First spring turnout....

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Cows have been off grass since the first part of December, in our holding (sacrifice) pasture with hay. We got a little rain and some sun a few weeks ago, and were able to get some growth. Now we are dry again, but the cows are looking over the fence at the greening pastures and constantly mooing, so I caved and moved them this morning. Oh what a sight to see, them running and bucking (see the video)...
[youtube]https://youtu.be/KyuxDuJch_U[/youtube]

Here are the girls, enjoying the green stuff (versus brown stuff)....

This is a yearling Iron Hide 3/4 blood heifer. She is about 70 days bred for a September calf this year.

Here is Ottis! He is turning out to be a fantastic calf (January born). I hope to put a sib in one of the spring cows this year for another one next year. I am excited to see how he turns out on the rail...

This is not on grass, but I took it before I moved the cows. She was posing so nicely for me.... she is a September heifer calf, embryo, sired by Upperclass out of Jeanne's cow, Zsa Zsa. She is standing in front of the compost pile, which was just scraped from around the hay ring and barn... very nasty (and a big reason I wanted them out of the pen).

Anyone else get some joy by seeing the cows move to grass after a long, cold winter? I know I do!
I hope we get some rain, and good weather, so the grass continues. The cows always seem more happy on grass than when cooped up on hay. Plus, I am low on hay, only a few rounds left. I was amazed at how much more grass Kentucky had than we did, but they were wet and we have been pretty dry, for the most part.

 

[wbvs58]

I hope the season continues to improve for you.

Ken

 

[callmefence]

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Here are more I took tonight when I was doing heat checks. I love seeing them on grass... they seem to love it also!

A better picture of the Sept Upperclass x Zsa Zsa heifer calf;

A Feb 2 year old Built Right x Angus embryo. She was late cycling, and we ended up putting an embryo in her just to get her bred. She is due in May, with the same embryo as she is... wrap your head around that one! lol

American Pride x angus cow (Bear Mountain Pride) - Gizmom knows the Angus side of this one. She is a December16, due in October to Lock N Load (Simmental). Excited for that calf!

This girl is one of Bright Raven and I's partnership cows. She is a Feb 17 heifer, and we just bred her last week to 1143Y (Lock n Load son Genex is carrying), 916 pounds. She is a Wide Body x Rendition heifer. We sold her dam in the fall sale as a bred.... regretting that now...

This is a sight that makes me happy! This first calf heifer had a calf that took a bad turn at 7 days (remember my iron issue?). The calf ended up going to the vet for IV fluids for overnight, and I thought we might lose her. She was so weak she could barely stand, and everything we did to get her going did not work. After 7 bags of fluids, she came home and kept getting better. As you can see, she is doing just fine now, nursing like a champ and keeping up with the herd. The calf is sired by Optimizer son we raised, and the heifer is a Combustable x Macho dam. Our daughter showed the heifer last year and she won a bunch, and seems to have a perfect udder! We might show them as a pair this year...

 

[snoopdog]

Nice, are you close to the Anderson/sw city area ?

 

[BFE]

As always, nice looking cattle! We AI'd a group of fall calvers to Deacon last year, and cleaned up with an Ironhide son. All but one Deacon look good, but right now I think the cleanup calves look better. One cleanup bull calf out of a Lazy H cow may be the successor to his daddy, if he continues to look the part. Only thing is, he's solid black, and I love the blaze! Guess you can't have it all.
Good to see the Rendition heifer. We own a full sib sister to him. She's a tank.

 

[kentuckyguy]

What cross is Ottis I love the chrome.

 

[1982vett]

I've started closing off pastures to keep them on top of the clover. Also giving the oats a break till I close them off the pastures I want to bale. They have been off hay about 3 weeks now.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Nice, are you close to the Anderson/sw city area ?

We are about 45 minutes from there, of exit 44 on 44.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

What cross is Ottis I love the chrome.

He is 5/8 Simmi. The color comes from his dam, she is a Belgium Blue x simm cross. She is a solid blue cow, so we were surprised with all the white. But he is a tank!