought them.

 

[kenny thomas]

Of course i did but he only wanted a black heifer calf. The mistake calf i got was a steer

At 250lb the calf will fight for a tit so hopefully the cow will give in soon.

 

[littletom]

My dad bought several pairs at a dispersal sale once. They were a few weeks old. Full size **** show. Farm manger brought some different calves picked some up. Im not sure it ever was complety right but they all weaned a calf.

 

[wbvs58]

I split groups of cows up and haul them to different pastures. After mixing up pairs once or twice I started tagging the calves with the cows number also. Now it's easy to tripple check I have them paired up correctly before I haul them 15 miles apart.

I tag them and check them and double and triple check them but will usually still make a mistake.

Ken

 

[MurraysMutts]

I sold a couple pairs a while back. The calves got tagged backwards. I still remember their numbers. 5 and 15
I told them at the sale not to get them confused but they run fast and hard and I'm not 100% sure the message got thru.

I still wonder about that to this day.

 

[WFfarm]

We eartag calves with the mother's number within the first day or two after birth. It helps when we split the herd onto three different farms for summer grazing. And we only had 35 cows.

 

[Dave]

Over the years I have bought a few mismatched pairs. Some took to each other with a little effort. Some went back to the sale for a refund of my money. Here I match up numbers on cows and calves. When they go to summer pasture it takes several loads. Turning them out on a couple thousand acres they had better be paired up or it will a a train wreck.

 

[Brute 23]

We match up all our calves at around 3-5ish months. Cows get work first and turned in to a trap, calves stay in the pen. We will wait a minimum of like 8 hours, like morning to evening. I prefer morning to morning. When you come out that next morning they are ready to go. We put the young ones on atvs or sxs and call out the ear tag number as the calf takes off the trail it and get the cows number. They are matching as fast as you are working them. It's nice to have at least 2 running. We don't mismatch as much as just get a type or here or there. It can usually be seen later when putting it in the computer. I just make a hit list and confirm when checking cows the next couple times.

 

[ClinchValley86]

How many sips were involved?

 

[kenny thomas]

How many sips were involved?

Not very many at that time of morning. Lol

 

[kenny thomas]

Update. 3 weeks today and the calf is sucking. He also eats feed when i give her some. Will turn them out next week.

 

[kenny thomas]