question question question about having cattle on property

[Anonymous]

G'day
i am a young farmer starting out and i just want some questions answered:


What do you put on your tags?

When should calves be weaned?
When should they be vaccinated?

when should they be drenched?
when to be vaccinated?

When should bulls be carstrated?
When (what age) should bulls be put in with heifers or cows?

soz about questions! :cboy:

 

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

What do you put on your tags? Ours come pre-stamped.

When should calves be weaned? Around 7 months
When should they be vaccinated? We do ours in late spring.
when should they be drenched? If you are talking about lice-Novenber

When should bulls be carstrated? We do ours @ 5 months.
When (what age) should bulls be put in with heifers or cows? We usually wait til they are 17 or 18 months.

 

[txag]

some slightly different answers from CRR:

What do you put on your tags? many years ago when my dad started raising registered cattle, he started w/#1 & has numbered consecutively since that time. the heifers get one color tags & the bulls another. the commercial herds are numbered a little differently. all the commercial calves get the same color tag & they also are numbered consecutively but they have a prefix to designate which pasture they were born & raised in.

some people put a lot more info on each tag. sire, dam, dob, etc. there's really no right or wrong but designating sex by tag color really helps sort from the front.

When should calves be weaned? we wean at 7 mos. most registered animals use 205-day weights for performance evaluations.

When should they be vaccinated? calves should be vaccinated at a couple of months old & then boostered a month or two later.

when should they be drenched? we don't drench.

When should bulls be carstrated? we band at birth

When (what age) should bulls be put in with heifers or cows? if you're talking age of bull, that would depend on the bse of the bull and the number of cows you want to use him on. if you're talking age of heifers, we breed them around 15 mos of age so they calve as 2-yr olds.

 

[certherfbeef]

I hope Cattlr rack and Dun's answers are of some help to ya.

Since I only have 60 head...each year my tags start with the year number. This is 2004, so the first calf to hit the ground is #401 and they go up from there. Next year it will be 501. Reg herefords also require a tattoo in the ear. There is a letter designated for each year also. My heifers get a tag in the right ear and the bulls or steers get one in the left ear. When the calves are born they only get a little tag w/ mamma's # on it. When we work and wean then the replacements get a bigger tag w/ their own number on it.

Weaning...I wean on average at 6 months, never any longer if I can help it. Most of my show calves are weaned at 4 months and the 205 is adjusted.

Casturation...I band mine at weaning

Age to breed...I breed heifers to calve at or slightly before 24 months.I also want them to calve before the mature herd so I can give them the attention they need.

Age to put the bull out...I will never guarentee a bull as a breeder unless he is atleast 18 months old.

Drench???....I use a pour on for lice in the spring. Careful though..some brands will wash off in the rain.

 

[TexasCountryWoman]

I castrate the day after birth with a knife. The baby is still easy to handle, my momma cows are tame and allow me to walk up and handle the calves in the pasture and the knife doesn't present the possibility of gangrene as the band or Elastrator does. I don't wean my calves. I just sell them when I feel like it. Their mommas are generally through with them, and them with their moms. I sell in the fall or around February, depending on my needs and the size of the calf and the market. It's organized chaos. But I don't have adequate cross fencing right now and do the best I can in a natural herd environment.