Cutting out heifer replacements...pics from October 12, 2011

[Wyoming Wind]

And our fall work continues...we got all our pairs down the road to our other ranch where we have a TON of fall grass. A lot of the ground is pretty boggy and so when it freezes the cows can utilize the feed, much which is still pretty green. It's not froze yet though! We have been very dry until this past week and had a fire start just south of our grazing allotment. No worries for us though; 4 years ago half our allotment burnt, almost 10,000 acres. The fall snow put this latest one out.

The other day my husband, his parents, and his sister gathered our cows with heifer calves at their side and chose our replacements. We gathered our west meadow and cut out the pairs while they were stuck in a corner of the field.

While gathering:

My husband and mom in law driving a pair

My husband, Lou, and his mare Bertha. Isn't that an aweful name for such a pretty girl (I apoligize for those named Bertha out there)!

My pa in law on Holstein...again, I get voted out on the horse names around here!

My husband driving a pair out of the herd on Bertha
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My ma in law on my favorite mare, Jill. Not a bad horse name except she was named after my hubby's ex-girlfriend from years ago. Before my time. Good thing she's a nice horse

Shorly after cutting our replacements out the weather broke and dumped on our country, putting the forest fire out, and freshening the feed up.

We are getting ready now for shipping our calves on Sat. We are hoping we meet our weight--we have always been over by 10 or more pounds but our cattle came home off the forest pretty stressed. They had great feed up there but too many grizzlies. We are out at least 35 calves. Yes, that's what I said. 35 calves. We have had 4 get confirmed as griz kills. I'm going to try to talk my husband into keeping our raised cattle home next year on our leased land. I can't handle seeing all the dry cows, especially when our calves are bringing so much money this year! We hope hunters find more of our dead calves so we can get up there and hopefully have them confirmed so we get paid for them. I thought i'd never say it but I think i'd almost have wolves than bears. And we've had lots of wolf problems! Well, regardless PAY DAY comes on Sat for us! Yay!

I apologize for my photos being small and some getting posted twice. My 15 month old is not providing much time and concentration to do this today!

 

[gcreekrch]

I hear you about the predator problems. Last year we were short only 2 calves at weaning, this year we are 75% gathered and are short 10 calves and 2 cows so far and 2 calves that are healing from wolf attack. I believe both wolf and grizzly are guilty.

Between 2003 and 2008 we lost 93 cattle to grizzlies alone.

SSS

 

[Wyoming Wind]

I hear you about the predator problems. Last year we were short only 2 calves at weaning, this year we are 75% gathered and are short 10 calves and 2 cows so far and 2 calves that are healing from wolf attack. I believe both wolf and grizzly are guilty.

Between 2003 and 2008 we lost 93 cattle to grizzlies alone.

SSS

Wow...that's a lot of cattle lost. How does it work in Canada? Here we are lucky that if a dead cow/calf is found and it is proven that a griz/wolf was the cause of the death, we get reimbursed for it's value. And griz kills we get paid 3 times per each calf/cow found as there are always more out there that just don't get found. (I believe this is how it works here)...it helps but not much. Who's to say that the heifer calf that was killed wouldn't have raised you 10 or more good calves in her lifetime? That never gets figured into the payment from the feds. Can you guys shoot on sight? Here's hoping the bears and wolves have a tough winter

 

[Nicky]

Nice pictures, even if they are small

That is horrible to be out that many calves, I feel for you! Good luck finding some carcasses. And good luck on sat. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Wyoming Wind]

.

SSS

Just saw the 3 s's...yes...I agree 8)

 

[WyomingRancher]

Oh wow, so sorry for your calf losses :? . Your cattle look great, and I hope their weight surprises you Saturday. It's always a great day to see them loaded onto trucks :wink: .

 

[gcreekrch]

I hear you about the predator problems. Last year we were short only 2 calves at weaning, this year we are 75% gathered and are short 10 calves and 2 cows so far and 2 calves that are healing from wolf attack. I believe both wolf and grizzly are guilty.

Between 2003 and 2008 we lost 93 cattle to grizzlies alone.

SSS

Wow...that's a lot of cattle lost. How does it work in Canada? Here we are lucky that if a dead cow/calf is found and it is proven that a griz/wolf was the cause of the death, we get reimbursed for it's value. And griz kills we get paid 3 times per each calf/cow found as there are always more out there that just don't get found. (I believe this is how it works here)...it helps but not much. Who's to say that the heifer calf that was killed wouldn't have raised you 10 or more good calves in her lifetime? That never gets figured into the payment from the feds. Can you guys shoot on sight? Here's hoping the bears and wolves have a tough winter

We had a good program that was funded by govt and administered by BC Cattlemen's Assoc. It was ended because of lack of funding and more than a few personal and political reasons. If we found a verifiable kill, (briusing under the hide etc.) we were paid 50% of the animal's value and a trapper looked after the purpetrator(s). The young man that was the trapper is 3rd generation in a family of predator specialists and he is deadly on both wolves and bears.
After the program ended, he had a permit that allowed him to be hired on a private basis. Last spring the game branch took over predator mitigation again and they refused to renew his permit. He has an appeal in mid Nov. that I have been called to testify at.

Since the Bunny Sherriffs have taken over, mitigation has been a complete disaster. There is no bag limit and no closed season on wolves in this area so when I shoot a wolf at any time of the year I am not a criminal now. Got one 40 yards from our kitchen window last Friday morning. In spite of our guardian dogs a pack came in and killed 3 sheep that night.
Bears are a little different story that we can't talk about on the internet. :wink:

 

[R A]

Nice pictures! I can't imagine having to deal with the predator problems you guys are talking about.

 

[Denny]

I hear you about the predator problems. Last year we were short only 2 calves at weaning, this year we are 75% gathered and are short 10 calves and 2 cows so far and 2 calves that are healing from wolf attack. I believe both wolf and grizzly are guilty.

Between 2003 and 2008 we lost 93 cattle to grizzlies alone.

SSS

Wow...that's a lot of cattle lost. How does it work in Canada? Here we are lucky that if a dead cow/calf is found and it is proven that a griz/wolf was the cause of the death, we get reimbursed for it's value. And griz kills we get paid 3 times per each calf/cow found as there are always more out there that just don't get found. (I believe this is how it works here)...it helps but not much. Who's to say that the heifer calf that was killed wouldn't have raised you 10 or more good calves in her lifetime? That never gets figured into the payment from the feds. Can you guys shoot on sight? Here's hoping the bears and wolves have a tough winter

We had a good program that was funded by govt and administered by BC Cattlemen's Assoc. It was ended because of lack of funding and more than a few personal and political reasons. If we found a verifiable kill, (briusing under the hide etc.) we were paid 50% of the animal's value and a trapper looked after the purpetrator(s). The young man that was the trapper is 3rd generation in a family of predator specialists and he is deadly on both wolves and bears.
After the program ended, he had a permit that allowed him to be hired on a private basis. Last spring the game branch took over predator mitigation again and they refused to renew his permit. He has an appeal in mid Nov. that I have been called to testify at.

Since the Bunny Sherriffs have taken over, mitigation has been a complete disaster. There is no bag limit and no closed season on wolves in this area so when I shoot a wolf at any time of the year I am not a criminal now. Got one 40 yards from our kitchen window last Friday morning. In spite of our guardian dogs a pack came in and killed 3 sheep that night.
Bears are a little different story that we can't talk about on the internet. :wink:

Did you get a chance to use your Grizz tag this year. I did'nt get a black bear this fall damn farming takes all my time.

 

[gcreekrch]

Not yet.

 

[Faster horses]

I'm sorry for all you producers for your losses to predators.

WyomingWind, your method is the one I prefer when selecting
repacement heifers. You get to see the mother, her bag, her
attitude,her feet, etc. which are all important factors in selecting the females you keep.

Good luck with your calf sale. I hope you grin all the way to
the bank!!!

 

[gcreekrch]

I'm sorry for all you producers for your losses to predators.

WyomingWind, your method is the one I prefer when selecting
repacement heifers. You get to see the mother, her bag, her
attitude,her feet, etc. which are all important factors in selecting the females you keep.

Good luck with your calf sale. I hope you grin all the way to
the bank!!!

If you know your cowherd you should be able to pick them from the record book. :wink:

 

[Wyoming Wind]

WyomingWind, your method is the one I prefer when selecting
repacement heifers. You get to see the mother, her bag, her
attitude,her feet, etc. which are all important factors in selecting the females you keep.

Exactly how we pick our replacements...well, actually how it works is once we have the pairs bunched with find the biggest heifer calves, figure out who her mom is, recall if she was a witch while ear tagging her newborn calf or if there was something we didn't like about her (like you said her bag, etc) and then cut them out. Of course we have a lot of "favorites" that we have to choose or someone gets in trouble!; some super producers who consistently have daughters who breed up well (some cows how have 5 or so daughters in our herd) and pick them. When we calve we write their calving date on the calf's eartag so if we find a favorite and the calf is on the small side we can decide if she's smaller because she was born a month and a half later than the earlier calvers or if it was because of something else.