Oct 30 to Nov 3 Cows and Slop

[gcreekrch]

Looking at the dust in Hanta Yo's post gave me cause to show the slop we had when we preg tested and weaned on the 30th. Empties and lates came to 9% which is good for this country, 60 day calving period. Vaccinated calves on the first and moved them to a large pen today, most of the cows have gone back to grass now.

The book-keeper and the wife are camera shy.

Deep in thought.

An old wake up call out here.... "It's daylight in the swamp"

A few pictures of our multi-cultural weaners.

Snake fence, no nails. Stakes are wired top and bottom after logs are up.

 

[burnt]

You wouldn't happen to have a few of those poles to spare, would you? :wink: Whoa, what's the white stuff?

Really good looking calves. Do you vaccinate once or twice?

 

[scout]

That sure is some beautiful country you have up there. your calves look really good . I've never heard of snake fence before. do you have alot of it on your outfit.

 

[gcreekrch]

You wouldn't happen to have a few of those poles to spare, would you? :wink: Whoa, what's the white stuff?

Really good looking calves. Do you vaccinate once or twice?

Please, come and take as much of this bug kill as you can....BEFORE it falls down

We use a 7 way with Somnugen at branding, the same + a 5 way live including both BVD types at weaning and both again when we go to grass.
If I knew every year that we were retaining our calves I would use the 5 way at branding also.
Not completely according to Hoyle but it works for us.

 

[gcreekrch]

That sure is some beautiful country you have up there. your calves look really good . I've never heard of snake fence before. do you have alot of it on your outfit.

We have no wire fence on our operation at all. Most of it is log/snake fence, and a small portion is called Russell fence. If they are built properly you can expect nearly 20 years maintainence free, then you should be able to replace the bottom blocks and top logs and get another 10.
There are fences around here that were built of fire-killed pine back in the late 30's, they are getting pretty tired but they still hold cows.

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

Gcreek,finally we see the nailless fence,is the bottom log laid directly on the ground?any knotches?Are the stakes dug very deep?Thanks for the pic,have lots of bark beattle kill trees here to.I think that's par for the west.

 

[Nicky]

Great pics, and your cattle sure look good. I'm rereading Rich Hobsons books.

 

[Hanta Yo]

Thanks for the pics! Nice cattle, good looking country. We have lots of beetle killed trees as well. Also trees killed from fire. They all like to fall on our wire fences

 

[C Thompson]

Dave, Your calves look good.They will make good yearlings!We preg tested yesterday with about the same results of about 9% opens and lates and general culls.We didn't have the same weather though.We woke up to snow today and it came down all day but doesn't look like it will stay.Makes you wonder what we left out there under that snow when it sneaks up on us.We made firewood today and mostly got wet doing it but stayed close to the house.

 

[scout]

thats intersting . we don't have trees straight enough around here you can do that with . we have hedge post there crooked but a big one should last 60 years easy

 

[CattleArmy]

Rustic looking fence. Is there much upkeep involved once it's up?

 

[HAY MAKER]

Thanx for the picture story gcreekrch,thats sure pretty country,but you better stay outa them planes,next time you might be wearin more than a ladies girdle
good luck

 

[Soapweed]

Good lookin' cattle, gcreekrch. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

Great pics, and your cattle sure look good. I'm rereading Rich Hobsons books.

Nicky,funny you bring those books up,i'm just about to run to the library and check those three books out.I read them every other winter,those folks were seriously tough.Good reading.

 

[gcreekrch]

Texan, you were wanting an idea to hold calves in. We didn't have any escape. :wink:

 

[Texan]

Texan, you were wanting an idea to hold calves in. We didn't have any escape. :wink:

I'm open to ANY suggestion. :lol:

 

[gcreekrch]

Did you look at the pics on Pg. 1?

 

[Texan]

Yeah, I shoulda said that I'm open to ALMOST any suggestion. I'm about 20 years too wore out for that. :wink:

 

[gcreekrch]

I've found that a small tight pen for the first 2 or 3 days is best. Depending on weather and your vaccination program you may deal with a sick calf or two but they won't have enough room to start running.
We also walk through them a couple times a day for the first week or so.
If you are dealing with a really big bunch could a guy wean about 200 or so and then add another bunch a week or so later?

Haven't tried it but I've heard of some outfits that lock the cows up for 3 days and then drive the calves to another pasture before turning the cows loose again.

 

[Texan]

That's pretty much what I do - start out with the small traps and just keep working up to bigger traps. Last year I had just moved them into a 20 acre trap when they broke out.

I do the same thing with walking through them four or five times a day for the first week. I take the dogs around them and try to do everything I can to get them used to everything, but...

At least you gave me something else to lay awake and think about last night. Wondering if I could get my wife to cut some logs and build some pens like that without her wanting a new chainsaw out of the deal. If it ain't one worry, it's another. Thanks. :wink: