Faster Horses- Vigortone Meeting

[Oldtimer]

Well FH-- I made it to the Vigortone meeting-- but I felt as tho I had heard it all before since most was exactly what you've told us on here...

Half the meeting was the intervet guy from Billings- John about BVD, respiratory vaccinations, and parasites/worming-- and the differences between Safeguard and Ivermectin....

The second half was on nutrition and how the Vigortone will fit in- and you and your cows were part of the show-- the befores and the afters--wouldn't believe they were the same herd of cattle....Impressive the change just mineral will do....

Anyway a good meeting- good roast beef dinner- had about 20 folks there...Anyway I got to meet Casey and he said he'd say hello from me...Quite a BSer... The current Sheriff and I had him going there for awhile....He thought the law was out to get him

[Faster horses]

Glad the meeting went well, OT and that you were able to make it.
Sorry it was old news, but at our age, we can stand to hear things
more than once!!!

Seeing those old pictures of our cattle, now you know where my passion
comes from. I wish everyone could see the difference. When you
see it and experience it, it truly makes a believer out of you.
We had searched and searched for help and found none until
we got involved with this company.

Casey? He's probably darn lucky the law isn't after him!

I'd have liked to have been there just to listen!!!!!!

He's such a good guy, but he needs to take a chill pill once
in awhile. He sure has been a big help to us.

He's coming here on Friday. We have a bad deal going on in the
feedlot where we put our heifers. People take cattle in to feed
and haven't got a clue what they are doing. Luckily, because
of the good immune system in our cattle, they aren't having
as bad a time as some of the other cattle there. I'm really upset
about what is going on and Mr. FH and Casey are going over to
take a bunk sample and evaluate the situation. Sure helps to
have someone that understands cattle and feeding them go take
a look. And of course, this is done absolutely free because of our
being Vigortone customers. There is so much help out there and we've
learned to use it.

Anyway, OT, thanks for the report.

[Oldtimer]

After looking at all the good and bad pictures last night--When I went out this morning to feed- I took another half hour to drive around and look at the cows...And even if I do say so myself-- I think they're looking pretty good especially for as bad of pickings they had this year...Nothing below a BCS of 5 and most are 6 -- and they are nice shiny black in color, so the mineral must be working

One thing I liked about Casey is that he believes in the same theory I do-- and that's that that its easier to feed a little more and keep the cows in good shape than it is to try and bring their condition up later...Since I've got lots of hay this year- I'm going to try his idea of sitting some big bales around at different spots of the pasture in May when I turn out-- for some more and better dry matter for them....

I did finally have to sell that 18 year old cow, I'd put the picture up of earlier this summer, when I hauled culls in last week-- she'd put everything into this years calf and was really going down hill.....

When we were talking after the presentation, Casey mentioned he was going to be seeing you...I hope he was able to get out of town-He was going to stick around for a beer afterward and I thought of going in the lounge with him- until I saw the crew of old buddies that were there for a bank party....Looked like a partying crew that could mean for a late late night - and I figured discretion was the better part of valor-- and snuck out the side door...

[katrina]

fh, What's the deal??? There has been some wrecks around in this country and it's been early weaned calves........
Maybe you should bring your hiefiers to my house....

[Faster horses]

They went over to bangs vaccinate them yesterday and they are pretty loose. Ours not so bad as others, thank heavens. The vet was there and they went ahead and bangs vaccinated them. I would just as soon not have put that extra stress on them. (its a woman thing, but I wasn't there.)

The darn guy who has them, changed some feed on them 3-4 days ago.
You would think he would know better. You don't just change feed on calves, you do it gradually. The fool. And Mr. FH didn't like the looks
of the feed in the bunks, so he is going Friday to take a bunk sample.

Yes, katrina, I wish they were at your place too. Or at Bruce Hould's
in Malta. Now that guy knows how to feed stuff. Obviously this one
doesn't.

I just hope they don't get coccidiosis. We have NEVER had a case of
that, and don't want any. We have to wait 14 days now to see what
happens.

[katrina]

fh, I would bet that it isn't coccidiouse(sp)... I'm guessing that it's just to rich of feed and that they just need a little more roughage, say hay or wheat hay, or even straw in there feed.. We walk through our pens and look at the poop and can tell if we need to tweak the feed or not......
And as you know sudden changes in feed can really mess things up....
Sorry........ Hope things work out and keep us up to speed on the situation as we can all learn a thing or two......

[baling wire]

Thank's Katrina I thought I was the only one who went on POOP patrol.

[Faster horses]

I think the problem is switching quickly from oat hay to wheat hay.
Our heifers weren't as bad as the ones in the pen next to them.
They were squirting pure water and it stunk to high heaven,
was the report I got. They are only getting 2 lbs of grain and
they've been there since Oct. 22. I think they should be up to
more grain by now. I'm not liking much about this deal right
now.

We'll know a lot more by Friday, I'm betting.

Thanks for your concern.

[Oldtimer]

[Faster horses]

BTW, OT, I knew from the pictures you posted last year that you
took real good care of your cows. Those cows were in prime
shape if you ask me. I'm happy they are shiney black and doing
good. And that 18 year old cow, well, what more can be said.
She certainly did you a good job, and that is in part because of
the care she had.

My hat was off to you when you posted those pictures!
Anyone that takes care of their cattle is a friend of mine.

[PPRM]

With the way feed prices are in a lot of areas, we may be seeing lots of things this year. Most of it will be related to a different mix....

FH, Coccidiosis is pretty common in most feedlots in our area...On my place, we haven't had it yet though and we don't feed any of the usual supplements to prevent it. However, I will say it is something the vet woul have keyed in on immediately,

Anyways, I hope it all works out,

PPRM

[Big Muddy rancher]

I forgot about the Glasgow meeting. Roger was going to bring Casey up
on Monday before the meeting to see if they could help me figure out the bloat issuse i was having.