On any beef operation, there is one clear and absolute rule – all cows must raise a calf to weaning. That’s her job. That’s why she exists. If she “comes up open” or “doesn’t settle”, meaning, she’s not pregnant, she needs to go some place else. Same if her calf dies. It costs quite a
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We just got the message that Wordless Wednesday means that we are supposed to post a picture, and not use it as an excuse to not post anything at all. So here’s a picture of Emma, and her new baby.
Doing the freezer inventory consists of two parts – 1) figuring out what’s in the freezers and 2) letting people know the results of part one. I’m pretty good with the first, but as some of you have figured out, I’m not as good as I should be with the second. But after quite a
If you say “plain old grass” to anyone in the forage business, we have a tendency to get a little sensitive. For us, there’s no such thing as “plain old grass”. Every grass, forb and legume has a purpose, a value and a need. And the more you do this sort of work, the more
Georgia gets all the credit in story and song about their clay, and I have to admit, I’m a little bit jealous. Because here in Virginia, we’re no slackers in the clay department. We’re famous for a few things – peanuts, ham and Dave Matthews for instance – but I don’t think we get enough
With the increasing availability of computers in the 70’s some of that technology was applied to an age old question – why are some bulls better than others at producing quality offspring? Land grant universities and breed associations had been collecting data on cattle for years – birth weights, weaning weights and yearling weights were
Losing your high-dollar herd bull to lightning is a big setback. You’re not just out the cost of the bull, you’re out that bulls genetic contribution. Plus Murray Grey bulls are really hard to get in Virginia. Rain King stepped up to the challenge. He bred one group of cows for spring calving, and the
As our cow numbers increased, so did our land base. We got an opportunity to rent a farm about 7 miles from our home, well-fenced, well-waterered, and with a great landowner. We got a second group of cows for the rental farm. Of course to have all our calves born at the same time, something
Veteran’s Day gets a lot of notice and airplay these days, but with memories of Viet Nam clearly in people’s minds, it was mostly an invisible holiday, mainly devoted to yard work and maybe a few sales. With 9/11, Veteran’s day became more visible, and a little weirder. People have certain expectations as to what
Rotational grazing is the practice of rationing out grass to animals. Instead of cows having access to a big huge field, portable electric fence is used to ration out a small section of it. And there are a lot of good reasons to so it. Cows will eat what’s in front of them. They won’t