Thanks for all the nice comments everyone. I haven't posted much lately, but I've been around long enough to know that you better be prepared for anything when you post pictures here.
:lol:
DOC HARRIS":vtu4uny1 said:
Here is a suggestion for you to consider: With the moisure level this year and the grass in good condition, you might swath graze as long as possible this fall, and save your hay in case you hit a bad dry spell down the line. It would be a good time to experiment with rotation grazing if you haven't tried it. Just a thought!
That's the plan, DOC. We like to use stockpiled forage to hold off on feeding hay as long as possible. It works out well to supplement a little protein if needed & make them eat up some more of the grass as long as we can.
KNERSIE":vtu4uny1 said:
Welcome back, lady, I've been missing your pics. Cattle look outstanding as always, are the baldies brangusxherefords?
Yes, KNERSIE, these baldies are out of Brangus bulls & Polled Hereford cows. This cross has worked out really well for us. That little bit of ear isn't enough to hurt the steers at the salebarn yet it's enough that the females are in demand for replacements.
SRBeef":vtu4uny1 said:
Wow, what nice heifers. As I am still very much a beginner I am starting to see what makes a good heifer (with some educational help from Knersie and others).
I was downloading pictures from my camera tonight and had a recent pic of one of my own heifers that I was thinking was pretty good. However I see next to yours she doesn't look quite so good.
For reference, here is the photo of mine. don't mean to steal your thread, I just find the comparison to yours informative for my learning and maybe other beginners can see the differences I do.
pdfangus is right….the pic makes a BIG difference. I'm no expert & can't always make a bad heifer look good, but it's pretty easy to make a good heifer look bad w/the wrong picture. In your case, it's hard to tell where the sun is exactly, but I think I would have switched to the other side & then waited for her to move the right front leg forward. I'd also either whistle or wave or whatever works to get her to get that head up & look at me. It's really hard to get the sale catalog type pics w/the head up & forward when you're working by yourself. That's why you can see in my pics that most of them have their heads facing in my direction instead of forwards. I also prefer to not take the picture directly square w/them but to move up ahead of them towards their shoulder just a little.
SRBeef":vtu4uny1 said:
Are those in your registered photo pure Herefords? Glad you are getting some rain and better pastures.
Yes, both of the polled Hereford heifers are registered. They're two of my favorites of the weaned registered heifers this year. They're both out of the same bull & out of dams that are half-sisters and weaned within 5 pounds of each other.
SRBeef":vtu4uny1 said:
One of my own heifers. Not up to the quality of yours. Thanks again for the great photos of some good looking heifers. Jim
I've seen some of the pictures you've posted & it looks like you have a fine start to your program. Practicing getting good pictures may not improve your herd, but it'll improve the herd folks think you have.
TexasBred":vtu4uny1 said:
Now where did you get all that pretty green grass. ;-)
As I said, we've been very, very fortunate w/our rainfall this summer. Looking back I wish I had taken pictures last year just to compare. 2008 was bad but 2009 following that bad year before was unbelievable. The grass was only a couple of inches tall & brown. When you walked on it, it just crumbled to nothing. We try to always stock for a bad year & keep at least 2-yr's worth of hay on hand. Even at those levels, we were down to our last hay bales & had really cut our herd numbers last year.
