How do you do it?

[Vetrock]

How do you do it? I've taken over my dad's cow/calf herd after his passing this summer. There are calves of varying ages out there. Most are a shade of white because of the Charolais bull. I need to do some serious culling of the cows. My question is how do you determine which calf (none have ear tags) goes with which cow (most do)?

I've thought of taking a picture of each calf as they nurse, but once we get them in the catch pen, they all kind of blend together.

What are your best tricks?

 

[M-5]

Tag the calves with generic numbers . sit and watch which cow they nurse .

 

[JMJ Farms]

Tag the calves with generic numbers . sit and watch which cow they nurse .

:nod:

 

[Nesikep]

If you want to speed up the process a bit, separate them so the calves are thirsty and nurse when you put them back together.

More important to know the cows.. watch the calves nurse, evaluate if the calf is any good, keep/cull the cow.. need her to be identifiable.

 

[JW IN VA]

This method works for me when I can't get them identified individually. I will suggest you use a white or yellow tag and mark numbers on both sides so they will be easier to see when you are matching cows with calves.The ones you keep can be retagged to your personal color later on.
Even though my tags are orange,I use white tags in the calves most years if the tags are small.

Sorry for your loss.Glad you are keeping things going.Went through that almost twenty years ago.Don't hesitate to ask on this forum.

 

[snoopdog]

Also tag with different colors for males /females, makes your recordkeeping a bit easier from scratch , or right ear/left ear.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Tag the calves with generic numbers . sit and watch which cow they nurse .

:nod: To this, I would add Snoopdog's suggestion of different ears for different sexes.

 

[JW IN VA]

Been doing that for years.When we sold in feeder calf association sales,they started taking steers on one week and heifers the next.Made sorting in large groups much faster.Provided the tagging guy paid attention when he was doing it.
Steers in left.Heifers in right.

 

[snoopdog]

Tag the calves with generic numbers . sit and watch which cow they nurse .

:nod: To this, I would add Snoopdog's suggestion of different ears for different sexes.

Makes it easier to remember if you tag the girls in the right ear, "the female is always right ", no confusion with hired hands ,or anyone else , on this we ALL agree . And if not ,may god have mercy on your soul.

 

[Vetrock]

Very helpful. Thanks!

 

[Brute 23]

Consider that you may not need to match them all right now. Sell this group now and start writing any thing born from here on out.

I would start by cubing them or what ever in the working pens to make sure they know you. Get tags in all the momma cows as soon as you can.

I always keep my phone handy in the pasture. When a calf is sucking I take a pic. That automatically gives me a date and a pic of the pair. I group them in albums by year and property in my phone. A lot of phones will even let you write on the pic.

As others have suggested if you pen all the cows. Separate the cows from the calves. Tag the cows and the calves. If you can keep the cows in a trap near by leave them separated. Don't be afraid to leave them over night. Turn the calves out one by one to the cows and they should go straight to sucking.

 

[Allenw]

For culling cows I would simply shut the cows I wanted to sell up and see if they had any nursing calves show up. You can make final decisions about culling now or later depending on cow and calf conditions and what ever other factors are involved. If I was culling I would just take them all at once when I had them caught.

We've done the shut the calves up and let them out pairing method it's not 100% accurate, you will be wrong on at least a couple pairs.

 

[callmefence]

Once you get the calves tagged with generic numbers. Cube them at sunset to get them all together. The cows will eat the cake then mother up with the calves. Write down who goes with who on a piece of paper. Take a picture of it and text it to your wife so it doesn't get lost.

 

[76 Bar]

Have nothing to add except to say you've gotten some great advice Vetrock. Sorry for the loss of your dad and always remember the old adage, Rome wasn't built in a day. Herd improvement will be much easier after you get the cows and calves tagged and paired up.

 

[TCRanch]

Tag the calves with generic numbers . sit and watch which cow they nurse .

:nod: To this, I would add Snoopdog's suggestion of different ears for different sexes.

Makes it easier to remember if you tag the girls in the right ear, "the female is always right ", no confusion with hired hands ,or anyone else , on this we ALL agree . And if not ,may god have mercy on your soul.

Well now it all makes sense! When we first started a cow/calf operation my husband said to tag the steers on the right, heifers on the left. Guess who's running the ranch now? But no way am I switching all the ear tags!

 

[Workinonit Farm]

:nod: To this, I would add Snoopdog's suggestion of different ears for different sexes.

Makes it easier to remember if you tag the girls in the right ear, "the female is always right ", no confusion with hired hands ,or anyone else , on this we ALL agree . And if not ,may god have mercy on your soul.

Well now it all makes sense! When we first started a cow/calf operation my husband said to tag the steers on the right, heifers on the left. Guess who's running the ranch now? But no way am I switching all the ear tags!

This is very amusing! I've always tagged males on the right ear and females on the left ear.

 

[farmerjan]

We use a different color. All bulls/steers get a yellow or an orange tag. Whichever I have the most of that calving season when I can buy them on sale.... If known they get their momma's number. If not known, they get a generic number and then I watch to see who matches up with who. Same with heifers, but they get green unless they are definitely on one of my cows as opposed to my sons. Mine get white tags. If they aren't a sure thing, they get a green tag and then any that are mine that I decide to keep as a replacement gets my tag and the number I want her to have for life. Easy to sort them at pastures if they have a yellow/orange tag from any other color. Since most are sold, it isn't a big deal to change the ones in the heifers ears of the ones we are keeping, when they get bangs vaccinated.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Heifers would get their own unique tag number. Steers got a white tag the same as the dam. When I had several born the heifers got their number, then the steers were tagged "A", "B", "C" etc. Then like M-5 suggests I would record which steer nursed which cow and which heifer nursed which cow, and the date of birth etc.

We calved year round. If you don't catch the calf early, you often have to wait until you get them in the alley etc. It also depended on which pasture they were in at times.

 

[Brute 23]

I use to try to tag heifers in the right, bulls in the left but it became too much of a PIA. I usually tag them down the line now and I don't want to have to go from side to side. At the beginning of the year I pretty much get all my tags for calves in zip lock bags ready to go starting at 1. I label the bags by the property and always keep a bag of blanks so if one gets messed up I don't skip that number, I just write it in. In my tally books and spreadsheets I make a note like 67Y, 34G, bwb... cow tag, calf tag, and a calf description.

On some of the Brahman heifers or some thing I know is going to be kept I go ahead and give them a "cow" number in sequence with the cows in the right ear and a tag with the brand and phone numbers in the left ear like the rest of the cow herd. If we keep any heifers other than those its easiest just to cut the "calf" tag off and re-do it when we brand and give vacs at weaning.

 

[76 Bar]

You might find this helpful Vetrock:
https://www.uaex.edu/publications/pdf/FSA-9603.pdf
I tag at birth coded to the dam & also use a different color tag for sex. Heifers kept as replacements get a permanent tag based on birth year and calving order as discussed in the article above. I also ear tattoo in the case of tag failure. On the initial tagging of the cow herd, it might be helpful to record their approximate birth year via the last digit on their bangs tattoo. Happy tagging!