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April calving and weather (pictures added)

Tap

Well-known member
Today was about as nice as an overcast 35 degree day could be. There were some snow flurries this morning, but it was very calm, so felt nice anyway.

Calving is getting going good in the older cows, and I took the camera on my trip around them.

kidsandranch162.jpg


Must have been some kind of Soapweed storm. :wink:

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Contented pair.

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Just looking around.

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Enough water for the ducks and geese.

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He thinks I don't see him.

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I got side tracked for a minute. I have been trying to take a picture of this while it still was in one piece. Anyone not know what it is????

kidsandranch146.jpg


Had to take one for the team, and wade a boggy creek to get the last picture.

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Almost home, things looked good today.

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Jinglebob

Well-known member
Say Tap, you need another one of them good Paints? Got a comin' 4 year old who's a dandy. :D

I think you got a fossil on your hands in that one picture.

Kola might know what it is.
 

Tap

Well-known member
Jinglebob said:
Say Tap, you need another one of them good Paints? Got a comin' 4 year old who's a dandy. :D

I think you got a fossil on your hands in that one picture.

Kola might know what it is.


This paint is 1/2 of our light team JB. So I HAVE another one like him. lol. They are both sort of green for 7 yrs. old, but I ride the other one a lot.

Re-read my post. I think I know what it is, but do you? :wink:
 

Jinglebob

Well-known member
Okay, I re-looked and I think I know what it is. But I won't spill the beans. I'll wait until you enlighten us. Looks like it's been there for awhile. Suppose it was recent or a real old one?
 

Tap

Well-known member
Canadian_Cowgirl said:
Nice pictures Tap!! Love the bottom half of the horse :p Whats the top half look like?? Nice mud to! :lol:

I think it looks like a Buffalo Skull.


Katy

I did post a picture of this horse one other time, but will try to take another Katy. I agree that it is a buffalo skull. We have found others in the area, but this one is far below the ground level, so it makes me think it is real old. At least that is what I have been wondering today JB.
 

Jinglebob

Well-known member
Tap said:
Canadian_Cowgirl said:
Nice pictures Tap!! Love the bottom half of the horse :p Whats the top half look like?? Nice mud to! :lol:

I think it looks like a Buffalo Skull.


Katy

I did post a picture of this horse one other time, but will try to take another Katy. I agree that it is a buffalo skull. We have found others in the area, but this one is far below the ground level, so it makes me think it is real old. At least that is what I have been wondering today JB.
Guy down south of us found one that must have been some of the earlier ones as it is almost twice the size of a normal one.

Maybe you need to get some plaster of paris to put on it and get a mold?

I've the shells off of some of theose skulls, but never a skull, tho' I have two in the house. One an old friend gave me and the other I bought cheap from another friend.

I don't suppose they are too hard to get anymore, what with all the guys raising them now.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Great bunch of pictures, Tap. It is nice to look at yours, because I am kind of going through withdrawals not being able to post any. Our computer is on the fritz, and I can't do it with this borrowed one.

I though your "what is it" picture was a prehistoric fly swatter for a little bit, but then looking sideways it does appear to be a buffalo skull. Looks like one that Bev Doolittle would paint. :)
 

Jassy

Well-known member
Calving looks like it is going smoothly for ya...It was kind of a fair day here also...if the weather man is right, we'll have true spring weather by this weekend and I won't have to move in with Lilly and Wilbur! lol

I would of never guessed a buffalo skull...ya spose there's more to him underneath?

Great shots..as usual
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Nice pictures, Tap. And I must say I am duly impressed with
how good your cows look.

All the moisture is welcome, perhaps it is the start of a good year.
I know that we have been here since 1993 and the odd years
are definitely the best years.

Good luck with the rest of your calving.
 

Northern Rancher

Well-known member
Nice pics of a well managed outfirt-lots of grass and some good looking cows. We find wood buffalo skulls in some of our peat meadows now and then-they disintegrate pretty quick once they get exposed though.
 

tlakota

Well-known member
tap good looking cows....they just calve out in the pastures and do it on there own in bad weather? I dont know what ranch country looks like since its all crop ground around here pretty much.
 

Tap

Well-known member
Northern Rancher said:
Nice pics of a well managed outfirt-lots of grass and some good looking cows. We find wood buffalo skulls in some of our peat meadows now and then-they disintegrate pretty quick once they get exposed though.

Thanks NR. I appreciate that. This skull is crumbling apart too. Last fall it was just exposed and in better shape. There sure may be more of the buffalo left behind the skull. Time, and erosion will tell.

tlakota, this bunch of cows is calving in a couple section pasture. There is some shelter in the draws, and some man made windbreaks in the corners. Our hope is that calving mostly after the tenth of April we will not have a lot of years with calf killing weather. We are not pairing the pairs out, but leaving them all in this pasture as long as the weather cooperates. If it gets real tough, then we may bring the heavy cows in for a brief time, but we do not like to have to bring them in. On some bunches, we pair out, and it does make the rest easier to look at. I do not want to jinx us here, but scours and calving problems are not much of an issue calving outside. The only thing we ever pull is a breech, or head back calf. Of course doing it for a time weeds out the problems if you are a rigid culler. And we try to buy the right kind of angus bulls. I look at this bunch of cows once a day in good weather, and the only problem you might see is a big bagged cow. If I have to mess with them for any reason other than bad weather, then the cow gets a tag, and they are gone come fall. And if it is a bag problem, then the heifer calf goes too. Pretty soon you weed out most of your troubles. I would say we average a 94-5% calf crop over ten years time. We have a seperate herd that will start calving in just less than two weeks, and they hopefully will never need to be brought in for any reason. Hopefully. :wink: But we do whatever it takes to save calves too. Up to a point. :wink: :)

There is a big mix of management in our area. Some neighbors, who have a superior program, lot calve in late Feb., and early March. They wean huge calves and do everything right as far as I can see. We also have ranchers in the area who would never bring a cow in during calving for any storm, but most of them have real good shelter. Of course they lose some calves then too, but they operate in a low cost way, and some of that offsets the loss. We have some rough country (you have seen it in my photos), but we choose to winter in that area as we think the feed savings offsets the shelter benefit when we calve as late as we do. The bunch of cows in my picture have only gotten fed hay two days over this winter. They do get fed a few # of cake every other day from approx. Feb. 1 to early May. And we add magnessium to the cake in the last load of the year to avoid grass tetany.
So there are many ways of operating successfully, and what lies in your comfort zone probably effects managment as much as anything.

I got long winded here, sorry. A lot came to mind when trying to answer your question. :p
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Hi Tap, just read your post where you mentioned buying the
right kind of Angus bulls.

The neighbors Gelbvieh Balancer bulls got in our cows last
spring and we got some of those calves. Jack just hates them.
Lay there, won't get up, etc. etc. Give us the little black
calves that jump up and go any time. Sure, the gelbvieh
may outweigh them come fall, but the dead ones don't weigh
much...

We didn't lose any, but we sure don't want or need problems and
thats what you get with those big calves.

YUK. No thanks. We'll just stick to good Angus.
Our cattle are pretty much problem-free and that's very
important.

How are the cows doing that you bought last spring?
 

EmptyPockets

Well-known member
Good pictures Tap. You run your operation a lot like ours only you've more grass and water. :wink:

Can't beat the pasture calving when the weather cooperates. With old grass left like your's, grass tetany is no problem when you cake every once in a while. When it warms grass tetany could be a problem in this country for those folks that quit feeding. Escpecially along creek and river bottoms.

I've found a few old buffalo skulls along the creeks. Usually I find them embedded in the creekbanks along big cut banks and just dig them out. Only one I found didn't disintigrate. Did my imatation of an artist and painted on it. Wife don't like animal heads hanging around the house but don't seem to mind buffalo and bull skulls. Go figure!

Thanks for the great pictures and good luck calving! ---EP.
 

Shortgrass

Well-known member
I used to calve in Last week of Feb & March. Last year was cold & rough. I set back to starting 20 March. Being further south it corresponds to your April start date pretty well. This year has been much easier with less death loss. Less feed as you mentioned. Healthier calves, because they are scattered better than laying around on feed grounds as they did in Feb/early March. Works for me. Wish I'd started earlier. Maybe this fall when I don't have 680 - 700 wt steers, I'll sing a different tune, but I doubt it. Logistically, I wish I had the grass to not feed hay except in storms, But I feed half, and let them pick the other half with Cake.
 

kolanuraven

Well-known member
Buffalo skull....not old, I'd guess from the late 1800's. Prob one of the last of the old ones. They are hardy and last a really long time if not exposed to the elements. Your's seems to be eroding out pretty nice but the exposure dooms it to dust no matter how hard you try to save it.

I find them all the time when in the Wild West.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
The scuba divers used to get quite a few buffalo skulls out of Fort Peck lake- but have some of the good diving areas pretty well pick over....

But if the Lake's water level keeps dropping like it has the last several years, maybe in a year or two a guy can just walk out there and pick them up :roll: :wink: :lol:
 
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