New calf pics, etc.

[SRBeef]

I happened to be in the calving pasture yesterday when another calf was born. I am always amazed at how a good cow just goes up to the top of the hill and calves. She licks him off, he turns around and has a first drink of colostrum and all of a sudden there is another new life in the pasture.

Also a group of yearlings going for processing soon and a picture of my new heifer at the bale feeder. I really like the way these bale feeders work. My bales are very dense. as they eat the remaining support the rest comes down slowly. Looks like the new heifer feels right at home. Jim

These steers will be going in for processing soon.

The new registered heifer out of the Tundra bull looks like she is making herself right at home at the bale feeder. I really like the lines of this heifer: long, low and wide, the way I want my herd to go. This is my first registered female.

I'll add a picture of the calving pasture from earlier in the week. Cows seem to like to calve higher up on a slope near the ridge. Little red and white balls of fur popping up pretty regularly now.

Taking in some sun

 

[VanC]

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. I'm envious, but in a good way. Are the calves all out of your Huth bull?

 

[SRBeef]

Thanks for the beautiful pictures. I'm envious, but in a good way. Are the calves all out of your Huth bull?

Yes, these calves and yearlings are all out of T-21 (except for the BWF heifer in the backgound). His calves are amazing*.

No reason to be envious - from the looks of that steak in your avatar you must be doing a good job.

Thanks for the kind words.

Jim

* - in the interest of honesty and full disclosure, I did have calving problems with two heifers this spring. As Knersie warned me I would if I left them on corn too long. The two were on corn for an extra month and their calves were too big. That was my fault, however, not T-21's.

In the future I am going to not graze pregnant cows on unharvested corn at all. The steers will get the unharvested corn, the cows (2nd trimester) will follow as a cleanup crew on the stalks only. And all pregnant females will be hay only in the last trimester.

 

[grubbie]

Beautiful animals........great pictures there. I'm thinking I might make some of those bale feeders, does it seem to you like there is less waste compared to a regular bale ring?

 

[SRBeef]

Beautiful animals........great pictures there. I'm thinking I might make some of those bale feeders, does it seem to you like there is less waste compared to a regular bale ring?

I do think there is very little waste with this feeder. What falls to the ground is not soiled. I snapped a picture with my phone this afternoon showing a calf that was cleaning up the hay that had fallen through. Here's a picture though I missed where the calf had half crawled under the feeder.

You might want to look into buying one of these rather than making one. They are rolled 2x2 steel tubing and very sturdy. They are sold out of SD not to far from WY. Kelly Melius does a good job with them. www.balefeeder.com

I like them because they keep the bales up off of the ground and out of the mud. When loading I try to spin the bale so the part of the bale that was on the ground is in the feeder on top.

Thank you for the kind words. Jim

 

[Baldie Maker]

SR if you'd like you can send that heifer to KY and i'll show her this summer... i have to agree that i like her lines aswell

 

[Roan]

Very nice pics, keep on posting more!

 

[bigbull338]

you have some nice looking cattle there.

 

[SRBeef]

Thank you both for the kind words.

I think I am going to really like this heifer also. Hopefully she will adapt well to my system. We'll see.

Between her and a couple others, in about 20 years I may have the herd the way I want it!

It will be interesting to see how the steers grade out in a couple weeks.

Jim

 

[KNERSIE]

It will be interesting to see how the steers grade out in a couple weeks.

I think you'll find that your steers are a little undercooked.

 

[SRBeef]

It will be interesting to see how the steers grade out in a couple weeks.

I think you'll find that your steers are a little undercooked.

I am sure you are correct. I am going to run them across the scales and as long as they are close to 1100 lb they are going to go. I made some quick changes to my corn grazing system this past weekend adding a temporary waterer so the steers for spring processing will be 100% grazing ear corn for the next 2 or 3 weeks.

If they average 3 lb/day for 21 days that's another 63 lb on them. They are just coming up on 12 months old.

Think of it maybe like veal... That's what I mean about grading. IF this is very tender, lightly marbled beef it will be what I am looking for even if they have not gotten to the maximum/usual finishing weight.

What I saw from last year is that if I take them off of corn and back to grass only they lose a bit of that corn finish fairly quickly.

Thanks for the observation. Jim

 

[KNERSIE]

If they average 3 lb/day for 21 days that's another 63 lb on them. They are just coming up on 12 months old.

If possible, weigh them now and weigh them again in three weeks time, I'd be very interested to know whether you have achieved that at that specific timeframe in their lives. You'll certainly add a little more finish and that is exactly what you need.

Think of it maybe like veal... That's what I mean about grading. IF this is very tender, lightly marbled beef it will be what I am looking for even if they have not gotten to the maximum/usual finishing weight.

We call it baby beef, I am sure its a term used often in the USA 50 years ago. They will be tender, not so sure about the marbling, I think they need a little more cover on them. How close they are to the "traditional" or maximum finishing weight/age didn't even cross my mind.

 

[SRBeef]

If they average 3 lb/day for 21 days that's another 63 lb on them. They are just coming up on 12 months old.

If possible, weigh them now and weigh them again in three weeks time, I'd be very interested to know whether you have achieved that at that specific timeframe in their lives. You'll certainly add a little more finish and that is exactly what you need.

Think of it maybe like veal... That's what I mean about grading. IF this is very tender, lightly marbled beef it will be what I am looking for even if they have not gotten to the maximum/usual finishing weight.

We call it baby beef, I am sure its a term used often in the USA 50 years ago. They will be tender, not so sure about the marbling, I think they need a little more cover on them. How close they are to the "traditional" or maximum finishing weight/age didn't even cross my mind.

Weighing them is something I should have done this past weekend but did not.

Here is a photo of some of them turned back into corn after a few days out. I set up a temporary waterer so they could be a separate group pre-processing.

I don't know if they will hit 3 lb/day gain at this stage in their development but I would guess it will be at least 2.5 lb/day. They really went to town when I put them back in. I don't want to do this with cows or retained heifers but from now on it is for cattle being processed only. Cows and retained heifers will get stubble only with minimal/no ears.

I opened up the fresh area in the background so there are lots of ears there.

I like the term of "baby beef". Come to think of it that may be a negative with some folks.

What is most important is that I want some beef that is tender and different/"better" than you can buy in most stores. I think this will do it along with the "natural" quality of no antibiotics nor hormones.

As far as "fat cover", my Huth T-21 bull is a low backfat bull. They just will not have a lot of trim fat. I look at this as a positive as long as they still have some significant marbling/IMF. T-21's EPD's say he should have good IMF even though he has low backfat. This is the first crop of his calves to be processed so we'll see if reality matches the numbers. The corn should help.

Thank you again for your helpful comments, Harley.

Jim

 

[RefugeRanch]

SRBeef,

Love new born pictures. Wholesome comes to mind. Would you refresh my memory on how many acres you graze and how many head you have. Love your posts!

Thank you,

Paul

 

[SRBeef]

SRBeef,

Love new born pictures. Wholesome comes to mind. Would you refresh my memory on how many acres you graze and how many head you have. Love your posts!

Thank you,

Paul

Always not enough acres and in the spring time not enough head, in late August sometimes too many head.

My stocking rate is very high compared to standard ways of doing things.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "wholesome". I'd rather you used the word "profitable". Or maybe "wholesome and profitable".

Thanks for the kind words.

Jim

 

[SRBeef]

I figure that if these steers to be processed are putting on around 3 lb/day that is probably about 1 lb/day of more beef in the split half boxes. They are making money at almost no additional cost, at least for a time.

It has been suggested by others that I could also graze the lactating cows that just calved to help use up the remaining corn which I only can leave for at most 6 weeks more. I left too much this year.

I have never put lactating cows grazing standing corn before. Might there be a problem with too much milk or other issues? I would put a couple bales of hay out there in rings also. Sure don't want to take a chance with cows or calves.

Does anyone here feed a high corn ration to lactating cows? I know dairy cows are fed corn silage but maybe that is different? Suggestions or experience?

Thanks. Jim

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Not sure on the grazing corn for nursing cows.
But, I also thought your steers weren't (how did Kernsie say it ) under-cooked (like that!). Actually, your heifer looks more ready than the steers.
Nice heifer btw.
Great pics. Like that hay feeder. That's a different kind than what you've shown before. I like this one better.

 

[SRBeef]

Not sure on the grazing corn for nursing cows.
But, I also thought your steers weren't (how did Kernsie say it ) under-cooked (like that!). Actually, your heifer looks more ready than the steers.
Nice heifer btw.
Great pics. Like that hay feeder. That's a different kind than what you've shown before. I like this one better.

The BWF is a heifer who had calving problems (my fault, not hers) and she's going to the processor with the steers. The new Tundra heifer looks good but she has only been with me a short time. She is definitely NOT going to the processor! It will be interesting to see how/if her condition changes under my rotational grazing, etc system. I cant wait to see a calf out of her and my Huth bull.

I put back my apppointments at the processors so they have about 3 weeks to go on the corn. I will try to get a few more pics as they progress along with some weights. I am not going to put nursing cows on corn until the steers have removed most of the ears.

The bale feeder shown is the single bale model. I have a double bale model also. I need both to have enough hay capacity for the times when I am away.

The single is slightly different and I agree I like it a bit better too. Maybe it is a bit higher up. I've seen calves on their knees crawling under it to get the hay leaves that fall thru. Very well made, not going to crumple up like the one in the background from my very heavy and very large 5x6ft bales. Thank you for the kind words.

I hope you have a good Easter weekend.

Jim

 

[longtimelurker]

What is most important is that I want some beef that is tender and different/"better" than you can buy in most stores. I think this will do it along with the "natural" quality of no antibiotics nor hormones.

Natural beef products have no correlation to antibiotics or hormones.

 

[SRBeef]

What is most important is that I want some beef that is tender and different/"better" than you can buy in most stores. I think this will do it along with the "natural" quality of no antibiotics nor hormones.

Natural beef products have no correlation to antibiotics or hormones.

This sounds like the start of an argument that was on this site for quite some time a while ago. I am not going to get sucked into that again.

However, you are technically correct: The official USDA definition of "Natural" foods of any type is a product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed.

This may be used on breakfast cereals, pickles, cookies, whatever.

However when speaking of beef, the generally accepted, practical definition of "Natural" (not "Organic") beef is that it is raised with no antibiotics and no growth hormones. There are many be other variations but these seem to be the core common criteria defining "Natural" beef.

As my only evidence I will point out two prominent beef websites that are evidently successful using the same definition of "Natural" beef:

http://www.laurasleanbeef.com/

http://www.naturalbeef.com/

These are just two of MANY providers of "Natural" beef that use much the same accepted definition which includes no antibiotics nor hormones/implants.

The term "Natural Beef" is obviously ripe for many different interpretations. And, in my opinion, misleading misuse. jmho. Jim