Some pictures of cows and heifers from today

[SRBeef]

Jed, it may be greening up and fertilizer spreading time where you are at but not here yet. Here are a couple pictures of my female group, especially heifers #3 and #91. I think they have wintered pretty well on hay and mineral, especially given the weather we have had.

I was going to give them some grain but thought their condition looked pretty good. So just gave them a partial bale on the ground to help get through this rough week of weather coming up. Calving is scheduled to start March 15th - about 3 weeks - so I need some bare ground to warm up. #3 and #91 are first-calf heifers. There are a couple just weaned heifers and some cows in the background of the pictures also

FWIW. Jim

 

[hillbillycwo]

Cattle looks good. You guys get some more snow today?

 

[SRBeef]

Yes - we did get more snow today, in addition to wind, freezing rain and cold temps. Not as much snow as those a bit farther north though. Thank you for the kind words on the cattle.

I moved calving up about two weeks this year. I had been starting calving about April 1 but wanted a couple more weeks on my steers in corn. So this year calving is scheduled to start on March 15th. I sure hope we have at least some grass showing by then. Also hope they don't start early this year.

Kentucky sure looks like spring is around the corner.

I took my winter front off of my diesel truck last week in Louisville. That must be what brought the cold and snow in WI!

Jim

 

[jedstivers]

Look great Jim. We have a long stretch of warm weather now, hope some makes it to WI.

 

[plumber_greg]

Jim, your cows always look great, and I like what you do with the corn fields. Just wondering for other people, when Jim says his cows have only been on hay and mineral, is there any commercial herd that the cows are on anyhting else in the winter and late gestation? I end up feeding mine about 2 lbs. of commodity pellets when we get the mud, Mar. and early April, mainly because my hay just can't supply enough energy for them to stay in shape nursing 90-50 day old calves. I have gotten my calving season a lot shorter by doing this, doesn't cost much and they breed back so much better. Not to mention the help it gives the younger cows.
Do people that try to make money off their cattle feed grain all winter? I don't think I know of anyone around here, I know this has been disscussed before, but does anyone actually know a commercial producer that grains the cows? gs

 

[SRBeef]

Some folks feed a mixed ration through a TMR, etc. using some hay, DDGs, silage, cornstalks or whatever. That is actually fairly common in the Midwest.

Jim

 

[plumber_greg]

I guess you're right, I wasn't considering silage when I made that statement. I do however know a lot more backgrounders than cow/calf men that feed silage. If you're set up for it it's probably cheaper than to put up hay when corn was $2.00. Bet they been looking at alternatives lately! gs

 

[SRBeef]

...I end up feeding mine about 2 lbs. of commodity pellets when we get the mud, Mar. and early April, mainly because my hay just can't supply enough energy for them to stay in shape nursing 90-50 day old calves. I have gotten my calving season a lot shorter by doing this, doesn't cost much and they breed back so much better. Not to mention the help it gives the younger cows.

Greg, When do you start calving? As the Ohio State University hay program I linked to recently points out, there is nothing wrong with supplementing hay for energy/TDN shortage.

Jim

 

[bigbull338]

those cows an heifers are coming through the winter in great shape.

 

[plumber_greg]

Jim
I start calving the last week of Jan. and and hope I'm done by Mar. 15, our turnout on grass is the first of May, when the bulls go in at the same time. I am like you in that I have to arrange my cow work around my living. It's really hard to breed right after turnout. The cows have to be in great shape to accomplish immediate settling and just simply coming in heat. We have what is called a seasonal perched water table here, it's where the glaciers stopped moving south. All it does is make mud that won't go away, and is really hard on animals. That's why I and others calve in mid-winter instead of spring. gs

 

[tncattle]

Love your Herefords.

Do you always put out hay like that? Do they waste much by bedding down and crapping in it? I'm trying to decide if a hay ring is worth it.

 

[SRBeef]

Love your Herefords.

Do you always put out hay like that? Do they waste much by bedding down and crapping in it? I'm trying to decide if a hay ring is worth it.

No, I don't often put hay out on the ground like that - just when the weather is extremely bad. As you can see they are all wet and the weather in the photo is worse than it looks - 27 degrees and a freezing rain on everything. Then got colder and turned to more snow.

They were so wet that I wanted them to load up on TDN's for energy and to keep warm. The hay also gives them a place to lie down. This is just part of a bale that was in a cradle feeder. Weather going back down to near 10 degrees F toward the weekend.

I usually feed hay to the cow/heifer group from two cradle feeders and one standard ring feeder. Some of them like the cradles, some like to eat from the ring. They ALL like it when its on the ground. Just a special bad weather treat. On the ground and spread out a bit also gives the more timid ones a chance to load up on hay in the bad weather.

In general I would not feed on the ground unless you have enough time and area to unroll just what your herd needs in one day. Otherwise I would use some sort of hay feeder. jmho.

Jim