Raising Calves

The following photo shows our John Deere 4230 tractor with a John Deere 435 Baler attached.  The Baler will produce round bales 4 feet wide and six feet high and automatically spits them out the back as you roll along.  That’s Gail you see in the driver’s seat.  Very soon we will have to mow and bale our 80 acre meadow and if all goes well and we get more rain, it will produce between 250 and 300 bales.

Gail at the controls

When Richard and I rounded up the calves for marketing the other day, we were backslapping, high fiving, and generally congratulating ourselves on how smoothly the operation went.  Deftly manipulating a myriad of gates and enclosures, we had corralled and separated over thirty calves, saving three for ourselves (to expand the herd), hauling nine to the auction yard, and releasing the remaining younger ones back to the care of their mamas.  All done in less than two hours, it could not have gone smoother, or so we thought.

Gates, gates, and more gates

When Frank and I went out the next morning to fill the “creep feeders” we discovered, to my dismay, that there was a lone calf trapped in the chute from the previous day’s activity.  Not only was it trapped in the chute, but it’s hind quarters were draped over one of the rails we use to keep them from backing up once they are in the chute.  The poor thing couldn’t move forward or backward or to either side!  It just had to stand there all that day and night waiting for us to return.  Apparently, with all the bawling and caterwauling that was going on we failed to notice the calf and drove off, leaving her trapped.  When we finally got her loose, she made a beeline for the watering pond after which she literally ran to find her mama.  The entire episode was cause for some good natured ribbing at the “board meeting” where I was informed that mistakes such as that would not help to get me into the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

As I mentioned, we cut out three calves to expand our herd and this morning I went with Richard to haul them to the veterinarian.  The veterinarian wormed them and gave them shots for several different illnesses and then branded them with our JR brand and the number two representing the year of their birth, 2012.  The three of them are pictured below.

Freshly branded

We cut our 20 acre pasture a couple of weeks back and it has really helped the grass.  As you can see in the following photo, the new grass is already several inches high.

Our 20 acre pasture

This is where we will put our three new calves as soon as they are weaned from their mamas; about two more weeks.

As nice as the weather has been, we sure could use some rain.  It has been unusually warm and we have not had the summer thunder showers that are normal for the area.  In the following photo, the cows are getting relief from the sun in the shade of the wooded areas.

Looking for shade

We have 32 cows on the east pasture, 25 cows on the west pasture, and 10 cows that are normally kept on the 20 acre pasture.  Added to this, we have 3 bulls and 25 young calves remaining.  These animals are not as dumb as they act.  They seem to know what we are up to and look at me differently now that I have participated in kidnapping their young.  When I came back from the auction barn they seemed to look at me with that “we thought you were different from the others” look and I felt the guilt.  In retaliation they randomly lay land mines around the property like the one in the following photo.

Deadly pasture mines

Stepping on one of these is a constant danger and must be avoided at all costs.