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Some pics from Illinois

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Just rotated some cows off of one pasture onto another so thought I would take some pictures.. The grass where the bulls is is real short for one one main reason... It is a thin sandhill and the planting hasn't ever established itself. The bulls were just being held there for a day as they had been where the cows are now...

After posting this the first time, might have to edit some down... We shall see.

Thelounge.jpg


Hanging out

Theherd.jpg


Grazing

herd2.jpg


Home grown

Spreadout.jpg

Spread out

ShotcutHeaven.jpg


Waiting for his turn

DSCN2322.jpg


you looking at me?

Redbull.jpg


Pharo Bull

Azen.jpg


Black Bull

Buster.jpg


Forage bull
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Illinois looks good, George, real good.

So do your cattle. I like that Red Angus Pharo bull. Is he a Pharo
bred bull or from one of his cooperators? And is the bottom black bull that you called a "forage bull" a Pharo bull too, or were you just messin with our minds? :wink:
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
All the bulls shown are forage developed two year old Pharo coop bulls... three are from one in Iowa, The last one labeld forage tested is a composite of his. 1/2 red Angus. 1/4 Black Angus, 1/8 simmi, 1/8th gelbvieh. 205 day weigh ot 762 pounds out of a rather small, young cow. The other ones are all Red Angus, even the Black bull.

The red on that you like is out of a bull called Colorado Hobo out of a ranch near Aberdeen.. Not a registerd bull as his mom is out of a multisire group. During the move he was the only real obstinate one but that is becasue for some reason he didn't want to cross the pavement on the little road that cuts off that 80 acres from the rest of the farm. Finally he decided it was okay.


I'm still trying to figure you my shed pattern this year on cattle. My bulls and older cvows all shed out real good and fast. About 50% of my heifers did too but the other 50% are really dragging. Generally my cows from out west, the first year at least, are always poor early sheders..I could blame mineral, and part of me wants too but my consumption hs been real good.

I have never bought a 100% pharo bull that was his breeding. The colosest one I have is a REd composite that is out of one of the herds he moved out too a coop producer. He wouldn't leave the group that was mobbing around together so couldn't get a picture of him without the appearence of him haveing 12 legs and 3 heads.

Been called many a thing before and answered but haven't been called george since we read Of Mice and Men way back when. Oh well, it was my Great-Great Grandfathers name...

Anthony
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
OOPS, IL rancher. I'll apologize for calling you George. When you get my age you will know why these things happen...often! :wink:

As I looked at the pictures I was thinking they were from Illinois and I remembered George is from Illinois so that's how I addressed the response. (2+2=5). :p

I think Colorado Hobo is one of Kit's favorite sires. From the looks of your bull I can see why. They all look really good. When did you get them and have they fattened up since you got them?

The Forage Tested bulls I saw looked stunted. But that was several years ago and since then I have heard there was a reason why. But first impressions last a long time and that is the picture I see mentally when someone says Pharo forage-tested bull. I need to go to the sale again in order to get rid of that image.

About the shedding. We have that problem too, sometimes. It can be worm load as well as anything, or being shorted on energy during the winter. (which I doubt is a problem you would have. Here we can be short on energy as a rule.)

I also know that we have some cattle that go back to Marriott of WR Bar. He had a LOT of hair and the cattle from him seem to be the last to shed. So I know there is some genetics involved in that. But I don't like it, yet I do like cattle with hair for our cold winters.
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Fh, I think George is from Indiana, lol...Maybe 2+2= 7 :D :lol: :lol:

I bought those bulls at last falls sale. Did they look rougher than they do now? Not really. The have but on lots of muscle but I would expect any bull going from 16 months to 20-24 months to do that. I am guessing you went to one of the spring sales? I bought two from him this spring and one was in real good flesh and the other looked a bit rougher but not stunted.. To be fair what it looked like he really needed was a good shed. He is a Fishers Legacy son. He is so much younger than all the other bulls that I wonder if I am giving him a fair shake. He was bought as an ubber calving ease bull so I shouldn't really judge him until I have calves on the ground.

I can't really think of any scrubby looking bulls at the fall sale. Now, they are always going to be smaller than the average 1400 pound yearling at some other sales but they are a different genetic make up. OF course, there were some there not as nice as other but... I would recommend going to a fall sale, it is their heifer sale too but the bull sale is in the afternoon.. They also do it on video now at DVauction...

Hobo was in many ways the foundation of his program, at least that is what it appears to me when I look at the bulls he has for sale and who their sires are... He had to be put down this past fall because he stiffled himself this summer and they couldn't fix it. His son, Deja Vu was at the sale and was just... wow.


We need the hair for our winters too FH. We have our -10's with high winds and all of that good stuff and the 1000's of acres of corn fields with no windbreaks just means there is nothing to slow down that wind. We have some trees for them but it is not enough really. And our biggest negative is that the sun is very rarely out. WE can go weeks without having a sunny day to warm the cows up via black hide solar energy absorption..
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Do you feed something for energy in your enviorment? As I mentioned the lack of shedding can be from a shortage of energy during the winter.
Our cows just get hay and mineral, no other supplementation so I suppose they are short of energy, some days more than others.

Can you run a fecal and check for worm load? What have you been using as a dewormer.

Yep, George is from Indiana. One more strike and I'm out.

Sorry for the confusion.

And yes, the sale I attended was in the spring. Thanks for the information.
 

Ranchy

Well-known member
I'm in awe of the grass, too! :shock:

And I love the black bull. Does he throw small calves, and would you sell semen from him? I'd love to see a small calf from him and Tillie, much more than the red bull Hubby's got picked out for her. :roll:

Thanks for sharing pics! :cboy:
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Which black bull Ranchy?... The one titled "Black Bull" is... a +0 epd birthweight bull, weighed 71#'s at birth but the sale catalog listed him as a two star calving ease bull.. The composite bull was 81#'s and is a 3 star... Couldn't tell you about small vs big calves, just got them last fall. Have given some consideration to collecting one or two of the bulls. I have two other black buls that have a bit more calving ease in them... I have too many bulls... I really do.

FH, lack of energy was the least of these cows problems, lol. We were hay short this winter so the cow herd had ground stalks, gluten, seed corn silage and some shell corn as well. I don't even like thinking about how much energy they used... But it was a least cost solution, although it could have been more least cost if the stalks had amounted to anything but even tehir tonnage was half as much if not 1/3 as much as usual.

Worm load, yes, I can do a check on that I suppose.. WE wormed with Decotomax injectable in Feb. I believe we used Cydectin last spring and we also did a feed through of safeguard last spring when we did have a lovely worm load. The older cows being free of the problem while the younger ones are not would lend support to either parasites or environmentally adjustments....

Grass has actually been a bit slow this spring. The drought last year really slowed stuff down for early spring, coupled with the cool weather and we just enver seemed to get going. The cow pasture there is the one that is looking real good. There is some grass out there that is taller than waist high on me and I am 6 feet tall. Hopefully the grass will keep getting good moisture and some heat (not too much) through the summer... I know late July/EarlyAugust will be dry... Always is around here.


Oh and really don't worry about the George thing... No confusion here..

:D :)
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
The bulls look great - especially the Hobo son. I'm curious about the soil though. You mentioned that it is lighter land - have you ever done a soil sample? What's it like? Does it get real sticky when it rains? Obviously something's lacking, just curious as to what it might be.
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
I need to do another sample out there.. By light I mean that there is a reason this place is in cattle and not corn. Throught this part of Illinois there is a sand dune that runs. Right around hee is is about 1/4-1/2 a mile wide. The area by the road thee is basically blow sand and the last two years have been a bit dry for this area so the grass on those hills never came on. This past winter we spread all the manure on the area from the calving barn/pens so that will help a bit but not much... I am betting that I really need to lime the field as everytime I test a field that is what it tells me to do.. That, and we are short on Boran. The people who used to farm this were... well, a little behind in nutrient managment.. From what I have been told the farm management service was a bit to blame for that.


It is a a tough farm to manage in some regards because at the bottom of these sand hills we have what basically amounts to swamp..... WEll, not swamp when it is dry but in anormal to wet year we get standing water... Those fields are so hummocky tha they are impossible to fetilize or anything now last year the wet pastures were the best... We have 200 acres under control as far as soil which leaves us with another 125 that needs our attention... Thanks for the reminder about getting the soil tested, I keep meaning to make that phone call.
 

HAY MAKER

Well-known member
What I would give for country like that ! thanks for showing me what ranching country looks like,& your stock is really good looking too.Been so dry so long around here I forgot what grass looks like,we pulled the last load of cattle off the S TX places this week,depends on what the hay crop looks like this year on the Hill country cattle,we may have to sell them too.................good luck
 

PureCountry

Well-known member
IL Rancher, I just asked because I've seen pastures like that where there's a mat of forage, just not very tall and low yields. If the soil in those areas becomes real sticky when it's wet, it could be a sign that Magnesium levels are higher than they should be, in proportion to other elements. Putting on Lime to bring up the Calcium levels can help in those instances, but only the soil sample will tell the real story.

Where do you send your samples? I send mine to Brookside Labs in New Knoxville, Ohio. Long way from East-Central Alberta, but well worth it in my opinion. All their work is based on the work of Dr. William Albrecht who directed the faculty of Soil Science at the Univ. of Missouri in the....50's I believe.
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
I'll keep that in mind purecountry... Almost everyone around here uses MOWERS as their soil tester and I believe they do their testing at their own lab... I am thinking about switching to a different fertilizer company but they haven't gotten back to me... Our soil does tend to get a bit sticky with some moisture... I think I will get 135 tested this next week and than another 150 tested again after the cows graze it down.. Need to budget in the fertilizer over the next two years again.. I have a feeling it iis going to take years to stabilize the values. My guess is the levels are going to stink in the PK area as well :mad:

Was 90 degrees today, going to be that warm through the weekend... With no rain we could get in trouble soon but hopefully june will be a good moisture year. Have the haybarley field that is planned for hay that could be grazed as a just in case emergency but that leaves us in a bad situation for the winter. We have almost no margin for error this year because our subsoil moisture levels are next to none due to the drought last year.
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
IL Rancher, thanks so much for posting the pictures, brings many memories back to me, flat, but lots of trees, and GREEN!!! I still have a "cousin-in-law" who farms outside of Hinckley, raises corn and soybeans, still keeping with the tradition of our family. I think he is probably the very last farmer in our family...sad.

Illinois still has a very special piece of my heart..........

Hanta Yo
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Ahh, Hinkley-Big Rock... We played them in Basketball on occassion. Gosh, that was 20 years ago probably...How time flies. That is my major complaint with Illinois... A little to flat for my tastes... Better than some other parts of the country and we actually have 200 feet of elevation change on this place... (Sure, it is just one big hill overlooking mostly bottom ground but hey... You can see forever from the top of that hill)

South Centrel Montana...I'm thinking Columbus area? I remember driving back from Red Lodge and having to drive the slalom through a bunch of white tails in the fog, at dusk somewhere between Red Lodge and Columbus. My 5 years in Montana left a mark.. lol... Always a special place in my heart and especially in my wife's heart for that state... Loved the research job I had out at the Red Bluff Ranch.


Don't let the trees full you. This area of Illinois was the beginning of the great plains with the trees being around the creeks and rivers. Northwestern and Northeastern Illinois were very treed and so was Southern Illinois... Southern Illinois is really beautiful.. Lots of hills and rock formations down in the Shawnee.
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
IL Rancher said:
Ahh, Hinkley-Big Rock... We played them in Basketball on occassion. Gosh, that was 20 years ago probably...How time flies. That is my major complaint with Illinois... A little to flat for my tastes... Better than some other parts of the country and we actually have 200 feet of elevation change on this place... (Sure, it is just one big hill overlooking mostly bottom ground but hey... You can see forever from the top of that hill)

South Centrel Montana...I'm thinking Columbus area? I remember driving back from Red Lodge and having to drive the slalom through a bunch of white tails in the fog, at dusk somewhere between Red Lodge and Columbus. My 5 years in Montana left a mark.. lol... Always a special place in my heart and especially in my wife's heart for that state... Loved the research job I had out at the Red Bluff Ranch.


Don't let the trees full you. This area of Illinois was the beginning of the great plains with the trees being around the creeks and rivers. Northwestern and Northeastern Illinois were very treed and so was Southern Illinois... Southern Illinois is really beautiful.. Lots of hills and rock formations down in the Shawnee.

What did you do at Red Bluff?? My spouse, sw, did lots of studies there during his time at MSU. My, isn't this a small world???

We are located about 50 mi directly north of Billings in the Bull Mountains.

Keep sharing info, we'll probably find our we're related :wink:
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
It was just one winter, not even a lot of days but my advisor was doing a study on the affects of shelter on BCS of wintering heifers or something like that. All I really did was sit for most of the day and write down what the different groups of animals were doing. resting, eating or standing. Than 3 or 4 times a day I had to walk the pastures and take wind and temperature ratings of where the cows were and at two or three testing stations.

They took blood chemistry and other things too, but I wasn't involved in it.. One thing I remember is wishing I had my snowshoes on the first day...
 

Hanta Yo

Well-known member
IL Rancher said:
It was just one winter, not even a lot of days but my advisor was doing a study on the affects of shelter on BCS of wintering heifers or something like that. All I really did was sit for most of the day and write down what the different groups of animals were doing. resting, eating or standing. Than 3 or 4 times a day I had to walk the pastures and take wind and temperature ratings of where the cows were and at two or three testing stations.

They took blood chemistry and other things too, but I wasn't involved in it.. One thing I remember is wishing I had my snowshoes on the first day...

Who was your advisor?

Red Bluff can be pretty hard
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Bret Olson or Olsen... He also did some studies with goats and sheep controlling noxious weeds. I know he taught Range Resources Managment..

Had a real heavy snow the night before we started..It was cold and windy but that wasn't the bad part... It was the drifts.. Good god they were something nice...
 

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