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Thursday pictures, January 29, 2009

Soapweed

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2005
Messages
16,264
Location
northern Nebraska Sandhills
Cattledriveinprogress.jpg

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

Traipsing through the snow
Iamleadingtheherdwiththefeedpickup.jpg

I am leading the herd with the feed pickup.
Attimessomegetaheadofme.jpg

At times some get ahead of me.
Likerightnow.jpg

Like right now
Theyarestringingdowntheroad.jpg

They are stringing down the road.
Mysturdysteedofsteel.jpg

My sturdy steed of steel
Theyarewonderingabouttheirleader.jpg

These girls are wondering about their leader.
ReadytocrosstheBearCreekbridge.jpg

Ready to cross the Bear Creek bridge
Comingaroundthebend.jpg

Coming around the bend
Cowgirlcrewbringupthestragglers.jpg

Cowgirl crew bringing up the stragglers
Onthehomestretch.jpg

On the home stretch
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A very competent mother-daughter cowgirl combo
LaterinthedayIcalledhalftheherd.jpg

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

The rest had to stay behind.
Someofourreplacementheifers.jpg

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.
 
Spectacular pictures, Soapweed :D 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 :D
 
Sundancer said:
Spectacular pictures, Soapweed :D 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 :D

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.
 
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
 
Yanuck said:
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. :-)

Big Swede said:
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.

P.A.L said:
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.
 
You are in the nice warm truck....and the girls are out on the horses in the cold............................................................Hmmmmmmmmmmm
 
kolanuraven said:
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
 
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.
 
kolanuraven said:
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..
 
Denny said:
kolanuraven said:
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:
 
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..
 
Soapweed said:
Denny said:
kolanuraven said:
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:
 

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