Category Archives: Calving

Roadtrip

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We are on the road again. We will be in Rochester sometime this evening, for doctor appointments the next few days. I know George isn’t a big fan of the trips, so it’ll be interesting.

I’m still going to try to blog every day. Had I been far enough ahead with all of this, I would have had my blogs ready to roll before we left, but that’s never worked out so well for me! If I plan far enough in advance, something always falls through. Oh well, our lives are exciting to say the least!

Spring has decided to play games with us, and winter has once again reared its ugly head. It’s snowing now again, as we speak. Yuck. I’m ready for sunshine and green grass, but maybe that will be here when we get back? One can always hope.

Here’s a few pics of EJ being helpful and shoveling our sidewalk. Love his enthusiasm!

Not what you want to see in April!

 

EJ love the "shubel" that Grandma B. gave him for Christmas! Maybe next year we will get him a snowblower.

Here it is, Ag Book of the Day 10:

“Little Star…Raising Our First Calf” by Twins Rianna and Sheridan Chaney. It’s a great story about twin girls and their experiences on the farm. I love how they define words in children’s terms at the back of the book. For example, “Manure – A fancy name for cow poop.” The pictures are great, and my kids love to see other kids involved in agriculture. Kindred souls, I guess.

Little Star... Raising Our First Calf First in a new children's agricultural book series. Rianna and Sheridan Chaney hope their experiences on the farm will help children understand the importance of farm animals and inspire them to appreciate all of God's creatures

Records – Part 2 (Ag Book of the Day 7)

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So, as promised yesterday, I said that I would explain what records we keep for our heifers (females that haven’t had a calf).

At birth, the records are the same. We keep track of the cow number, the sire (or bull), date of birth, weight at birth, calving ease number and weaning weight (adjusted to 205 days). The only thing that is different, is when we decide to keep a heifer to include her in our herd.

As I’ve mentioned before in my blog, bull calves get white tags at birth, heifer calves get yellow tags. If a heifer is chosen to stay in the herd, she keeps that yellow tag until after she’s been bred with her first calf. Sometime between breeding and calving, those heifer tags are switched to a new cow tag, the chosen color for that year and a new number.

That’s why it’s so important to have those records. This way we can keep track of which calves came from which cow, which bull sired which calves, etc. This way, if we have really large calves, we can see if the bull is the problem, or if there are other genetic abnormalities or issues. Also, we can make sure that no heifer is bred to its own bloodline.

Boss Man writes down the calving information in a small notebook that he keeps in his pocket, then he transfers that information to his calving book that he keeps in the shop. We used to keep that information in the kitchen, so I could help with writing out tags and such, but one Easter morning, right before church, we found out that Scooter knew how to use a Z-tag marker.

What happens when you have a child find a Z-tag marker right before church on Easter Sunday. (Pic is of Scooter, Big Bro, EJ and their cousin)

So, needless to say, Boss Man does all his own tags now…in the shop.
On to Ag Book of the Day 7 – “Senses on the Farm” by Shelley Rotner.
I had the privilege of being able to be involved with the American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher committee that read this book to a small, young classroom outside of Atlanta this year. It’s a great book, with great pictures, allowing lots of discussion and question-answering.

A matter of record – Ag Book of the Day 6

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I was asked if I could explain the records that we keep for our herd, so I will do my best to do just that. (And I’m willing to take other blog requests!)

Before I get to the details, let me tell you that our record-keeping has joined the 20th century (I would say 21st, but we don’t use smart phones…yet) and it’s mostly computer-based, and has been since 1988. We use what is called CHAPS, or Cow Herd Appraisal Performance Software.

We have one of these for every calving season, since 1988.

This is how the typical method of record keeping goes for a calf – from birth to sale barn (let’s just say that this particular calf is a steer, since most steers are sold). (And to clarify, a steer was born a bull calf, but was castrated within a few months from birth.)

Shortly after birth, the cow number, the sire (if known), date and weight is wrote down, as well as whether the calf is a bull or heifer. The calf number is the same as the cow, as long as it’s a single birth and both the cow and calf are healthy. The other number that is recorded at birth is the calving ease number.

Calving ease is just what it sounds like…how easily the calf was born. It’s a 1-5 scale, with 1 = no assistance, 2 = minor difficulty, some assistance (Boss Man may have to assist by using the obstetrical chains and pulling some, but just using his own strength, no mechanical assistance.), 3 = major difficulty, usually mechanical assistance (such as a calving jack), 4 = caesarean section (surgical removal of calf), and 5 = abnormal presentation (such as backwards calf, or feeling a tail, not a head).

In the fall of the year, the calves are weighed and weaned (adjusted to 205 days). We keep track of their weight, so that we can figure out what their gain was from weaning to sale time. That way we can make adjustments to feed, weaning date, etc., for the next season (if numbers aren’t where we like), or we can be assured that we’re doing what we need to do, producing the best results we can.

The next time we weigh the steers would be right before sale time. Not only will we know what their average rate of daily gain is (usually 3 pounds per day for our herd), but we can also sort our cattle into different groups, making it better for the buyer (uniformity is always a goal).

Once our cattle go through the sale barn, we have no data on them. We don’t retain any type or percentage of ownership, so there is no reason for whomever is finishing them to harvest weight to let us know how they did.

Now, I’ve mentioned before that our herd is a closed one, meaning that every cow here was born here. We can trace back any cow, calf, etc. that’s on our farm to her origins. It’s kinda cool.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about our heifer and cow records. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask! I love answering questions about our farm and our herd!

And now on to today’s Ag Book of the Day – Day 6:

“Plow! Plant! Grow!” yet another John Deere book (but yet again, one of EJ’s absolute favorites!). It’s a board book, so it’s easy for even George to handle. The pictures are bright and colorful, and it talks about many of the different farming activities that happen on the farm. We don’t use all the methods that they cover, but it’s neat to be able to bring other methods into our discussions. Love it!

Calving by the numbers – Ag Book of the Day 5

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I promised yesterday a calving post, but the day got away from me…I know, real shocker, right?

Here is the 2011 calving data:

2/11/11 – Starting date of calving

5 – cows left to calve, as of this posting

75 – number of bull calves

95 – number of heifer calves

9 – most calves in one day, including two sets of twins

2/19/11 – most sets of twins in a 24 hr. period (5 sets)

48 lb. – smallest calf (a twin)

130 lb. – largest calf (not a twin…but born by c-section, only vet call for an assisted delivery this year. Knock on wood.)

18 – number of sets of twins for this year

This group of twin calves is enjoying a day in the sun!

8 – number of sets of twins that were heifer/bull sets (I’ll get into why that’s important to know in another blog, but if you follow Cows_Life on twitter, you’d already know that answer!)

12 – number of calves that have died

3/17/11 – first day that we did not have a calf since calving began

165 – number of cows on the farm right now

170 – number of calves on the farm right now

This calf is a twin...notice the "B" on it's tag? There's an "A" to match!

 

And now onto today’s Ag Book of the Day:

“Buttercup, the Clumsy Cow” by Julia Moffatt and Lisa Williams. It’s a really cute book, focusing on how to make the most out of any situation. Yes, it’s silly, but you need some humor on the farm too! Plus, it still gives plenty of places where you can talk about real-farm stuff, like the dangers of wildlife to livestock, etc. Mostly, my boys just love it!

Lots’o laughs – Ag Book of the Day 4

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Today is Pocket Day at school. The boys each put a joke (written on a piece of paper) in their pocket. Scooter’s joke was:

Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road?

Because he didn’t have the guts to do it.

I’m not sure which joke Big Bro went with, but he was taking advice from Scooter, so I can about imagine. Ah, the joys of young boy humor!

Today’s book is one that we read from a lot at night. It’s titled, “5-Minute Barnyard Tales for Bedtime,” with more than 90 stories by a variety of authors.

5 Minute Barnyard Tales for Bedtime

Now, the stories are great, most with moral lessons, but I will give you a heads-up, some of the animals talk. (I know for some parents, talking animals is a no-no in farm books.) But my boys know that our animals don’t talk. They also know that our hamburger comes from our cows and that our bacon and pork products come from pigs. So using their imagination for a story isn’t a big deal.

But again, the stories are GREAT! They are short and sweet and almost all of them have really great lessons that can easily be related to everyday situations. Plus, a lot of the farm situations are very accurate, which is something we end up talking about too.

And, as promised, later on today I will be putting together a blog recapping our calving season. We’re not completely done yet, but we’re pretty close.

Which means that spring MUST be here…somewhere.

Maximum multiples

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It seems that farms and ranches that are having multiple births have been in the news as of late. There have been articles in local papers with herds that have three sets of twins, some on the same day, etc.

Well, not to toot our own horns (but why would I have a blog if I didn’t want to share our story?)…but we’ve had 18 sets of twins this year. Yep, 18.

Now, not all of the twins made it, but as of this morning, six cows are still raising both calves. That means that our calving season has produced more calves than we have cows. Which is pretty cool.

Want to hear something more impressive? My brother-in-laws farm in South Dakota has produced 22 sets of twins this year. Now, genetically these herds are linked. They both come from the original herd started here on the farm. But they do follow different breeding protocols, so although similar, the herds are markedly different.

Twins are the norm around here…I’m just glad it’s stuck to only the cattle! 🙂

Fresh on the Farm

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This is my first Wordless Wednesday post – ENJOY!

First week of spring

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Yes, that’s right, according to the calendar, it is indeed spring. Could’ve fooled me.

It’s been a long week, that’s for sure. Let me run down the last six days or so for you:

Saturday – Scooter had his first wrestling tournament in Lisbon. We had a blast, he placed first (even pinned his second competitor!) and it was a pleasant day overall. Little did I know that this would be the highlight of my week!

Sunday – Scooter was supposed to have another tournament in LaMoure, after singing in church that morning, but he woke up with 102 temp. No church, no singing, no tournament. Spent the day quarantined upstairs, so that our chances of transmitting something to George was lower. Talk about a long, miserable day for everyone.

Monday – Scooter stayed home from school, just in case. He quit running a temp late Sunday night, but if more parents would follow the 24-hour-with-no-fever rule, think of how much less stuff would be spread around? But that’s another topic, for another night. Another day of quarantine.

Tuesday – Forecast of bad weather, but it’s supposed to be further north of us. I held onto that hope up until the minute that we got the call that school was dismissing early. We ended up with rain, followed by about 4-6 inches of snow and nasty winds. No wrestling tournament in Ashley, two crabby boys home early from school, awful weather outside and a husband MIA at a meeting, since he received the message that there was no wrestling, which gave him free reign to “run errands.” (AKA – visit with anyone who will listen…for hours…and I’m not even close to kidding. Someday ask me about his “wrong number” phone call…the one where he didn’t realize that he didn’t know the guy he was talking to until 15 minutes into the conversation…and I wish I was exaggerating.) At this point in time, I’m beginning to hate the mocking way that the calendar declares that it’s spring. And checking cows in 6 inches of muck, covered with a few inches of snow, is still not fun…but great workout for the legs!

Wednesday – No school, but the school waited until after my regular alarm time to make the call. Thanks, appreciate it. So, instead of letting everyone sleep in, it was just a day where everyone was up early and bored about 10 minutes into the day. Oh, and did I mention that EJ is now sick? Yeah, he decided to start running a temp late Tuesday night. By Wednesday he’s coughing and miserable. He even asked if he could go to the doctor and get a shot. Normally, if my 4-year-old requests an injection, I would be heading to the ER, but in the middle of awful weather and blizzard-conditions, you tend to stay put a bit more.

Thursday – EJ gets his wish to go to the doctor, but the strep test is negative and it appears as if he just has a cold and some fluid in his ears. I’m not sold on that, but we have the medicine anyway, so as long as George doesn’t get sick…we’re good to go. As we leave the doctors office, EJ has a coughing fit, which leads him to remark, “The doctor’s office is broken. I’m still sick.” Apparently he figured that the minute he left, he’d feel better. I wish, bud, I wish. My mom kept EJ and George that evening while Scooter had another wrestling match. Him and three other boys from Ellendale all tied for second. It was the best possible outcome for that group of four boys. I love that he’s learning how to win (and even more importantly, lose) and still be a good sport. We have some work to do yet, but it’s a good start.

Friday – EJ is feeling a tad bit better, and I’m hoping and praying that George doesn’t catch “it.” So far, so good. Tonight was the carnival at school, and the three older boys had a blast! We brought home three goldfish (somehow the other two found foster homes!), bags of candy, toys and books from the book fair! It was a good night, until EJ got home and proceeded to throw up. Apparently the carnival was too much excitement (he hadn’t coughed all day, but went into a coughing fit as soon as we came home), but Mommy took care of things, then went and checked cows so Dad could sleep. (He came with to the carnival, which thrilled the boys to no end!) Not quite how I hoped our potential “date night” would go, but better than some.

Tomorrow, Scooter has a wrestling tournament in Ellendale. My mom will watch the other boys, just to make sure that George isn’t exposed to anything else.

When I get home, I’ll try to post some pics. And as long as everyone is healthier this week, we’ll be posting more often as well! By the way, did I mention that we only have 19 cows left to calve??? What a relief!

Rain, sleet or snow

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Farmers and ranchers are responsible for their livestock, their land, their resources, whether it’s raining in the south, or snowing in the north. That fact is true, even during a blizzard.

Our cows are normally red...not snow covered!

This afternoon a very strong storm hit our area. Now, compared to the tsunami that rocked Japan and the destruction felt in other areas afterward, what we were dealing with was small potatoes. But for our cattle, they still relied on us for safety, shelter and food.

That’s why Boss Man spent most of the evening in the barn, or out in the lot, covered in snow, not seeing more than a few feet in front of him, making sure that no new calves were born out in the terrible conditions.

This was the travel map for North Dakota for this evening. Fun!

And I went out this evening, once things had settled down a little bit, to make sure things were still good to go.

I'm on the cutting edge of blizzard fashion, I know.

Although this video isn’t the best, you can still hear the wind whipping through our trees. But rest assured, if the conditions weren’t improving, the cattle wouldn’t be out eating and they wouldn’t have been starting to move around.

They know WAY more than a meteorologist! 🙂

Yeah, they call me Grace

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Uh oh. I think I’ve really done a number now. Yeah, I went almost all winter without a problem. In fact, I think the last time I saw a doctor was my check-up after George was born. But I’m guessing I’ll be heading in soon.

I can’t lift my left arm. As in, it hurts to put on my jacket. Lifting George is almost impossible. Typing is OK, but only because I use my fingers, and don’t move my arm.

You see, it’s winter here in North Dakota. And with winter comes snow…and ice. With ice comes quick trips to meet the ground. But the problem was that I didn’t let myself fall gracefully. Nope, I had to go “Val” it up and make it painful. I somehow jammed my shoulder. The silver lining? It’s my left arm, not my right. (You see? There’s a silver lining in EVERY situation, you just have to look a little harder sometimes.)

I’m guessing I have some tears in there. I’m guessing it’ll be a bit before it feels better. And I’m guessing that this is going to be a long spring.

Maybe, if I’m lucky enough, I’ll fall again and knock it back to normal? Hey, a gal can dream, can’t she?

It’s time to go out again and check cows. My wishes are that 1) #70 hasn’t calved and I can actually get her to the barn this time, 2) if I DO fall, that I don’t break anything, and 3) it’s 70 degrees outside. (Hey, as long as I’m wishing here, I might as well throw in one big one, just to make the others seem more plausible.)

Good night! And if I don’t wave to you tomorrow, it’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I can’t! 😉