Our 2018 calving season began on August 21st when Three-Toes gave birth to a bull calf.
Three-Toes is one of two heifers we kept from herd legend One-Toe. For the story of this special family, you can check out “One-Toe—Matriarch of the Toe Family,” posted March 14, 2017, and “One-Toe’s Legacy—The Toe Sisters,” posted a week later on March 21, 2017.
We are expecting 60 calves this fall, down from 70 last year. Earlier this year, Bill culled a few more of the older cows from the herd than he has in the past. The wisdom of that decision was confirmed when summer arrived early, grinding spring into the dust! Winter precipitation was almost non-existent in our area of Northeast Kansas. No spring rains and early scorching temperatures resulted in the worst drought since 2012, although some say this one is worse. Pasture grass dried up. Pond levels fell drastically, leaving sludge and the danger of a cow or calf becoming trapped in mud on a day when temps reached triple digits. Some cattlemen experienced a decrease in the numbers of quality hay bales which they then had to start feeding early to replace the pasture grass. The result: price of hay went up. Some cattlemen have had to sell part or all of their herds. Surprisingly, that hasn’t had much affect on the price of cattle. But then, other areas of the state have received much more rain.
We’ve coped fairly well with the drought. Bill saw the writing in the dust on the wall early and sold last fall’s calves—except for twelve heifers that will be bred this winter and join the herd—about two months earlier than usual, before the price started to fall and to take pressure off our pastures and water supply. He was forced to start feeding hay and grain in July. Cattle from three of the rented pastures were brought home so he wouldn’t have to haul feed to them. The ponds in those pastures were dangerously low anyway. He got lucky and found big round hay bales to buy at a reasonable price. We did have a decent hay crop but not enough to last through the winter for the few head we keep at home.
The good news is we’ve had a little over six inches of rain since August 7th!
Three-Toes is one of two heifers we kept from herd legend One-Toe. For the story of this special family, you can check out “One-Toe—Matriarch of the Toe Family,” posted March 14, 2017, and “One-Toe’s Legacy—The Toe Sisters,” posted a week later on March 21, 2017.
We are expecting 60 calves this fall, down from 70 last year. Earlier this year, Bill culled a few more of the older cows from the herd than he has in the past. The wisdom of that decision was confirmed when summer arrived early, grinding spring into the dust! Winter precipitation was almost non-existent in our area of Northeast Kansas. No spring rains and early scorching temperatures resulted in the worst drought since 2012, although some say this one is worse. Pasture grass dried up. Pond levels fell drastically, leaving sludge and the danger of a cow or calf becoming trapped in mud on a day when temps reached triple digits. Some cattlemen experienced a decrease in the numbers of quality hay bales which they then had to start feeding early to replace the pasture grass. The result: price of hay went up. Some cattlemen have had to sell part or all of their herds. Surprisingly, that hasn’t had much affect on the price of cattle. But then, other areas of the state have received much more rain.
We’ve coped fairly well with the drought. Bill saw the writing in the dust on the wall early and sold last fall’s calves—except for twelve heifers that will be bred this winter and join the herd—about two months earlier than usual, before the price started to fall and to take pressure off our pastures and water supply. He was forced to start feeding hay and grain in July. Cattle from three of the rented pastures were brought home so he wouldn’t have to haul feed to them. The ponds in those pastures were dangerously low anyway. He got lucky and found big round hay bales to buy at a reasonable price. We did have a decent hay crop but not enough to last through the winter for the few head we keep at home.
The good news is we’ve had a little over six inches of rain since August 7th!
Hello, My Beauties
Meet ten of our 2018 first-calf heifers!
The class totals eleven this year. The eleventh is a familiar face, or a familiar ear tag number: Mosey, all grown up and expecting her first calf. Doesn’t she look excited about being a first-time mom! Those spots on her head are mud splatters. Mud is good. Mud means we had rain!
Mosey was born in September, 2016, and was orphaned a week later when her mama, Cow #25, succumbed to anaplasmosis. We needed to confine her to the barn and corral until she was comfortable being bottle-fed, but didn’t have any other orphans (thankfully!) for company. We still had Miracle, an orphan from 2015, in the herd so Bill put her in with Mosey as a companion. Miracle couldn’t fulfill surrogate mother duties because she didn’t have the feeding equipment. After she taught Mosey the difference between “companion” and “mother,” the arrangement worked beautifully! Their story, “Mama Miracle,” was posted September 23, 2016.
New Farm Felines
Sadly, we lost Molly Bolt last winter to feline leukemia. He (Yes, he’s a male and came to us pre-named!) was a street-wise alley cat in Topeka taken in by a woman who rescued strays. His commanding arrogance whipped us and Cricket into shape quickly! I posted his story, “Molly Bolt” on January 10, 2014.
Bill wanted another cat, or two, as mousers in the barn but decided to wait until spring to start looking. A neighbor’s cat had a litter in May and Bill got two females, one black and one gray. We named them Midnight and Stormy.
Stormy steals Midnight’s food when she’s distracted by the camera!
Calf count as of September 9th is 19.
First Calf Heifer #372 had our 20th calf this afternoon in about 20 minutes, probably a record in our herd, even among our veteran mamas. Bill says that’s why he buys calfing-ease bulls. But this birth was exceptionally quick, like a sprint labor and delivery! Also, the calf wasted no time getting up to find the lunch table.
Will try to get pics for the next post.
Will try to get pics for the next post.
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