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Early spring photos, 2011

Soapweed

Well-known member
Lyinginamattressassoftassnow.jpg

Lying on a mattress as soft as snow
Firstcalfheifersandtheirbabies.jpg

First calf heifers and their babies
Moreofthesame.jpg

More of the same
Waitingmyturnforahaircut.jpg

Waiting my turn for a haircut
Snowintheair.jpg

Snow in the air
Comfycritters.jpg

Comfy critters
Eventhecalveslikeanibbleofhay.jpg

Even the calves like a bite of hay
LetsseedoIeatitorsleeponit.jpg

Let's see, do I eat it or sleep on it?
Gotalittlemoistureintheformofwetsnow.jpg

Got a little more moisture in the form of wet snow
Thecalvesdontseemtomind.jpg

The calves don't seem to mind.
Tryingtoeathaylikethebigboysdo.jpg

Trying to eat hay like the big boys do
Peachandhercalftaggingmachine.jpg

Peach and her calf tagging machine
Hadtodigoutoneofonlythreefeedbunks.jpg

Bought five bulls this past Thursday, so had to dig out one of only three feed bunks that we own.
052wasoneofthreefeaturedonthecover.jpg

052 was one of three bulls featured on the front cover of the catalog.
HeisasonofOCCLegend616LandPathfinder.jpg

He is a grandson of OCC Legend 161L on the top side, and a grandson of Stevenson Hunter 616K on the bottom side. His mother is a Pathfinder cow.
AnothersonofOCCLegend616L.jpg

Another grandson of OCC Legend 616L on the topside, and grandson of Basin Max R551 AK on the bottom
TheyoungestcalfthatsoldApril32010.jpg

One of the youngest bulls that sold at the sale. He was born April 3, 2010. He is a grandson of Connealy Freightliner on the top,
and grandson of Tehama 5204 Trav 641 on the bottom.
Anunregisteredbull.jpg

An unregistered unclipped bull that should still turn out
Nopapersbuthecarriesalotoflength.jpg

No papers, but he carries a lot of length. His sire is Extender.
Twoyearoldheifersandtheircalves.jpg

Two-year-old heifers and their calves
Hercowlickisevenwithhereyes.jpg

Her cowlick is even with her eyes. She must not be either too smart or too dumb.
Just a regular kind of average cow. :wink:
Fallcalvingherdupinthehills.jpg

Stock piled on banked grass. These cows are hopefully bred to have fall calves.
They have existed the past two months on leftover summer grass.
Thereisasurprisenewcalfinthebunch.jpg

There is a surprise new baby in the bunch.
Whichhasarousedtheirinterest.jpg

Which seems to have aroused the interest of the whole herd
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Prosperous times in the cattle business must be getting to ya Soap. :shock:

Buying bulls with pedigrees and EPD's. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just don't tell DOC HARRIS. :wink:
 

George

Well-known member
Didn't see many baldies but that one calf got in the picture three times.

Sure am glad we are not getting any snow here. We are putting new seed firmers on the corn planter and getting the nurse trucks ready - - I know we can't plant till the 15th or the warrenty on the seed is not valid but I'm about having to chain my son down!
 

ranch77rocket

Well-known member
Looks like the calves are really growing. How do you get such perfect numbers on your Ritchey tags? Someone at your place must have a pretty steady hand.
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Soapweed said:
Big Muddy rancher said:
Prosperous times in the cattle business must be getting to ya Soap. :shock:

Buying bulls with pedigrees and EPD's. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Just don't tell DOC HARRIS. :wink:

I try not to get him started. :lol: :lol: :lol:

That's exactly why I didn't want you to tell him. :wink: :)

highlonesome said:
I always give my dad crap....Is that surprise calf early, or late :lol:

Either way, it's welcome. Actually, it's right on time but got "misdiagnosed." :wink:

George said:
Didn't see many baldies but that one calf got in the picture three times.

She is kind of a camera hog. :)

ranch77rocket said:
Looks like the calves are really growing. How do you get such perfect numbers on your Ritchey tags? Someone at your place must have a pretty steady hand.

We always get our "permanent" tags for bred keeping heifers numbered at the factory. Their stamping machine makes mighty fine big readable numbers.

The calves get Z tags. Peach and the Kosmo Kid both write numbers on these tags, and they both do an admirable job. Once in a while they get a bit creative when they goof, but at about 80 cents each we don't like to waste any tags. :wink:
 

Big Muddy rancher

Well-known member
Do you get many of those "Misdiagnosed" hfrs?

Last year I kept 2 drys back and fed up for beef. When I took them to the abattoir they said one had a calf in her. Of course it was the pure bred one. :?
 

Justin

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Prosperous times in the cattle business must be getting to ya Soap. :shock:

Buying bulls with pedigrees and EPD's. :lol: :lol: :lol:

my thoughts aswell. :lol: won't be long now and Soapweed will have himself some papered cows too. :shock: :wink:

everything looks top notch as alwasys, Soap. i like the looks of those bulls :D
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Big Muddy rancher said:
Do you get many of those "Misdiagnosed" hfrs?

Last year I kept 2 drys back and fed up for beef. When I took them to the abattoir they said one had a calf in her. Of course it was the pure bred one. :?

Anymore our preg checking policy is "if in doubt, call them open." I like to recheck the opens before selling any, and if they are young and decent they get held over to become fall calvers. These get the regular vaccinations and pour-on that our bred cows get. The older "opens" that potentially will get sold don't get the vaccinations and pour-on because of the withdrawl time factor. If, after re-checking, they turn out bred after-all, then they get the regular vaccinations and pour-on and get put back into the keeping herd. Since we preg check different bunches over about a six-week period, once in a while a cow pronounced open in an early bunch will turn out to be pregnant with a late calf. A young cow pronounced open automatically goes into the fall herd, and these don't get re-checked. Anything pregnant with a late spring calf on this account just has to get skimped by through the winter with the rest of the fall calvers.

One of our heifer calves got through a fence two summers ago, and wound up spending the winter of '09-'10 with the yearling heifers of a neighbor. She was with them through the breeding season of 2010 until he ultra-sounded to sell open heifers. It was then that he discovered she was my heifer, so I picked her up at his corral. I put her out with some of our yearling heifers that hadn't yet been preg-checked. When this was done about a month later, the "open" heifer was pronounced "bred" by our veterinarian. She will be late, but I think she has a calf in her.

There are two things that are useful management tools, but neither are 100 percent infallible. One is preg-checking and the other is fertility checking bulls. Many years ago, a big Charlais bull was pronounced to be a non-breeder. He jumped in with yearling heifers and caused four of the heifers to be "safe-in-calf." What a wreck that turned out to be. :(
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Everything looks good, Soap. (well, we didn't get to see the
haircut-- :D )

Those calves off your two-year olds look outstanding. It will
be interesting to see if you notice any difference in the 'EPD bulls'
offspring than what you have been doing.

An OCC Legend crossed with a Basin Max is certainly different.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I've had some good luck with some of the grandsons/granddaughters of Basin Max that were bred to something that moderated frame like some of the OCC and Wye cattle....I really like some of the Basin Max 104J (Basin Max son) daughters/granddaughters that I have....
Makes some nice deep 5 frame cows...

And OCC Legend should be a bull that could do that mature frame moderation...Legend is deceased and the last I looked- Legends semen was selling for about $100 a straw and $100 a cert...

Nice looking bulls Soap....
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
I've had some good luck with some of the grandsons/granddaughters of Basin Max that were bred to something that moderated frame like some of the OCC and Wye cattle....I really like some of the Basin Max 104J (Basin Max son) daughters/granddaughters that I have....
Makes some nice deep 5 frame cows...

And OCC Legend should be a bull that could do that mature frame moderation...Legend is deceased and the last I looked- Legends semen was selling for about $100 a straw and $100 a cert...

Nice looking bulls Soap....

Thanks for the compliment. Now maybe I should buy a few registered cows to put them on. :wink:

My plans for the two half brothers (grandsons of OCC Legend 616L) are to put them with the heifers I purchased as calves a year and a half ago. Then bulls can be saved from this cross that will not be related to our home-raised cattle. My plans are always subject to change. :)
 

katrina

Well-known member
Big Swede said:
Will you still associate with us commercial guys when you turn into one of them high filutin registered guys? :lol: :wink:


:D :D :D :D :D :D :D I was wondering the same thing... :D :D :D :D :D


Seems like only yesterday when epds were the size of the ears on a critter... :D :D :D
 

Soapweed

Well-known member
Big Swede said:
Will you still associate with us commercial guys when you turn into one of them high filutin registered guys? :lol: :wink:

I will, if you will still associate with us bone-heads that start calving in mid-February. :wink: :)
 

leanin' H

Well-known member
I like those bulls Soap. OCC cattle have some neat EPDs if you are into that sort'a thing. Anyway, I like em' so who gives a rip what others think, right? :wink: We had a spring storm dump 5 inches of wet snow yesterday. Hard to complain about water in any form. Thanks for the pictures. Take care. :D
 
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