Worked with calves today!

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

So, our weigh in was today, even in the freaking cold weather! The good thing is our scales work perfectly!!! So here is what we got:

The black June steer (Mo) weighed in at 950

And here is a pic of my oldest (the one that AI's our cattle and at the dairy) moving the steer around for a picture by the extension agent...

And the December steer (Dose') weighed in at 1010

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

And the extension agent trying to get a hip height on him (I think it was 48 inches, if I remember correctly)...

And a picture of the boys tied to the fence waiting their turn to get weighed and measured with my daughter grooming them:

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

And some other cattle in the contest. This is a composite Charolais, dam is a registered Charolais and the sire is a half Angus half Simmental bull. He is a March and weighed somewhere in the 800 range, if I remember correctly...

And a couple more steers that were tied that I got a pic of. The black is a half simm (Olie) half angus, and the red is a red angus.

It was so cold, we just did all the measurements quickly and took pics. When we meet in March we will talk about frame size and measurements on all the calves. Our truck ended up getting stuck up hill getting out of the place, and had to be pulled out. Then, when we got home, the power steering and power brakes went out! Ugh! It is a 2004 F250 diesel, and it seems like everything is going wrong with it lately....
Anyway, I will start a new thread when we get all weights and carcass data back. I like this little contest, my kids learn so much by it. This year we added a daily gain component and feed conversion. We have been keeping records on the steers, and Mo (the younger one) is averaging 3.5 ADG while the older steer this last two weeks only gained 2.3. Six months in age separates the two steers, but only 60 pounds! Oh, and we weighed them when we got home an hour later, and each one lost about 20 pounds (932 and 992 at home). So I am sure our scale is accurate!

 

[inyati13]

FSR, Congratulations on those fine cattle. You, Glenn and your kids are doing an excellent job. I know you love your cattle and the effort you put into them. I have found selecting the right genetics is the challenge in conducting an AI and embryo inplant program. You do both and seeing your results testifies to your talents. bse and I have exchanged PMs on this subject and I will confess that selecting the semen for a cow is my biggest challenge. I look forward to your next thread on the performance of your cattle and their weights. It is clear by the comments above that you are surprising some of us with your performance and your weights. Please continue to share some of your magic. :D

BTW: TB is very knowledgeable on nutrition. I think he will have some good comments on the "daily gain component and feed conversion".