What Happens When it RAINS....

[randiliana]

And rains, and rains. So far we have had between 5 - 6" of rain. That is almost twice as much rain in the last 2 months than we usually get all spring and summer! It is actually quite awesome to see in this country! Anyways, the grass is green, the cows are shiny and the calves are growing like weeds.... Oh, and yeah, I'm still around, just been busy fixing fence, and fixing fence, and finally got all the cows out to pasture too....

We just rented 5 quarters of pasture that hasn't been used in a couple years. Between that and all the rain and snow over the last 12-14 months the cows should be well taken care of.

2 year old purebred Shorthorns

Home raised 2 year old Shorthorn/Black Angus

4 year old home raised Shorthorn/Black Angus

The Shorthorn herd. They are all straight Shorthorn or high percentage Shorthorn. They are going to be bred back Shorthorn hopefully for a bunch of replacement heifers. I hope, we got 15 calves out of the bull this spring and only 2 of them were heifers.....

Now for some of the other cows and calves

Red Angus/Gelbveih steer off a 2 year old I bought.

Black Angus/Hereford steer off an older cow

Tarentaise/Hereford heifer calf (front) off a mature Tarentaise cow. Black Angus/Red Baldy heifer calf in the background.

One of my Shorthorn steer calves, off the cow in the background.

Red/Black Angus heifer calf off the Black 2 year old in the background.

12 year old cow, definitely the most productive cow in the herd, if not the most profitable, she's had 12 calves. I think this is her last year though...

Hereford sired heifer calf with her mama

'Nother Hereford sired calf with her mama

Part of the bunch, the red brockle faced calf is out of the red brockle faced cow

 

[Jogeephus]

I sure wish it would rain like that here. As I recall, ya'll had a tough time of it last year - is that right? Kinda hoping the worm will turn for us next year like it has for you.

 

[Isomade]

Nice pics as always Randi. How bout sending a bit of that rain this way. ;-)

 

[ANAZAZI]

I always like your pictures of real life cattle!

 

[wbvs58]

A few of those cows in the pics seem to have scars over the end of their rib cage, is there any reason for that Randi? Maybe frostbite when laying down?
Ken

 

[jilleroo]

Hey Ken, I think that is their brand. We're not allowed to brand in the middle of the hide in Australia any more.

 

[randiliana]

Jogee, we had a pretty good summer last year, lots of rain then too. Been a long cold winter though, and a pretty cool spring so far, but the grass is growing anyways!

Isomade, It is real hard to say no to the rain, but the dirt farmers sure would like to send it away.... Hope you get some soon.

wbvs, that is the brand. There are 6 locations a brand can be registered to here, either shoulder, rib or hip. Some of these girls have 4 or 5 brands on them.

 

[Halfy]

Lovely cows Randi - the young ones seem to enjoy posing for their photos being taken :nod:

 

[TexasBred]

Nice looking cattle Randi but the branding job could be improved. (Sorry) ;-)

 

[ALACOWMAN]

well it rained and rained and rained here,,, then just stopped since the storms.... now were playing catch up with em in south AL. and GA,, but then a couple weeks of high 90's and 105 heat index will sap you dry..... cant wait till summer gets here should be a nice un :cowboy:

 

[hillsdown]

Environment Canada is saying that Sask, BC and Manitoba are going to have one of the wettest summers in years, but the good news is that Canada is supposed to have one of the hottest summers in 40 years. Things should really grow if we can get that . We have been really wet here too ,but have yet to get the heat we need to make things grow, had frost last weekend .

Cows and calves look great, really like your baldies

Hope everyone gets much needed rain soon .

 

[Victoria]

Nice pics Randi, as per usual.
Yup, the rain is definitely causing problems. Basement has flooded once - expecting it again when the snow melts, fences gone that we can't get to to fix, trees taken down everywhere. River moved yet again so I guess there goes another nearly 1/4 section to water. :bang: :bang: :bang: It used to be a good thing living on the river; before it moved closer.

At least we have grass and yes our babies are growing like crazy too. Nice to see them all eating happily. Just trying to count our blessings, of which God has given us many.

 

[angus9259]

That's too bad about the ol girl not making it another year. It's a tough world up where you live though.

 

[randiliana]

Thanks everyone! It is awesome to have all this moisture (at least if you mostly just run cattle) The calves are going to grow like crazy again. We need some heat here too, but I don't know when that is going to happen. Supposed to get another 1-2" in the next couple days....

Angus, 10-11 years old is pretty old in this country. Not many cows get much past that. Lots of the big ranches cull every cow at 10 years. So this old girl has done well, she's 12 and has had 14 (looked her up again and I was wrong in the OP) calves, all alive!

TexasBred, yeah, I know that brand isn't the greatest. Had to go back to the old irons because the electric one burnt up. Horrid irons those, and the brand is just not a nice clean brand anyways....

 

[MO_cows]

Another super nice set of calves. Thanks for posting!

 

[cfpinz]

The rain is a double edged sword at times. We've had the wettest spring that I can remember in the last 20 years or so, first cutting is stacking up great and we've got pasture out the yin-yang. On the other hand, while we have plenty of grazing, the grass is so watered down I'm betting our weaning weights are 50 lbs or more off this year.