I am amazed at these figures

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

We work our calves in June and July each year - vaccinations, deworm, tattoo, earnotch for BVD-PI, etc. We worked them on 6/23 and again today 7/28. I am really excited about our weights. For NY, we have been having some hot weather, but the calves are really growing. I'm hoping the spreadsheet shows up and you can read it.

 

[Dsth]

spreadsheet downloaded and numbers look pretty impressive. are these calves weaned already? if so ,when do you wean? I would be interested in a pic of your show bull.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Thanks! No, not weaned. We wean right after Labor Day each year. Calves will be 6-8 months old. We won't vaccinate them again until few weeks after weaning. My feedlot buyer doesn't even want me to bother with the 3rd workup. He loves my steers - he says everytime "I make money on your steers". With the crazy price of steers, I called him the other day to confirm he still would be wanting them 1st of October. He said, "Oh yes. I love your steers." Always nice to hear.
The show bull is being shown as cow/calf pair. The dam is 2 years old. The bull was not eating the little bit of grain we gave him, but this past month he started cleaning it up. Our show feed is 50% whole shell corn & 50% of a mixture of oats, Precon, Depth Charge & UltraFill. He was not finishing 1.5# of mixture each am & pm. Now, he is getting about 2.5#/am/pm - and cleaning up. Still very little. We don't want to fill him up on grain. Must keep him dependent on Mom. They are totally separated all day and are turned out together at night on lush pasture. They have taken a Supreme at New Jersey show.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

And, the rest of the calves are on dams out on rotational grazing. NO CREEP. Just a good loose mineral 24/7 (BioZyme Concept-aid)

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

Well I impressed !!
Do you track your cost per hd per day ?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

No. I generally calculate yearly/cost/cow.
I put all actual farm costs against the cows. It may run $600-750. But I have a lot more expenses than most farms because of our showing.
A cow that raises a steer will more than cover her yearly costs. Especially this year!

 

[dave_shelby]

Outstanding! Your ADGs are excellent in the midsummer heat, although I don't think NY is having temps in the upper 90s.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Dave, you are correct. We are having up to 90....which is very hot for UPSTATE NY, especially with our high humidity.
My toilet is pizzing all over the floor. It's so humid. Water is sweating all over the outside of tank and dripping on floor.
On my weights, my goal is always 100# per month of age. Most all the male calves are meeting that goal and exceeding.
Same with a few of the heifers.
My feedlot buyer doesn't discrinate the heavy weights.

 

[sstterry]

Those are impressive numbers!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

All bull calves are sold. The buyer that had 1st pick took the show bull because of his white face. Well, he liked his growth. He has purchased a bull calf from us for maybe 6 years. Started out he would call to see if I had any bulls for sale. By the time he would get here, the best had been picked. So the 2nd time that happened, he said he wanted first pick next year. So that started a list of 1st, 2nd. 3rd. We had 4 sold before they were born.

 

[CSM]

Do it right and you get amazing result. Wish you were closer would love to see your cattle in person.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I'd like to see your animals too, Jeanne. If ever I drive north I will inquire about it with you.

 

[dave_shelby]

Id like to see too. There are many on CT who are top notch people and it seems natural to want to visit with them.

My parents had friends in Belmont who started a dairy there in the 70s. I remember visiting, so beautiful there.

 

[ClinchValley86]

There are many on CT who are top notch people and it seems natural to want to visit with them.

There needs to be a Cattle Today Tour/Field Day. That'd be tons of fun!

Who wants to host.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Thank you! I would LOVE to have all of you visit. 50+ years of breeding - I am VERY proud of my herd. My farm is not a fancy farm, like you see on tours. Just good cattle.

 

[Mark Reynolds]

We work our calves in June and July each year - vaccinations, deworm, tattoo, earnotch for BVD-PI, etc. We worked them on 6/23 and again today 7/28. I am really excited about our weights. For NY, we have been having some hot weather, but the calves are really growing. I'm hoping the spreadsheet shows up and you can read it.

I'm impressed. I suspect the gains are reflected by a couple of things. The first being the growing season we have had. Production is down, but quality is way up. From what I have gathered about your operation, you rotate based on forage AVAILABLE within the pastures. Because of this, the animals are still getting the quantity they have in prior years (from more pastures though) and the quality of that forage is higher than normal and average. As a consequence, you have a 'bump' in gains from prior years. I'll add to the 'contributing' factors that you have ample water within the required travel distance.

Looking at your spreadsheet, you have a couple outliers. What is up with E60L Lilli-Anna? the rate of gain here is only half to 2/3 of the rest of the herd. Why? That is for you to investigate. Also, EJ3L Lava is very impressive. The gains on him are incredible! If he throws 'small' birth weights....wow. I do see you have him as a show bull.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Mark - good eye. E60L had a naval infection/sm hernia and vet operated on her 2 weeks prior to this weight. She should be in the show string. The show bull is a beast. Sired by a CE/growth bull. He has a +11 CE. I like a 12 to recommend to customers for heifers. I easily breed to 8/9 CE to my heifers. I do not like to keep using high CE bulls on heifers unless they are "spread" bulls, so they are also growth bulls.
My BW's are higher than most people. % of live weight of cows, extreme cold winters exposed to the harsh elements, and 16% baleage. I castrate all males over 99#. "Most" all my bulls are between 85# - 99#. (knock on wood) - I have NEVER had a customer complain about CE. I never used to sell more than 1-3 (3 was a GREAT year). Now, I can't keep enough bulls. With orders for 4, we kept 6 intact figuring we might need to cull something on temperament or performance. Sold all 6, and last week at our Simmental picnic/meeting held here, I had one member asked to buy 3 bull calves, and another one wanted one. They put their order in for next year - after my regular buyer that gets 1st pick. I think the breed is just exploding in popularity. Mine are all purebreds.
Pastures - ha - they were non-existent all of May (we start grazing 1st of May). We were "chasing" grass praying the 1st ones grazed would come back enough to hit again. Then about June 10, we got inches of rain and it made up for lost time. Paddocks have gotten away from us, but we just keep letting them glean what they want, and mow behind them. Spoiled brats!
My cows are really good milkers, so I always get good WW, but it is going to be a bumper crop this year. And, as you can see, we were HEAVY on males. Don't like to admit it, but we lost 5 calves. All really weird things. Like the "water bellie" calf.