Spring calf work starts tomorrow

[gizmom]

I think were ready, we plan to run the calves through for the first round of vaccines tomorrow. We have already worked all of the cows, so tomorrow we do one group of calves. They will be processed as follows:

Cattle Master Gold FP 5 L5
Ultrabac 7/Somubac
Dectomax Injectable wormer

Tattoo
Weight
Hip Height
Scrotal Measurement
Steer commercial and low performers
Tetanus shot for calves that are steered
Pour on fly/lice treatment
DNA test all calves to have test on file submit all ET calves DNA for parentage verification

I sure wish I was feeling better, I have a serious case of the crud. Went to the Doctor today and have a double ear infection and upper resp. infection. I know all I do is the paperwork but I do dread the dust and heat. We will work the 2nd group on Wednesday, same protocol, so two days of fun in the sun! I did get out of the clipping chore yesterday due to the crud and I do hate clipping!

gizmom

 

[gizmom]

We finished up working the calves today, I have to admit it wasn't as much fun as usual for two reasons. Coming the the farm we pass Anna's house and it just makes me sad. Reason #2 I just plain don't feel good. When we finished I looked at my paperwork and said man I must have missed one. I usually do pretty good with the paperwork, but feeling as bad as I do thought I probably screwed up and just missed writing one down. So the boss said well it got an EID tag so look at the scale and see if it shows D49....it didn't. So the hunt began for the missing calf. The boss found him hung up on top of the hill in the head gate alive just a bit stressed. Do you realize how many ways a calf will try to kill itself! Anyway we have one calf that now needs shots and worming, the good news is he is a commercial calf so not getting him weighed with his group won't be as bad as it would have been had I planned to register him. My favorite cows didn't let me down our top calf was out of 811 she has been a favorite since birth. Another standout was 907's Charlo heifer I have pictured her on this forum a couple of times. I pick a favorite every year for numerous reasons phenotype at the top of them, along with pedigree. This year I have two favorite bulls D45 and D26 and heifers D17 and D19 it will be fun to watch them as they develop.

 

[dun]

Ours was supposed to be done 2 weeks ago thursday but it rained so we put it off a week. Last week it was still raining so we put it off again till tomorrow. Still raining so now we've put it off till next thursday. Instead of having all the pre breeding stuff done a month in advance, looks like we'll have a week.

 

[gizmom]

Oh my, but I bet your happy to have the rain! The neighbors offered to help and they were great but only had yesterday and today open. Needless to say no matter how bad I felt I wasn't going to reschedule when we had help willing and able! I hope you have good luck getting yours done next week. Its raining here as we chat!

gizmom

 

[dun]

Oh my, but I bet your happy to have the rain! The neighbors offered to help and they were great but only had yesterday and today open. Needless to say no matter how bad I felt I wasn't going to reschedule when we had help willing and able! I hope you have good luck getting yours done next week. Its raining here as we chat!

gizmom

I won;t complain about the 17 inches of rain we've had and are still expecting a couple more inches. But the mud is evil. Every where the calves lay down it squishes. Even in foot tall grass/sod

 

[gizmom]

Oh wow 17" I had no idea! Hopefully it will dry up some.

Gizmom

 

[dun]

We started out dry but when the rains came they haven;t quit. So far this year we're over half of our normal rainfall.

 

[Bigfoot]

Out of curiosity, I wonder who the boss is. None of my business, so feel free not to answer. I picture this person as a spouse, is why I ask.

 

[gizmom]

Bigfoot

The boss is my sweet husband of 38 years. We have worked cows together long enough now that we don't even yell or cuss at each other.

 

[boondocks]

Bigfoot

The boss is my sweet husband of 38 years. We have worked cows together long enough now that we don't even yell or cuss at each other.

:heart: sweet.
We have only been at it (cow wrangling) for 5 years and admittedly there is sometimes a cross word (and usually I'm the culprit :hide: How long til harmony will ensue? :lol:
Although it's not marital, one of the occasional problems is that when we have young guys come to help, (1) sometimes they have a lot of nervous energy and stir the herd up more than is necessary; and (2) even though I spend far more time with the herd and know their likely reactions better (and which ones need to get gathered; and which calf goes with which dam, etc), one or two of the young guys can sometimes tend to not want to take direction from a woman. One of them (the worst offender) I have banished, after he chased the cows to try to herd them, after being told by me not to do so several times.

 

[gizmom]

Bigfoot

We started out with our first cow 28 years ago. I read these boards and I swear I can relate to so many of the questions because I have asked them myself. The boss and I met in 4-H but neither of us had cattle we rode horses. I purchased him a supposedly bred heifer for his birthday in 1989 and that was our beginning. We purchased five pair at the Florida Angus Association in 1990 and kept growing from those cows. We have made a whole bunch of missteps over the years but feel we learned from them. As to the stress of working cattle together......the past 5 years have been pretty smoothe we finally realized the need to slow down slow and quiet is the method we have found that works best for us. We use to try to work everything in a day, we ended up stressing ourselves and the cattle. Now we split things up and take smaller bites of the chore at a time. Truth is we couldn't do it that way when we both worked full time jobs off the farm so we had to get it done in a hurry, which added to the stress. When we have help we tell them slow and easy that is what our cattle are accustomed to, if they don't listen they don't get invited back. I count myself blessed that I married my best friend and God has allowed us to be caretakers of his land for the past 28 years. I am so thankful that our son is involved in the operation with us and that it will carry on for at least one more generation.

Gizmom

 

[Bigfoot]

Neat. Thanks for sharing.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Bigfoot

We started out with our first cow 28 years ago. I read these boards and I swear I can relate to so many of the questions because I have asked them myself. The boss and I met in 4-H but neither of us had cattle we rode horses. I purchased him a supposedly bred heifer for his birthday in 1989 and that was our beginning. We purchased five pair at the Florida Angus Association in 1990 and kept growing from those cows. We have made a whole bunch of missteps over the years but feel we learned from them. As to the stress of working cattle together......the past 5 years have been pretty smoothe we finally realized the need to slow down slow and quiet is the method we have found that works best for us. We use to try to work everything in a day, we ended up stressing ourselves and the cattle. Now we split things up and take smaller bites of the chore at a time. Truth is we couldn't do it that way when we both worked full time jobs off the farm so we had to get it done in a hurry, which added to the stress. When we have help we tell them slow and easy that is what our cattle are accustomed to, if they don't listen they don't get invited back. I count myself blessed that I married my best friend and God has allowed us to be caretakers of his land for the past 28 years. I am so thankful that our son is involved in the operation with us and that it will carry on for at least one more generation.

Gizmom

You guy's are truly blessed, and you deserve it. But I'm still not convinced who's the boss.