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One of those days!

G

Grassfarmer

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
998
Location
Central Alberta, Canada
It's been a dandy! First the wind howled all night and piled us some big drifts.
The heifers in the corrals weren't looking too happy first thing.
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heifers.jpg

Then off to plow snow - I use an old V plow that I can pick up with the grapple fork.
plow.jpg

Pretty heavy going out of the shelter of the yard - total whiteout in places.
heavygoing.jpg

Snow is getting so deep there is nowhere to put it with the plow.
deep.jpg

Got all the plowing done, fed one bunch of cows, went back to load up more hay only to discover my tractor front tires were looking at each other cross-eyed. :cry: Busted the track rod end sockets on the pole that connects the front wheels together. Called the dealer who came out and repaired it inside 3 hours - I was impressed.
Went back to feed remaining cows only to find plowed tracks 60% filled back in. Got through (just) and fed cows. Went back out later to plow tracks for tomorrow but wind was still howling. 1 track was beyond plowing. Guess I'll need to find an alternate route tomorrow. Not worth digging out the blocked track as they are predicting a repeat storm on Saturday/Sunday. Came home to find our sewer line frozen up.
Off to bed now - hope tomorrow brings better luck!
 
Tough day Grassfarmer. My cattle looked like that this morning. Here's hoping tomorrow is better. Good idea with the V plow.
 
I hear ya it was a bad day here too. The 44 mph wind took the roof off my "corn stalk barn". But no snow here.......yet? And I hope not til i get the barn fixed!!!!
 
Ick, aren't you glad I showed what bare ground looks like :? Better luck tomorrow (guess that would be today)
 
We had a real screamer yestrerday now--30 this A'M-glad them little calves are in their momma's bellies-heard of a few trampled calves i the storm it was nasty stuff.
 
I'd say the most profound change in management since the introduction of exotics in the 70's has been the change in calving dates. Not sure if it's because ranchers are getting older or wiser but more calves getting born on grass every year. Quite a few factors probably-LABOR-LABOR-LABOR-bedding straw is getting very hard to find-it's priced as much as average hay alot of years-bigger herds-I'm guessing the average herd size around here is 200 at least-a pittance to calve on grass a millstone to calve in -40. Despite the weather the cattle sold well yesterday-breeding type 6 weight heifers were over a buck.
 
Northern Rancher said:
I'd say the most profound change in management since the introduction of exotics in the 70's has been the change in calving dates. Not sure if it's because ranchers are getting older or wiser but more calves getting born on grass every year. Quite a few factors probably-LABOR-LABOR-LABOR-bedding straw is getting very hard to find-it's priced as much as average hay alot of years-bigger herds-I'm guessing the average herd size around here is 200 at least-a pittance to calve on grass a millstone to calve in -40. Despite the weather the cattle sold well yesterday-breeding type 6 weight heifers were over a buck.
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I'll bet there was a shift in calving trends if 40 below is typical :shock: . If you send Ty too far out of that country, he may not return once he realizes how tropical it can be just a little south of the border :wink: .
 
I ran that by him and he said no wayyyyy-not enough hockey-big deer,bear,moose etc to keep him south. Mind you other factors might come into play lol. We've had a string of ten or so warmer that average winters but the last two have been more old fashioned-it doesn't help that the plow jockeys are still clearing tree rows like the busy little beavers they are.
 
I'll bet there was a shift in calving trends if 40 below is typical
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You'd be surprised wyoming rancher, in my neck of the woods there will be more than half the places calving at the moment. Why is beyond me - it's not like this is unusually cold for us, we normally get rid of our permanent winter snow cover in the first week of April. Lots of guys with commercial cows start calving mid February or March 1st. We can expect -30C overnight anytime in February or March, -40C is possible too. With December-May being the high cost part of the year due to there being no grass why would you plonk your calving date bang in the middle? It would not be possible to pick a more expensive time of year for your cow's highest nutritional needs to occur never mind the bad weather. I guess guys just like getting docked for selling short eared calves. Either that or they thought the weather would be good because the sun was shining when they turned the bull out in May :roll:
 
Grassfarmer said:
I'll bet there was a shift in calving trends if 40 below is typical
Click to expand...
You'd be surprised wyoming rancher, in my neck of the woods there will be more than half the places calving at the moment. Why is beyond me - it's not like this is unusually cold for us, we normally get rid of our permanent winter snow cover in the first week of April. Lots of guys with commercial cows start calving mid February or March 1st. We can expect -30C overnight anytime in February or March, -40C is possible too. With December-May being the high cost part of the year due to there being no grass why would you plonk your calving date bang in the middle? It would not be possible to pick a more expensive time of year for your cow's highest nutritional needs to occur never mind the bad weather. I guess guys just like getting docked for selling short eared calves. Either that or they thought the weather would be good because the sun was shining when they turned the bull out in May :roll:
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Interesting. We can definitely get winter here, but typically we have a window from late February until late March where the weather can be good. After March 20, all bets are off, and on a normal year we usually start getting heavy wet snows and cold again until the end of April, sometimes into mid-May. This is why I try to get most of my calves born before the end of March, and back into the trees/shelter where I can't keep pregnant cows. This year has been unreal, and the absolute best calving weather I've seen in the 12+ years I've been here. Guess you never know, but if it's typical to see -40 degree temps., I think I'd hold off on my calving dates as well :D . Nothing is worse than having a calf freeze to death before finding it. I've had those years where I've earned every calf, but nothing as extreme as you're experiencing. I hope I never see those conditions :shock: !

Do your neighbors who are calving now have huge heated barns? I remember one stretch of weather we had where the afterbirth seemed to instantly freeze to the barn ground :shock: . Luckily those stretches haven't lasted very long in the past... nothing a little Mountain Dew/Red Bull cocktail couldn't see me through :lol: .

It's looking like I may be calving out 70 heifers next spring, so I'm hoping my good weather luck can hold out at least another year :D !
 
Northern Rancher said:
yes it can get pretty darn cold not always but the potential is always there.
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I guess the potential is here too, maybe I've just been lucky. The oldtimers don't talk about winters as severe as yours, maybe a week to 10 day stretch of 20 below.
 
There's still people here start calving end of january. I admire their determination and stamina, but I don't envy it. I know a couple of guys that have beautiful simmie cattle, calve out about 300 head each, and average 750 lb steer calves. Can't argue with those dollars at sale time.
I'll just calve a little later and take my smaller cheque at sale time.
 
Silver said:
There's still people here start calving end of january. I admire their determination and stamina, but I don't envy it. I know a couple of guys that have beautiful simmie cattle, calve out about 300 head each, and average 750 lb steer calves. Can't argue with those dollars at sale time.
I'll just calve a little later and take my smaller cheque at sale time.
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It's not what you get at the salebarn, it's what you keep in your pocket that counts. :wink:
 
gcreekrch said:
Silver said:
There's still people here start calving end of january. I admire their determination and stamina, but I don't envy it. I know a couple of guys that have beautiful simmie cattle, calve out about 300 head each, and average 750 lb steer calves. Can't argue with those dollars at sale time.
I'll just calve a little later and take my smaller cheque at sale time.
Click to expand...

It's not what you get at the salebarn, it's what you keep in your pocket that counts. :wink:
Click to expand...

Alot said in that statement.
 

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