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Preg checked today

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Big Muddy rancher

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I feel pretty good about our preg check today.
The cows we checked were the oldest and some thinner 1st and 2nd calvers and 40 Hfrs. out of the 40 Hfrs run with one yearling bull we had 4 open and out of the 110 cows we had 11. Now remember these older cows are cows left behind because of BSE and the border issue. I would have gladly culled any one that was open but since they were in calf i will try to treat them a little better and nurse another calf out of them hoping for our cull prices to pick up in the not to distant future,. I also put 4 cows down that were older and lame ect for the vet to take brain samples for the CFIA survalence program. The program is beating it's quota for this year and now with 3 cows I had tested last winter I will have about 2% of my herd tested for BSE.
I feel prety good about not testing the rest of the herd as opens should be a very low number.
 
I just got mine done yesterday...my results were about like yours. I have got to put two old cows down! Boy I hate to do that job, but will grit my teeth and do it. When they get so old and refuse to die, after a decade or 1 1/2 decades, given me a good calf every year its tough to do. :cry:
 
Why put them down ship'em to town if they are good enough to eat hay they darn sure are worth some money.I'd rather get $200 in my pocket than a $20 rendering truck bill.
 
Denny said:
Why put them down ship'em to town if they are good enough to eat hay they darn sure are worth some money.I'd rather get $200 in my pocket than a $20 rendering truck bill.


denny I know you were adressing Kate cause up here our cull market is still bad. Any cow with a lump,limp our looks lousy is not worth much and hardly worth the hauling and commision. These cows that I put down while still in good enough shape wouldn't have brought much and we can get $75 from the CFIA for testing.. They were all old enough for the pension and in the targeted age "Pre Feed ban" era. I look at it as the testing needs to be done to clear up this BSE issue so lets "GIT'ER DONE"
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Denny said:
Why put them down ship'em to town if they are good enough to eat hay they darn sure are worth some money.I'd rather get $200 in my pocket than a $20 rendering truck bill.


denny I know you were adressing Kate cause up here our cull market is still bad. Any cow with a lump,limp our looks lousy is not worth much and hardly worth the hauling and commision. These cows that I put down while still in good enough shape wouldn't have brought much and we can get $75 from the CFIA for testing.. They were all old enough for the pension and in the targeted age "Pre Feed ban" era. I look at it as the testing needs to be done to clear up this BSE issue so lets "GIT'ER DONE"

I understand your point 100% it was the other post made it sound like they had to just kill them around here all you get for a dead cow is a $20 pickup charge.I have lots of cows I consider great cows but when they have run their race they are still burger.

You guys can turn that cold NW wind off any time but at least its not muddy in my heifer pen anymore.

Have a nice day..
 
Here's a photo of a 16 yr old bred cow - Bonnie Sue. We liked her
so much that we bought her as an open 14 yr old(a leap of faith!).
She has a terrific hindquarter, and her back is as wide as a circus
horse. Her calf is due in the spring---hope it looks just like her.

bsue333jpg.jpg
 
Some areas can run older cows because the cows don't have to work nearly as hard as in some of this cold short grass country. Seems like cows grazing shorter grass and sandy country lose their teeth a little quicker and don't have to eat to mantain body heat.
 
Well considering a 16 year old cow is probably the equivalent of an 80 year old woman I think her suspension and udder attachment look great.
 
When we bought her, she was open but was raising a heifer
calf - photo below. She seemed to have plenty of milk &
the heifer grew very well.

missfancy2.jpg
 
Yes, the heifer came with the cow--she was a couple of months
old when we got her. She is bred now to have her first calf
next spring. We had thought about flushing the old cow, but
she is really really nervous in a chute...but likes to be
curry combed or back-scratched out in the pasture. Must have
been some kind of trauma earlier in her life. She's like
a puppy dog out in the pasture & will follow you anywhere.
 
And you just added one of the most important economic traits to your herd......Longevity. I like to occasionally buy some broken mouth bred cows and keep the hiefers out of them for that reason...

Amazingly, some of those old girls can keep producing if you have the right feed and supply the right minerals,


PPRM
 

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