Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

Worse yet, we say " hey stupid, I told you don't"

 

[farmerjan]

Long day and I am going to go test cows after all and get him done and out of the way. Leaving in a few minutes to go set up... and test tonight and tomorrow morning... tired of listening to him ..... got a bunch others to try to get fit in next week now that the weather is supposed to warm up some...

 

[Finnie]

. and went for a sandwich... It was good, I like sauerkraut so it was perfect... I used to serve them years ago waitressing but never ate one...

I made a corned beef last week and with the leftovers I made Reuben Calzones. Basically all the stuff in a Reuben sandwich except wrapped up in pizza dough and baked. They were soooo good!

 

[fuzzi]

I made a corned beef last week and with the leftovers I made Reuben Calzones. Basically all the stuff in a Reuben sandwich except wrapped up in pizza dough and baked. They were soooo good!

Now you dun it. I need some pizza dough...

 

[farmerjan]

Saturday morning.. Was down to 15 overnight... Sun is creeping over the hill across the road, and we are supposed to have sun all day. Warming into the 40's and maybe even flirting with 50 in the next couple days. It is supposed to be nice on Wed when we do all the cows at Nelson's/Jason's...
Talking to DS yesterday, seems that there are something like 80 cows or so at Nelson's/Jason's... 30 that were first calf heifers, that they pulled the calves off of and sold yesterday. And about 50 + cows on the other side of the road that they have not pulled calves off of yet. It is going to be a very long hard afternoon. So far DS said there are going to be 4 of us... me, DS, Jason, and a younger guy that is the younger daughter's boyfriend that is living with them. Plus the vet. He doesn't know if Jason will go get his daughter from school early to come help. Seems DS xgf might be coming... but not sure...
It is going to be a long day.
They took a total of 28 calves yesterday, weighing from the high 6's (650+ and a few were actually 700) all the way down to 380 for the smallest... don't know how spread apart in age.. and one lame old cull cow that weighed... 1800 !!!! his cows are huge and they eat A LOT.... compared to our mostly 11-1200 lb cows average... plus those big cows get leg and feet trouble more due to carrying around all that weight. Yes, they wean bigger calves, but the market around here favors more the 5 weights as the sweet spot for the buyers... unless there is a full load. With having heifers and steers, there isn't a full load to sell all together as the sexes are sold separately. Will be interesting to see what they brought with all the prices right now being really good.
DS said that Jason said they were not keeping ANY calves this year... and that they needed to see where things were at once preg checked as to where their numbers were. They need to get back down below 60 cows because of the amount of pasture that they have, and the land they can make hay off of... They had gotten up to way too many head. Plus the past couple winters had not been so terribly cold and the cows were not eating what they have been eating this year. But when you get too many animals, the ground never gets a break and it has been getting way overgrazed. Jason has told DS he wants to plant some of the sorghum like we do as it makes alot of tonnage for forage for hay. Not the highest protein, but pretty palatable, so they get a good amount of roughage for their rumen. It will stretch the "better hay" by feeding it along with a roll of hay.. and you "make them" clean it up a bit before feeding more hay... and they mostly like it anyway.

I am hoping that if Jason got real good prices that it will push DS to send another load of calves off.. There are a bunch he has been feeding that need to get sold and I am not sure that waiting for the "spring demand" is going to be any better price wise, than getting more sold in the next month.

DS said if the weather warms up like they say, that he will get in to get those cows out of the last pasture this week... which should have been out of there a month ago... but hopefully the road in will thaw and the ice gone this week. They need preg checking and the calves need to be pulled. The one group at the barn that he turned out with the calves for awhile, are past needing the calves pulled off too... I told him that the other day when he was talking about who to move around to what pasture...

Yesterday, I tested early, came home... worked on the computer with the info from the farm that does owner sampler that I picked up everything on the way home from the memorial service. Then went back to the farm I had tested early, and got his computer work done. But, his printer wasn't working right so could not get the print outs. Since it was a smaller farm, I said I could just get the samples packed without the list. Came back home, got his samples and the other farm's samples packed and took down to the UPS.
Came back and got 500 lbs feed off the truck to take to the cows in the morning... Got several bags dumped into buckets at the house to make it easier to carry in to the barn since this shoulder does not like to toss feed bags very much. So it is ready for me to go in a few minutes, then go get more off the truck... or maybe take the truck up there and unload and then be done. The cows are a pain though wanting to get all around the truck.
DS just called, said he would bring the truck up with the rest of the bags if I wanted and would help unload at the barn, so I am getting dressed to go up there in a few minutes...be alot easier on my shoulder too... He is going to get Colt since his mom (sister of xgf) has to go clean houses this morning... This is her own business that she started and stays really busy with all the B & B places she cleans for.

 

[Baymule]

I agree on the BIG cows. They eat more, get out of condition faster. A 1100 to 1200 pound cow will bring a good sized calf, costs less to feed and doesn’t have the problems the bigger cows do.

 

[farmerjan]

Been an interesting day... Went up to meet DS at the nurse cow pasture... fed jersey and the calves and got things ready for him to come there... I had dumped a couple of the buckets in one can and took 3 bags out of the car to put in a can.. a can will hold 3 bags... Then he got there so he carried the bags in and I dumped some in the rest of the cans and then he piled what he had on some hay bales. There were only about 1/2 the bags there since he had taken a bunch off the other truck and put on this truck due to the weight. There are still about 15+ bags on his other truck to unload. I told him to keep some for the barn for when we wean this next bunch of calves... I will probably wind up with about 35 total bags at the barn and he will keep 10... I had added 5 of the higher protein commodity feed to the list for him to get for me and they all are at the barn and 3 already filled one can... I am going to get at least 1 or 2 more cans to put in there to use... Can always use them somewhere else down the road if I don't need them for feed... The feed was on sale at Rural King when I decided to get a ton.... $6.99 for a 50/lb bag 12%.... regularly $9.49. I saved $100 by buying 40.... that's a significant amount.
Anyway... will have to get more of them moved up there to get off his dually, in the next week I hope...

Then he went to feed hay and found a cow with a dead calf...One of the bought cows we just preg checked... the ones that have had very little interaction with people... not like it was one of ours that knows us.... looked like calf was born dead...but she was licking at it and trying to get it to get up.... the cow was pissed off to the Nth degree , when DS went near her and the calf.... DS called and asked about the possibility of putting a calf on her... I said that I didn't know of anyone with a calf but would call around... I suggested that he call a couple of his friends... 2 have dairies I don't test. DS is well aware of what calves are bringing... and said there was no way he would spend 5-6-800 for a calf... if he could find a smaller one then 150 or so would be okay...
None of my farmers had any calves at all... and DS found a couple on the one farm but the guy wouldn't give him any kind of break and DS said he was not going to spend $600 for a baby calf... he had called the owner of the stockyard and he said there weren't hardly any calves there, that they only had about 500 head total at the sale... This was at 10 a.m...
He then called them back and the guy said that there were a bunch more calves there... and there were 2 jersey looking calves that probably would not be too awfully expensive, and they were pretty decent looking... so DS said he would take a ride up and see... He came and got the crate I use in the back of the pickup... and he and Colt went to the sale.
He wound up getting the solid brown one... which he thought he would wind up with the more spotted one because it looked more jersey... but said it brought over $400... the one he got was $170... which a year ago that calf wouldn't have brought $50 probably. However... he got it... and we were going to try it... The calf is very sturdy built for a jersey... I suspect it is a jersey/limousin cross calf... or some other beef cross... much chunkier built that a straight jersey usually looks... but had the dark eyes of a jersey...

He got back and called me to come down to the barn to help... He was trying to get the cow to follow the dead calf down through the field and she was MAD and kept trying to stop it from getting dragged behind the bale bed truck and actually stepped on the baling string he had tied around it's back legs,,, and had broken the strings 3 times, going round and round trying to stop him from taking the dead calf away from her... SOOOO, he had gotten her to the barn by the time I got there... she followed it all the way down the lane and into the barn lot... he drug it in the barn and got her in and shut the gate... We then proceeded to get her in the alley next to the chute, and back into the little holding pen where we move the cattle up the chute and into the head catch... Then he got the truck out...and got the other truck with the new calf backed into the barn lot and we got it the alley next to the chute... Got her to come up the chute, and into the head catch and she went right to eating the grain I had there in the bucket for her... opened the side of the chute and the calf went right to looking for her udder... got latched on and started sucking. Thank the Lord that the calf knew what a cow's udder was for... I didn't have to get too close for her to be kicking or anything... she stood there and ate grain and the calf stayed right there and was sucking her... she never kicked at it or anything.... DS got the dead calf out and away from the barn so she could no longer see or smell it... when she got done, he backed the calf down the chute a little bit and shut the "cut gate" and opened up the head catch a little and she finally backed up a little and turned around and went back down the alley into the small sorting pen. Then we brought the calf out of the chute, penned it right in front of the gate where she was, with another gate we have there... so she can see and smell it, and gave her a bucket of water and hay for the night.
So we will see tomorrow... He will get her in the chute in the morning since she is right there... give her feed again, and open the side panel and see if the calf goes back on her... and how she does... I said I would come down if he wanted me to... to just call me. If she doesn't kick or anything, I said to let her go back down the alley ... with the calf... and see if she does anything... like kick or butt it...

Her milk won't have gone through the calf much to make him smell "right " to her... but maybe... If she doesn't try to hurt it or anything... to leave her penned with the calf... just will be a matter of how she acts once she is not so riled up after getting tricked to come to the barn and all... If she tolerates the calf then he can keep her in the back sorting pen with it for a few days until he is sure that she will let it suck on it's own... It might take a couple days of putting her in the chute until she accepts it and it's manure/butt smells "right" to her... but who knows.
I was pleasantly surprised she did not kick once... luckily she likes grain... so we will see if we can salvage her lactation with being able to raise this calf... If she won't she will get culled and got for slaughter...
The good thing is the calf knows what a cow is for so that is a big hurdle... calf is a couple days old at least, so that is good too... nice healthy looking calf... hope it stays that way... It wasn't in the stockyard but a couple hours and does not have a wet navel or anything that would suggest it would be overly susceptible to picking up germs easily...
If all goes well and she takes the calf, then she will stay and go out to get bred in May with any other of the "spring calving cows" ... she is just a little early. But she is from the group that he bought and the bull had been with the cows all the time... Vet said she was 7+ months and it is hard to tell how far they are when they are that far along... so not surprised she was further along...
Hope we get lucky...

So I came on home and Deb called an she was out at the farm... did I want to get together for some supper... so we went 10 miles up the road to a different little local Italian place and got a couple dinners. It was pretty good... brought half home of course... and got back about 9 or so.

DS said that tomorrow, we need to get in the group of cows that still have some of the calves on them, from out in the "peterbilt field"... ( it is the field right next to the peterbilt terminal); since those cows are all supposed to start calving in March.... and wean off the calves on them (should have been done before Christmas..) and move them up to the calving field..... where this other cow had been and a couple of others that were confirmed preg....for spring calving.... Then he will have the peterbilt field empty to bring home those cows that are out to the big pasture....Then as soon as we get them home... they will get preg checked and those calves get weaned off too... They could be anywhere from 7 months bred down to just bred since the bull has been in there since we put him in, back the first of June... so much for a defined calving season again... but they could all be bred well along and "grouped" closer together... so we will see. No sense in getting worried about it at this point til we know.

It was 15 to start and the sun was out and the air warmed up some... hit about 42, with 49 for a little bit when the sun hit the recorder ... but there was a breeze so not real warm. There was a little melting but not alot today. Hopefully it will be a little warmer and melt more the next couple of days. Where the snow got packed and the ice on top, it is like hard as a rock and slick...

I am ready to hit the sack and be able to get up and get put together so that I can go to the barn to help with that cow if need be... then see about getting that group of cows through the field and up to the barn to pull the calves off...

 

[Mini Horses]

I would have tried wiping some of her dead calf mucus on adopted one but, only the dead calf would be cooperative it seems. Hope she takes the new calf -- otherwise, a bottle babe?

 

[SageHill]

The low numbers at the stockyard is something you predicted last year.
The calf you/DS got was a stroke of luck. Keeping fingers crossed that all goes well and the cow accepts him. Have a feeling she will.

 

[farmerjan]

@Mini Horses .... contemplated skinning the dead one as I do most of the time to get them to take a new one..... BUT.... since she was so riled up, I didn't want to skin it, put it in there and have her go after it and not be able to safely get in there to get it out away from her... when she went in the chute and then the head catch, she went right to eating the bucket of grain, and she was loosely caught by her head... so could move it up and down more easily yet not back out... and the calf knew right what to do... figure that his getting the milk to go through his system would be a faster way to get him to smell right... and if we have to put her in the chute twice a day and let him suck, so be it for a few days or a week. I am hoping that she will want it by being penned next to it, and seeing and smelling it through the gate, and the calf should be wanting her too...
The big thing was she was just soooooo PI$$ed off at DS , that she could have been really dangerous to be in there around her with the calf...
She had licked the dead calf off pretty much, and we talked about skinning it... that is an option today still. I think she might be okay once she settles down and the calf wants her... that she might just take it on. Not having these cows but a few months, and been out at pasture the whole time with very limited interaction with people, made it rather dicey. I normally would have said no way.... do not like working with animals we have not had any length of time.... I mean she squalled and snorted at DS as he was around her... so she associates him with taking away her baby... the truck and all that... hoping that going in to eat grain again today and the calf going on her, will get her hormones to kick in and the milk flow and her natural instincts to want to mother the calf... Somehow, I have a good feeling about her wanting to mother this calf once she settles down... I am hoping...

Was 27 overnight. Up to 38 but it is more clouds than sun... still warmer... so snow will start to melt a bit.