Thursday pictures, January 29, 2009

[Soapweed]

Today we brought some of our cows home from a neighbor's place, where they have resided since late in May of last year.

Traipsing through the snow

I am leading the herd with the feed pickup.

At times some get ahead of me.

Like right now

They are stringing down the road.

My sturdy steed of steel

These girls are wondering about their leader.

Ready to cross the Bear Creek bridge

Coming around the bend

Cowgirl crew bringing up the stragglers

On the home stretch

A very competent mother-daughter cowgirl combo

Later in the day I counted half of the herd through a gate into another pasture.

The rest had to stay behind.

Some of our replacement heifers that are wintering about twenty miles from home. I looked at them this afternoon and left a check for the next month's feed bill.

 

[Sundancer]

Spectacular pictures, Soapweed The weather was perfect for photographing black on white (nothing political/racist intended :wink: ). Your replacements look like dandies as well. Are they weighing around 700? Looks like they are about the same size as mine. What kind of ration are they on.....they are slick and have some cover. I see there are a couple with dry skin around the eyes as well. I've got that some too....probably a little worse than other years. What is that about? Enjoyed the drive

 

[Soapweed]

Spectacular pictures, Soapweed The weather was perfect for photographing black on white (nothing political/racist intended :wink: ). Your replacements look like dandies as well. Are they weighing around 700? Looks like they are about the same size as mine. What kind of ration are they on.....they are slick and have some cover. I see there are a couple with dry skin around the eyes as well. I've got that some too....probably a little worse than other years. What is that about? Enjoyed the drive

The heifers are getting a couple pounds of 20% protein pellets, some ground hay and some silage. The first of next week they are going to go out on a meadow and just get good meadow hay fed through a processor and the two pounds of protein pellets. In late April they will again be dry-lotted and prepared to be synchronized and AIed during the week starting May 18th. Next fall the AIed bred heifers will be for sale, and we will keep the bull-breds.

 

[Les]

good lookin bunch of cattle,heifers and cowgirls

 

[Yanuck]

thanks Soapweed, did you draw the short straw and had to drive the truck? :wink: :lol:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

thanks Soapweed, did you draw the short straw and had to drive the truck? :wink: :lol:

He just knows where his talents lie. :wink:
Probably was haulin' the lunch. :lol: :lol:

 

[Big Swede]

Why keep the bull breds instead of the AI breds? Just curious.

 

[P.A.L]

Is the soil so dry that you can keep heifers in fenced area like that? Here it would get very muddy? Do you use any bedding? Very nice looking cattle, Thanks

 

[Soapweed]

thanks Soapweed, did you draw the short straw and had to drive the truck? :wink: :lol:

It's a dirty job but somebody has to do it. :wink: Besides, the cows are more used to me driving the pickup.

Why keep the bull breds instead of the AI breds? Just curious.

Because the AI fanfare seems to bring the biggest bucks when selling bred heifers. To me it doesn't matter. If I was planning to keep all the heifers, I wouldn't bother to AI any of them. I have another bunch of heifers with another party for the winter, and all of them will be summered separately and bred with bulls.

Is the soil so dry that you can keep heifers in fenced area like that? Here it would get very muddy? Do you use any bedding? Very nice looking cattle, Thanks

This "dry-lotting" seems to work fairly well, though my preference is to winter heifers on long-stemmed hay and cake. When you put them with someone else to winter, you kind of need to let them do it the way they desire. Through the years I've put out heifers with several different parties on several different programs. As long as the heifer survives the winter, they usually go on to make pretty good cows.

 

[kolanuraven]

You are in the nice warm truck....and the girls are out on the horses in the cold............................................................Hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Soapweed]

You are in the nice warm truck....and the girls are out on the horses in the cold............................................................Hmmmmmmmmmmm

It's kind of like Aesop's Fable aboutThe Man, The Boy, and The Donkey--no matter what I did it would be wrong. :wink:

The Man, the Boy, and
the Donkey
An Aesop's Fable

A Man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said:

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

"That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:

Please all, and you will please none

The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey Fable
An Aesop's Fable
With a Moral

 

[kolanuraven]

I didn't ask you to justify yourself....I just made an observation was all.


But seemed to have the need TO justify it......interesting.

 

[Denny]

I didn't ask you to justify yourself....I just made an observation was all.


But seemed to have the need TO justify it......interesting.

As soon as I seen the picture's of the gals a horseback I knew you'd get your panties in a wad.Around here the girls would make you drive the truck anyhow.


Nice cattle Soapweed excellant job your doing.Nice you let the women have their (Female Bonding) time also..

 

[Soapweed]

I didn't ask you to justify yourself....I just made an observation was all.


But seemed to have the need TO justify it......interesting.

As soon as I seen the picture's of the gals a horseback I knew you'd get your panties in a wad.Around here the girls would make you drive the truck anyhow.


Nice cattle Soapweed excellant job your doing.Nice you let the women have their (Female Bonding) time also..

Thanks, Denny. I did give the ladies their choice and they chose to ride the horses. We could have all rode horses and then rode back to get the pickup and trailer, but would probably have had trouble getting the cattle to cross the bridge. At times they just go sailing across, and sometimes we get stalled out there for quite awhile. In the spring, taking pairs down, occasionally I have roped a calf by the neck. When the calf bellers, the mom follows closely as I drag the calf across, and then the other cattle come readily. Sometimes the old feed pickup just can save a lot of grief. :wink:

 

[Richard Doolittle]

The ladies sure didn't look too grumpy in their picture!

 

[Soapweed]

The ladies sure didn't look too grumpy in their picture!

Peach says, "even though our smiles were frozen on........" :wink:

 

[Denny]

We led ours home in november with the tractor we have 2 small bridges to cross and normally run into the same problem.I also got to drive the tractor even though I would have preferred my horse..

 

[gcreekrch]

Looks like you all had an enjoyable afternoon. Your cattle look good.

 

[Yanuck]

I didn't ask you to justify yourself....I just made an observation was all.


But seemed to have the need TO justify it......interesting.

As soon as I seen the picture's of the gals a horseback I knew you'd get your panties in a wad.Around here the girls would make you drive the truck anyhow.


Nice cattle Soapweed excellant job your doing.Nice you let the women have their (Female Bonding) time also..

Thanks, Denny. I did give the ladies their choice and they chose to ride the horses. We could have all rode horses and then rode back to get the pickup and trailer, but would probably have had trouble getting the cattle to cross the bridge. At times they just go sailing across, and sometimes we get stalled out there for quite awhile. In the spring, taking pairs down, occasionally I have roped a calf by the neck. When the calf bellers, the mom follows closely as I drag the calf across, and then the other cattle come readily. Sometimes the old feed pickup just can save a lot of grief. :wink:

actually I was serious when I asked if you drew the short straw, I dislike having to drive the truck to lead them, too fast, too slow, its easier to let "someone else"take the fall! :wink:

 

[Blkbuckaroo]

Good pics soap,was looking at your wind break walls there,and wondering is it very windy in the summer in Nebraska?