The Young & The Old

[creekdrive]

I've taken lots of pictures over the summer, but for some reason when I get home the majority of them seem to be of either the young cows, or the old cows. I know there's lots of middle aged cows with nice calves that would be photo worthy, but for whatever reason I seem drawn to the young & the old. I guess because a person is always happily surprised when a heifer surpasses your expectations, and to see a cow raise a good calf for 10+ years makes them special, at least to me.

This is #13, reg'd Angus born in either 1998 or 99 (would have to check her tattoo to verify). She lost her tag this summer, for the past probably 4 yrs it has been stuck upside down & sideways in the split in her ear. Bought her in 2009 and have raised & sold 3 commercial bull calves from her and kept her 2 heifer calves. She had another bull this year that will find his way to the bull pen.

3 Generations
13 in the foreground with her daughter (a first calver) with her bull calf in the background. These pictures were taken back in August.

#11 came from the same dispersal sale as 13 and was born in 2001. She's always had good calves since we've owned her, but the last couple years they seem to be getting even better. Her heifer calf this year will get to stay as a replacement. Not so much because 11 is a great looking cow, but longevity means a lot to us.

This is a first calver. This particular line of cows has been on the farm for close to 20 years. Even after generations of being bred to Angus, the shorthorn markings from the original cow still come through. Good cows, and I'm sure this one will stick around for a long time.

14Z is a reg'd Angus. She might weigh 900lbs... This is her first calf. Didn't expect much from her but she's definitely do an alright job with this calf. The last 3 pictures were taken last week (the nice green grass has disappeared!)

This brockle faced girl has been around for awhile, we have her daughter who we know is 8 years old - so 22 must be at least 10. picture taken back in September...

This is a 2nd calver who is as wide as she is tall.

A few more random pictures

The brockle faced cow on the left is 22's (above) daughter

Thanks for letting me share!

 

[ANAZAZI]

Lovely! I too have that taste for old proven cows.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Thanks for the nice photos. I have a couple questions for old cow fans:

We have a few operations here that cull based on age. So they will send a small group of old bred cows to town that are all the same age. Next week there is a group of 6 registered angus, all spring calving 12 years old, consigned to a bred cow sale. There tends to be little interest in old cows. Most local cowboys want to bid on shiny heifers.

I think these angus are worth $1500 each as weigh up cows.
How percentage of 12 year olds would you expect to be all done after 1 more calf?
What do you think that makes them worth as breds?

 

[Deepsouth]

Beautiful pictures of some fine looking cows.I was going to pick one that I liked the best to comment on but I like them all.

 

[cmf1]

Very nice animals.
Those 2 brockles are cut from some mighty fine cloth.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Beautiful cows and beautiful country! I love the job that first calf heifer is doing... she is a keeper!

 

[Jake]

Thanks for the nice photos. I have a couple questions for old cow fans:

We have a few operations here that cull based on age. So they will send a small group of old bred cows to town that are all the same age. Next week there is a group of 6 registered angus, all spring calving 12 years old, consigned to a bred cow sale. There tends to be little interest in old cows. Most local cowboys want to bid on shiny heifers.

I think these angus are worth $1500 each as weigh up cows.
How percentage of 12 year olds would you expect to be all done after 1 more calf?
What do you think that makes them worth as breds?

Figure at least half of them will be done if you trying to figure what they are worth. May have more or may have less make it through. Cows like that around here will bring 1800-2100 depending on the cow

 

[ANAZAZI]

Thanks for the nice photos. I have a couple questions for old cow fans:

We have a few operations here that cull based on age. So they will send a small group of old bred cows to town that are all the same age. Next week there is a group of 6 registered angus, all spring calving 12 years old, consigned to a bred cow sale. There tends to be little interest in old cows. Most local cowboys want to bid on shiny heifers.

I think these angus are worth $1500 each as weigh up cows.
How percentage of 12 year olds would you expect to be all done after 1 more calf?
What do you think that makes them worth as breds?

First of all, I do not shop for cows, I only breed my own. Therefore I will only answer one of the questions.
After the two first years in a cows life the life expectancy is basically the same every year.. These are proven cows that survived all the cullings from calving and weaning 8, 9 or 10 calves. I know little about how pampered they were, for example if they were ever allowed to go without calf for a year, if they were used as embryo donors and so on. But under a sensible culling program 12 year old cows are to be expected to have perhaps a 90% survivability per year. They will be all gone in six years or so, and by then they have left you sons and daughters of good quality.

 

[Nesikep]

Very nice! Those brockles are fancy indeed.

I also like having old cows around, they know what you want them to do, they know where the gates are, and they've settled down enough they they're not going to go the wrong way just because they can. My current oldest cows are 2004 models, but I've had a couple get to 18.. The one I put down last fall had 3 heifers in a row, and they just kept getting better. I just kept a great-grand daughter of her this year, so barring any disasters there's a good chance I'll have 4 or 5 generations here.

I sure enjoyed the pictures

 

[Aaron]

I don't say this very often. Those are good Angus cows/calves. Probably the best I have ever seen on here.

 

[Angus106]

Great pics, really like your cows.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Really nice pictures AND cattle! Thank you for sharing.
I also love my older girls. They have earned their keep, and will stay here until they die. (Thank goodness I don't have very many at once!)
I have a crazy question.....Are the reds in the same pasture with the blacks? If so, do they group themselves together by color? I have seen this occur in many pastures, (like cattle hanging out with like cattle.) I wouldn't think cattle would notice color of hide, but they seem to..... :roll: Just curious if others are seeing this.

 

[Backbone Ranch]

That is a very nice group of cows. I really like the condition that the #13 cow is holding for 15 or 16 years of age. All of your cows look as if they will wean off a high percentage of their body weight. I too really like those brockle faced cows.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

Curious if you know the lineage on that 14Z cow? If anyone wants to make the popular argument for a small efficient looking cow, she might be the poster child.

 

[Nesikep]

My cows have never seen a black cow, but we have two white ones, they're as part of the herd as the others.

Speaking of old cows, my old cow was the peacekeeper in the herd for years, she'd go break up fights,.. and if I was giving her sister too much attention, she'd shoo her off too even though her sister had a good 500 lbs on her, and her sister would cower and run from her... don't mess with the old folks, respect your elders! She sure enforced that

 

[creekdrive]

Thanks for the comments! I've typed this response a couple times and lost it Oh well I'll try again

We don't have a problem with old cows, but they don't get any special treatment. They still have to breed back on time, raise a good calf, and stay problem free or they get a trip to town. There has been a few real special ones that earned the right to die on the farm.

I have a crazy question.....Are the reds in the same pasture with the blacks? If so, do they group themselves together by color? I have seen this occur in many pastures, (like cattle hanging out with like cattle.) I wouldn't think cattle would notice color of hide, but they seem to..... :roll: Just curious if others are seeing this.

Our cows tend to be a little color biased. For the most part we keep seperate black and red pastures, but come fall they start getting grouped together and they will stay mostly in seperate color groups through the winter.

Curious if you know the lineage on that 14Z cow? If anyone wants to make the popular argument for a small efficient looking cow, she might be the poster child.

Here's a link that will hopefully take you to her pedigree
http://abri.une.edu.au/online/cgi-bin/i ... 9=5C5E5827
Hopefully she continues to do as well as she has done this year.

Thanks again, going to check some pastures today so will possibly have some more pictures to share soon.

 

[Nesikep]

A few of my old cows did get some special attention when they got really old, but it was usually in their last year... Rosie got a couple pounds of sunflower pressings and rolled barley every day while she was raising her last calf.. I think it paid off, she did a great job of it. I wouldn't keep a mediocre cow that long nor give them special attention.

 

[randiliana]

Nice cows! I really like that Brockle Faced 2 year old!

 

[creekdrive]

Nesikep I think I maybe I sounded a little harsh above - In certain situations its perfectly ok to help a cow out a little like you did for your Rosie. I was more less trying to say we don't do anything special to get them to that old age. We had an old girl, "Cammy" (don't know how old for sure but 15+) this year that we kept in the corral all winter and summer. My boyfriend has brothers much younger than him (still in highschool) and they each have some cows and so long as they keep coming out here and doing farm work we let them keep their calf money when we sell. Cammy was Vaughn's first cow. We gave Vaughn the choice last summer if he wanted to sell her while she still had some value or being his first cow she could die here if he wanted. He thought she deserved to stay here. Being in the corral and not having to walk far all winter she actually did much better than we thought she would. She had her calf in the beginning of April and although its far from her best its not a terrible calf. Right before she was due to calve she seemed like she was going downhill and we thought we might have to put her down, but that calf brought a whole new life to her. She will not make another winter though, and before it gets cold we will put her down. It's not something anyone is looking forward to.

A couple more pictures from yesterday - all commercial cows. The first two calves are Gelbvieh sired, 3rd is Angus sired.

2nd calver - she's not the prettiest, and her steer calf isn't very fancy either. But he should weigh quite a bit

3rd calver - love this little cow!

Another 2nd calver

 

[Nesikep]

I like that 3rd calver as well, They all seem to work pretty good though.
Here's my old girl and her last calf.. She was a Saler x Hereford, Daughter is Gelbvieh sired



A yearling daughter, same sire


Oldest (SH sired) granddaughter Caddy.. She's been a very reliable cow to make good looking calves every time


Granddaughter Chroma (Gelbvieh sired) (from Caddy)


And finally, the great grand daughter Tifa (from Chroma) I'm keeping this year, double bred Gelbvieh