Everyone is weaned and ready to become a member of the herd. First, tags, tattoos and vaccinations.
Got up early and marked the tags....first number is the last number of the year they are born. Quick glance i know just how old the cow is just by her number.
We tattoo that number in their ears, just in case they lose their tag. On average we replace about 5 tags a year out of a herd of 75ish. We also start a new book every year, each cow as they come through the chute gets jotted down with any notes about her health, teeth, calving issues.
Normally we'd brand at this time, but as i was warming the brander up, sparks shot out of it and it died. Scared the heck out of me.... I've been expecting it to go, its over 35 yrs old. Husband called the makers of this brand and they still had ours on record. Got a bigger one, been wanting a bigger one for years.
New girls all tagged and ready to live in a new herd. Probably the calmest heifers we've had, almost too friendly. When we give them the second dose of their vaccine, they will get branded.
Note the big cow with them in a pen next to heifers. She's the cow out of the neighbors bull i mentioned in another thread. Decided to keep her if she behaves.
Got up early and marked the tags....first number is the last number of the year they are born. Quick glance i know just how old the cow is just by her number.
We tattoo that number in their ears, just in case they lose their tag. On average we replace about 5 tags a year out of a herd of 75ish. We also start a new book every year, each cow as they come through the chute gets jotted down with any notes about her health, teeth, calving issues.
Normally we'd brand at this time, but as i was warming the brander up, sparks shot out of it and it died. Scared the heck out of me.... I've been expecting it to go, its over 35 yrs old. Husband called the makers of this brand and they still had ours on record. Got a bigger one, been wanting a bigger one for years.
New girls all tagged and ready to live in a new herd. Probably the calmest heifers we've had, almost too friendly. When we give them the second dose of their vaccine, they will get branded.
Note the big cow with them in a pen next to heifers. She's the cow out of the neighbors bull i mentioned in another thread. Decided to keep her if she behaves.