Turned out today.

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ClinchValley86 said:
@simme You're breedings are having an impact up here, my friend. Today, Franchise is catching a ride to @Hogfarmer10's place. We all appreciate your efforts.

Im looking forward to our next trip to SC. 😃
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Sounds good. Glad you are happy with the bull. Grass is starting to green up here, but we seem to be getting back into the drought situation from last year. You guys are always welcome here.
 
simme said:
Sounds good. Glad you are happy with the bull. Grass is starting to green up here, but we seem to be getting back into the drought situation from last year. You guys are always welcome here.
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I hope yalls get some rain soon.

It's trying to green up here. It can't come soon enough. Was below freezing the last two mornings. I'm glad I haven't been calving in the middle if these temp swings.
 
Weaned these in late December and been feeding them 50 lbs. of cattle mix and all the hay they can eat daily
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Fed a couple groups of cattle the next 2 pictures. Just about every cow I have ever had I raised myself. Every cow was dead old when my dad passed and I now most are 7 years or less old.
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farmerjan said:
Look good @jltrent .... they weigh 550-6?
There are a bunch consigned to Staunton for today, 3/7....
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Except for a couple I weaned off small because of January coming the rest are 600-650+, but I never was good at guessing weight. I sold some before these heifers I wish I had kelp instead of these and several weighed over 600. I know when they are over 600# you take a loss on price.
 
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I was trying to be a little conservative, and the pics make it harder to tell... I originally put in 6+ but then thought maybe I was not seeing it right... the 45 we sold were 607 and I was thinking they were more in the 575 range... They were in their working clothes and "hard" calves... the heifers are going to weigh about the same by the looks of them now... I was thinking they were more like 5... but looking at them, there is a group that is going to go 7 probably... candidates to go out to get bred in June... a good sized group that will weigh more in the 550 than in the 5 wts... Want to see what they are bringing today if I get to town...
 
farmerjan said:
I was trying to be a little conservative, and the pics make it harder to tell... I originally put in 6+ but then thought maybe I was not seeing it right... the 45 we sold were 607 and I was thinking they were more in the 575 range... They were in their working clothes and "hard" calves... the heifers are going to weigh about the same by the looks of them now... I was thinking they were more like 5... but looking at them, there is a group that is going to go 7 probably... candidates to go out to get bred in June... a good sized group that will weigh more in the 550 than in the 5 wts... Want to see what they are bringing today if I get to town...
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By October I would like to get these around 850-900+ lbs. hopefully and have calves the next August/September. The last couple groups I used this routine and basically no calving problems and most turned out good. The last group I had to calve in the spring I had to pull six calves and a couple in a blizzard storm.
 
I like to calve the heifers in April/May... we seem to do better with them having calves and going out on grass... the fall calving heifers do not seem to do as good for us... and I like them to be 27 months old or so... but we kept a bunch over and so are going to have 12 calves this spring, and another 14 have been with the bull for fall calves this year... will preg check in another month or so when it is convenient, then turn out for the summer. Have about 8-10 that are in the 7 + range that will get bred this summer for calves in the spring. Been keeping about 15 or so to breed for spring and the same for fall calvings.. we have been culling alot of old cows and open ones the last year or 2.
 
jltrent said:
Except for a couple I weaned off small because of January coming the rest are 600-650+, but I never was good at guessing weight. I sold some before these heifers I wish I had kelp instead of these and several weighed over 600. I know when they are over 600# you take a loss on price.
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I'm terrible at guessing weight. I'm always a couple hundred pounds light.

Send a heifer to a buddy last year that I guess to be 550, she weighed 720.

I am probably going to get a scale this year. I think it'd help me a lot, especially if I'm able to start selling calves privately.
 
ClinchValley86 said:
I'm terrible at guessing weight. I'm always a couple hundred pounds light.

Send a heifer to a buddy last year that I guess to be 550, she weighed 720.

I am probably going to get a scale this year. I think it'd help me a lot, especially if I'm able to start selling calves privately.
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I always under guess also. They don't look to big out in the field, but when you get them in a lot and get close, they look a lot bigger.
 
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3 more sample results. I dropped them off at extension agent Tuesday morning and got results today. Hard to beat that.
It gives the description in the first of each sample. Hillside, bottom, and flooded bottom. Notice the flooded bottom had a slight impact on the sample. Plus not noted is the flooded area was dusty. I hope the .6 rain we got Wednesday helped that. I have noticed the cows spend more time in the stockpiled bottom.
 
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ClinchValley86 said:
I bet he would! 😃 I'm just tickled someone wanted to use him instead of him being idle for 9-10 months.

I have a pretty strong suspicion they may be coming up our way when he weans.
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Got a few pics today.
The baldy bull that is out of the dam of Kenny's 2 bulls.
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Little younger solid black bull from a 2 y/o
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Nice pair with December heifer calf
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December heifer out of dam of the franchise bull
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gman4691 said:
How many in total?
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There is 20 in this group. About every 3 years I like a group of around 20-25 heifers to keep the herd cycled of around 80-100 cows. I recently sold some older cows so these will replace some of those. It seems I have better luck growing than buying cows. Most people like it the other way around.
 
I'm with you @jltrent .. we do much better raising our own than ever buying any.... although buying some of the "old ladies" from dispersals, has given us some nice heifers to raise and keep with different bloodlines/strengths etc... still they are "raised" rather than bought. We are replacing quite a few that we have culled in the past 2 years... calving 12 this spring and another 14 bred for fall that will get preg checked sometime in April and put out to pasture for the summer... and another 15 or so that we will make a final "culling" and put with a bull in June/July for spring calves next year. We have probably culled out 25 or 30 in the past year/18 months... mostly old cows, many did not breed back, some bad legs, raised small calves with their advanced age and purposefully did not get bred back after their last calf. We still have several born in 2011, but they are going to age out eventually...
Some years we only sell/cull 2 or 3... eventually the older "good cows" get old, and have to be replaced. The last 2 years we have had to cull quite a few more than normal. It turned out to be a good thing in some ways with the dry conditions, we had less on grass and grass held up better and longer with the reduced pressure.
 
jltrent said:
There is 20 in this group. About every 3 years I like a group of around 20-25 heifers to keep the herd cycled of around 80-100 cows. I recently sold some older cows so these will replace some of those. It seems I have better luck growing than buying cows. Most people like it the other way around.
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Personally, I prefer raising my own replacements, too. Will probably hold one or two over from this year’s crop and a few from next years.
 

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