Pics, Moved some yearlings.

[Dylan Biggs]

Moved yearlings yesterday, cattle are getting use to water.

Getting close to the berm to cross a DU project.

A bit deeper than I thought in that spot.

Crossing the berm.

Found a shallow spot to cross the creek.

Taking a little break.

Going to the gate onto the hiway.

Going across so we can travel north along the east side.

Grazing on the move.

Some of them went into the dead end approach.

Maria my third daughter bringing them out.

Lunch showed up so we stalled the herd.

My Dad Tom who is 80 and Maria at the tailgate restaraunt.

Time to go.

The last leg.

We're there.

 

[3waycross]

WOW! Great pictures. Looks like you have the market cornered on grass this year.

 

[BRG]

WOW! Great pictures. Looks like you have the market cornered on grass this year.

and water!!!

The yearlings look good.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

3waycross and BRG one in year in twenty, a sight for sore eyes! I am enjoying it while it lasts. We have had more rain in the last two months than we had in the last 3 years!

The yearling are starting to bloom. They are May June calves backgrounded at a bout a 1.25.

 

[Kingfisher]

3waycross and BRG one in year in twenty, a sight for sore eyes! I am enjoying it while it lasts. We have had more rain in the last two months than we had in the last 3 years!

The yearling are starting to bloom. They are May June calves backgrounded at a bout a 1.25.

Nice......... Where are you located?

 

[alacattleman]

good looking calves, and country

 

[40-4171]

Great pictures!! What will they gain daily on that kind of grass?

 

[WichitaLineMan]

Yearling wintered good and slow. They ought to just pop like a cannon shot.

 

[djinwa]

Nice pics and cattle. Looks like they could have spent a week just cleaning up the roadside. Always bothers me to drive down the road and see uneaten grass.

Are you breeding reds and blacks separately - red or black bulls?

 

[Dylan Biggs]

Thank you every one for the kind comments.

Kingfisher, we are located in east central Alberta about a 3 hour drive Northeast of Calgary, if that helps.

40-4147, based on past experience they may not gain quite as well as in dryer years. That being said for the bunch as a whole 2 lbs is realistic for the grass conditions and the condition the cattle went to grass in.They may do more but it seldom pays to be too optimistic with projections. On our individually gain tested bull prospects which are the top end to begin with 3 lbs plus group average is not unusual. I can give you an actual gain in the fall to see if my estimate was close.

WichitaLineMan, yeah, they have already changed a bunch since the middle of May when they went to grass.

djinwa, I know what you mean about all that grass in the ditch.

The commercial cows are bred multi sire. The purebreds are mostly Black just a handful of registered reds and some red carriers. The last 4 years I have been using our red carrier sire on the whole bunch. May or may not be the best idea but a good bull is worth using in my books regardless of color carrier status. The out cross reds are the bonus. We only raise a handful of bulls and mostly for our own use anyway. We only sell a few bulls.

Our marketing focus or I should my dear wife Colleen's focus the last 15 years has been adding value to our market cattle through our niche market branded beef program.

Our small seed stock production is really just a by-product of our meat program which eases most culling decisions. :tiphat:

 

[Australian]

What beautiful country. Thanks for the photos. It's nice just to see other people's country and cattle without any breed hype or self promotion or the like. Thanks once again from downunder.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

What beautiful country. Thanks for the photos. It's nice just to see other people's country and cattle without any breed hype or self promotion or the like. Thanks once again from downunder.

Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Say I was wondering are you able to graze your cattle on stockpiled grass all winter?

Have you heard of CBV program?

 

[Australian]

no we don't have to stock pile anything apart from some hay. There is really no where in Australia that cattle are grazed that has prolonged periods of snow. Coverage of snow in area that it snows would never last anymore than 3/4 days. Last time that an extensive dump of snow fell that stretched from Tasmania up into Southern Queensland occurred in early July 1984. It lasted in drifts for about a week. So if you see Australian's complaining about the cold just take it with a grain of salt because technically we have nothing to whinge about. Our cattle have grass all year round. During Winter our grass dries off and becomes quite rough and somewhat unpalatable. We use a dry loose supplement that has urea,protein etc etc. The cattle utilise a large quantity of the dry grass. We use sulphur lick blocks all year round which also helps them with buffalo control and to utilise the dry grass as well. They don't use the blocks quite as much during Summer and Autumn.We sometimes have to feed out round bales of Rhodes Grass hay to the cattle further away from the paddocks that run our registered cattle and area that we run our sires in, or any cattle being prepared for sale or show. We might think we have a tough Winter, our high country does compared some other areas of Australia but nothing compared to snow covered pastures like you folk. We have had a very mild Winter so far. Big white frost here this morning down to about minus 4/5, but its clear and should turn out a beautiful sunny day with a top of about 14/15.
You asked about the CBV program, if its the one I'm thinking of, yes I have, but don't know much about it.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

What number of days do you typically have green growth to graze?

By stockpiled I meant your dried off dormant season grass, so I think we are on the same track.

What would a typical dry grass supplement cost/head/day be?

 

[Australian]

80% of our property would have a dry grass supply. We have green grass growth from mid September till mid May. Our growing time isn't as great as down toward the coast. By mid March grass growth slows. That is mid the first month of Autumn. I've never worked out what the per day cost is per head. We use our dry lick supplement from mid June till mid September ( 3 months) It costs about $700 a tonne and we feed about a 100 head. Some years we might feed up to 300. We generally use about 3 tonnes in a season.

 

[Dylan Biggs]

80% of our property would have a dry grass supply. We have green grass growth from mid September till mid May. Our growing time isn't as great as down toward the coast. By mid March grass growth slows. That is mid the first month of Autumn. I've never worked out what the per day cost is per head. We use our dry lick supplement from mid June till mid September ( 3 months) It costs about $700 a tonne and we feed about a 100 head. Some years we might feed up to 300. We generally use about 3 tonnes in a season.

Green grass growth from mid Sept till mid May. WOW!

Very inexpensive supplement bill.

Sounds like good country to run cattle.

 

[3waycross]

80% of our property would have a dry grass supply. We have green grass growth from mid September till mid May. Our growing time isn't as great as down toward the coast. By mid March grass growth slows. That is mid the first month of Autumn. I've never worked out what the per day cost is per head. We use our dry lick supplement from mid June till mid September ( 3 months) It costs about $700 a tonne and we feed about a 100 head. Some years we might feed up to 300. We generally use about 3 tonnes in a season.

Green grass growth from mid Sept till mid May. WOW!

Very inexpensive supplement bill.

Sounds like good country to run cattle.

Yep it sure does except for those brown snakes he memtioned a whle back.

 

[Australian]

It's pretty good cattle country. The Brown Snakes aren't that big of a problem really. Our rainfall is fairly reliable. Average is about 35 inches, which falls mainly in summer to early autumn. The last couple of years we have had decent falls in late winter early spring. Just had the South Devon herd in to give them a drench ready for spring. Should have taken some pics.

 

[3waycross]

It's pretty good cattle country. The Brown Snakes aren't that big of a problem really. Our rainfall is fairly reliable. Average is about 35 inches, which falls mainly in summer to early autumn. The last couple of years we have had decent falls in late winter early spring. Just had the South Devon herd in to give them a drench ready for spring. Should have taken some pics.

No offense but if there is one within 50 miles of me it's a problem and a big one at that!

 

[Dylan Biggs]

It's pretty good cattle country. The Brown Snakes aren't that big of a problem really. Our rainfall is fairly reliable. Average is about 35 inches, which falls mainly in summer to early autumn. The last couple of years we have had decent falls in late winter early spring. Just had the South Devon herd in to give them a drench ready for spring. Should have taken some pics.

No offense but if there is one within 50 miles of me it's a problem and a big one at that!

Why 3way, are brown snakes big? :lol2: