The devil is always pretty

[Nesikep]

Well, here's what I consider my top replacement heifer this year, Momma in the background, second calf.

Tifa is an absolute devil and brat... She was quite nice and friendly, until I put a halter on her, and from there on she really didn't like me much anymore, and she worked that halter for a full day until she got it off, so I had to run her down the chute and put it back on, this time with a 20 ft lead rope on it.. well what a temper tantrum she had.. she really wasn't scared, quite enjoyed the pettings she got while in the chute, just hated the idea of being caught.. so around the corral we go a couple of times, and she settles down and is perfectly friendly again. Today I got her locked up in a separate corral for a bit, and did the rodeo thing a while again, then introduced her to sunflower seed pressings and apples (if she wasn't in her own corral Momma and Mega would eat it all), and she was quite happy for both, eating apples from my hand bite by bite. Sunflower pressings are addictive to cattle, once they get the taste for them they'll stop at nothing to get them.

I have to find a way to get her to like being haltered, but I don't necessarily want to break her character, just make her work with me. Hopefully the sunflower pressings will do the trick.
She's about 175 days old in the pic, estimate about 500 lbs... Looking at her mother, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Best attributes she should have? Moderate size, meaty while not being too heavy boned, excellent udders and hooves, and comes from a long line of cows that got old. I don't think she'll have the heaviest weaning weights, but they also seem to have far less appetite than many others.



And you can also see my what can happen in an ohnosecond... when you have the tagger facing the wrong way!

 

[Nesikep]

Here's some more pictures I took today









And here are the other two replacements Springy and Bouncy

Springy slipped her halter.. she's going to be fairly easy to break I think


Bouncy not so easy, she's still pretty shy, though she does come up once in a while

 

[branguscowgirl]

They are looking good Nesi!
I feel your pain with halter breaking. Though I do try to do it well before they are 500 lbs! Some are a real pain in the but!

 

[inyati13]

That's a cute story. I have never halter broke any of mine but would like to try. My first cow that I got from my brother is tagged the same way. I bet dad did that. Actually, no big deal.

I can tell she is a brat. She is a pretty brat though.

Using a bath tub to water? :lol: :lol:

Clean up that debris (tarp, twine, etc). I am a neat freak!

PS: We had our KY Cattle Asso Field Day last evening at the 700 acre Bud Gifford farm. The neatest place I have ever seen (no joke). I bet you cannot find a bottle cap. You should see his working pens. All on concrete (rough finish). Round metal posts probably 8 inches in diameter, highway guard rail and welded metal piping for panels. Big hydraulic chute and solid walled alley running into it. All the chute operations are under roof. The initial sorting pens are on outside but on concrete.

 

[3waycross]

Let's see,you tagged her the wrong way 6 months ago. You catch her almost daily..............and a new tag costs pennies... :shock: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Nesikep]

I'll get to putting it on the right way.. just need a new pin.

Ron, you're totally right, and that is a to-it of mine... we had the big cows in there and they *demolished* the manger... 20 years of the calves being in there has dug the posts right out of the ground, so I'm going to have to rebuild the works. I'm pretty good about the bale twine, cigarette butts, etc, but it is a constant battle keeping up with maintenance... I have to do a lot of repairs to the corrals too.

Yes, bathtub waterers.. very common sight around here.

 

[3waycross]

I'll get to putting it on the right way.. just need a new pin.

Ron, you're totally right, and that is a to-it of mine... we had the big cows in there and they *demolished* the manger... 20 years of the calves being in there has dug the posts right out of the ground, so I'm going to have to rebuild the works. I'm pretty good about the bale twine, cigarette butts, etc, but it is a constant battle keeping up with maintenance... I have to do a lot of repairs to the corrals too.

Yes, bathtub waterers.. very common sight around here.

we have all done it at least once.........you're just the only one who has the guts to post a picture of it here. :clap: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Nesikep]

Only once??? How about tagging the wrong ear?... Ours all have it in the left ear.

Then there's all the ones you don't hit quite the right spot and it hangs funny.

What do you think of the other two calves?... #1W (Springy) is probably about 80ish lbs heavier than Tifa, #2W (Bouncy) is probably about 30 lbs or so but has a lot more belly. I'm not that fond of Bouncy, she may grow wheels... she's a bit cat hammed, and she seems really pushy. I'll maybe sell her as a bred heifer or keep her for a couple calves.. I do have others I gotta get culling.

 

[hillsdown]

I have 7 heifers out there that all look the same and do not have tags as we had a problem with ears falling off for a few weeks and did not have an answer so I stopped tagging newborns for a few weeks . I hope I can get them figured out when I bring them all in next week or it will be a very large and expensive DNA bill . :dunce:

You also have to have at least 1 in your herd running around with a backwards ear tag or you are not really a cattleman. :lol: ;-)

BTW we never did get a definitive answer as to why the yearlings and matures were losing their ears ,the only thing they ruled out was that they did NOT freeze them . :roll:

 

[3waycross]

I'll get to putting it on the right way.. just need a new pin.

Ron, you're totally right, and that is a to-it of mine... we had the big cows in there and they *demolished* the manger... 20 years of the calves being in there has dug the posts right out of the ground, so I'm going to have to rebuild the works. I'm pretty good about the bale twine, cigarette butts, etc, but it is a constant battle keeping up with maintenance... I have to do a lot of repairs to the corrals too.

Yes, bathtub waterers.. very common sight around here.

the other two are fine for commercials. I would cull on disposition on those two.

 

[Nesikep]

HD, that is strange, and I've never heard of it before... Mother of Springy (Blizzy) lost an inch of her ears and a couple inches of tail but I know that was from frost and a pizz poor mother that didn't lick or let me help. Who was it around here that had them losing tail switches?.. could that be related?

If those heifers are still on the cows you ought to be able to still see who's nursing who at least

 

[hillsdown]

HD, that is strange, and I've never heard of it before... Mother of Springy (Blizzy) lost an inch of her ears and a couple inches of tail but I know that was from frost and a pizz poor mother that didn't lick or let me help. Who was it around here that had them losing tail switches?.. could that be related?

If those heifers are still on the cows you ought to be able to still see who's nursing who at least

Btw I like that really deep solid red heifer the best out of them but they are all really nice commercial cattle . I have 2 flighty witches and the only reason they are around is that their daughters have never inherited that disposition . Both cows are Matrix daughters and I think he should never have been an AI bull to being with after I have heard about horrible disposition inheritance from him .

Frozen ears here happen as calves , even when I do get them in time and get them dried off and warmed and sent back out with a toque on. My very best heifer I am pretty sure we have ever had to date was born this year and she lost both ears . She would have been the one going to show but hard to show and earless heifer . she will be kept in my herd though and I have high hopes for her and what she is going to contribute to the herd .

 

[Nesikep]

This little girl isn't a witch, she's a devil in disguise.. I think apples are winning my way to her heart though, she really likes them, and eats them from my hand happily (I hold them so she can take a good bite off them until just the core is left). She loves belly and neck rubs too, so I just have to make her want to be led places and once she feels special, she might be just fine. I really like her colour as well. I should find the pictures of her mother and grandmother when they were her age... all spitting images of each other, though I only have one picture of grandma and it's not that great (from when 1MP cameras were the cats meow).
the one with the white is the least promising of them I think, I find she's just unexceptional in all ways, her two sisters weren't that good either, but the mother is a really nice cow and my dad's pet... Figure I can give her a try.

 

[glacierridge]

Very nice!!

 

[inyati13]

This little girl isn't a witch, she's a devil in disguise.. I think apples are winning my way to her heart though, she really likes them, and eats them from my hand happily (I hold them so she can take a good bite off them until just the core is left). She loves belly and neck rubs too, so I just have to make her want to be led places and once she feels special, she might be just fine. I really like her colour as well. I should find the pictures of her mother and grandmother when they were her age... all spitting images of each other, though I only have one picture of grandma and it's not that great (from when 1MP cameras were the cats meow).
the one with the white is the least promising of them I think, I find she's just unexceptional in all ways, her two sisters weren't that good either, but the mother is a really nice cow and my dad's pet... Figure I can give her a try.

Got to love those kind of girls. :cboy:

 

[Nesikep]

I do too, it's good for them to be spirited. Kama is such a cow too... always sneaks up behind me and takes my had off by the velcro band, moves a couple feet away, and shakes it until it rips, then drops it. Follows like a puppy too.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

Well, here's what I consider my top replacement heifer this year, Momma in the background, second calf.

Tifa is an absolute devil and brat... She was quite nice and friendly, until I put a halter on her, and from there on she really didn't like me much anymore, and she worked that halter for a full day until she got it off, so I had to run her down the chute and put it back on, this time with a 20 ft lead rope on it.. well what a temper tantrum she had.. she really wasn't scared, quite enjoyed the pettings she got while in the chute, just hated the idea of being caught.. so around the corral we go a couple of times, and she settles down and is perfectly friendly again. Today I got her locked up in a separate corral for a bit, and did the rodeo thing a while again, then introduced her to sunflower seed pressings and apples (if she wasn't in her own corral Momma and Mega would eat it all), and she was quite happy for both, eating apples from my hand bite by bite. Sunflower pressings are addictive to cattle, once they get the taste for them they'll stop at nothing to get them.

I have to find a way to get her to like being haltered, but I don't necessarily want to break her character, just make her work with me. Hopefully the sunflower pressings will do the trick.
She's about 175 days old in the pic, estimate about 500 lbs... Looking at her mother, the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Best attributes she should have? Moderate size, meaty while not being too heavy boned, excellent udders and hooves, and comes from a long line of cows that got old. I don't think she'll have the heaviest weaning weights, but they also seem to have far less appetite than many others.



And you can also see my what can happen in an ohnosecond... when you have the tagger facing the wrong way!

Look where the "Hair Whorl" is on Tifa! BRIDGE of her nose! On Springy and Bouncy - right between their eyes.

DOC HARRIS

 

[Nesikep]

Isn't she a spitting image of her mother? Here's her mother with grandma around the same age... Whorl is in the same place, Momma is a suck for attention