Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

We Preg-checked the replacement heifers yesterday. I wish I could say it went well but that wouldn't be the case. It is normal for me to have 10-12% dries on my replacement heifers. This time they went, I hate to admit it, 23% dry. Almost twice what is normal. When the vet checked the first one he said, "this isn't a good sign guys, she's dry."

The question now is why were there so many drys? The first thought was trich. The vet has had some experience with this and says he really doesn't think that is the problem for three reasons. A herd being infected with trich for the first time will normally run right around 33% dry and we were well off that figure. Second, if the herd was infected with trich he would expect to find some bred early and almost everything else bred real late with almost none in the middle. He said the pregnant ones were well spread out through the breeding cycle so it just didn't feel like trich. Lastly we used all virgin bulls on these heifers and since the bulls carry the disease from year to year they couldn't have infected the heifers.

Next he said any other disease that could realistically be a problem, bvd, ibr, we vaccinate for and have for years. So he said he would question the bulls. Truthfully I would to. I did use one less bull than I would normally use in a pasture of this size and roughness and then one of the bulls got foot rot that I didn't catch a ways into the breeding season so he didn't work the full season. I would bet this is the problem but I'm just not sure.

The only way to double check this would be to preg check the whole herd after weaning. If there were a disease problem with then heifers it would also more than likely affect the cows so they would come in with a high percentage of drys too. If they don't that would more point towards the bulls situation. I haven't decided yet if I want to preg check the whole herd or not. That's quite a bit of money and work to do something i normally don't do and I'm not sure it is necessary. I will have to think about it and decide.

Damn the bad luck. I hate shit like this.

It is innocence that is full and experience that is empty. It is innocence that wins and experience that loses. Charles Peguy

I managed to finally get the bulls out. I was a few days later than normal due to all the moisture we have been having recently. It isn't quitting wither. The are predicting one to three inches of rain in the next 36 hours and have issued flood warnings for the area due to the all ready saturated ground. Can you say watter logged? You can see my two helpers, my daughters, chasing the bulls in the picture. The hired hand hasn't started yet and I needed help getting the bulls out so they were drafted. The oldest is a hell of a hand but hates every minute of it. The younger one has the better instincts and really enjoys it, but is a lot more tentative and needs a lot more seasoning to really make a hand. Taken 6/5/2007.

Reading Karen's story about the tied up bull reminded me of one of my bull wreck stories. Sometimes these critters get in the biggest predicaments. I know I'm not a very good story teller but bear with me.

It was many, many, many moons ago and I believe I had gotten the bulls in to pour them in the fall. We got them poured all right, not having a chute they would fit in you don't want to know how I poured them, it isn't exactly safe, we were taking them back out to their pasture when the wreck occurred.

There was a round bale feeder sitting in the pasture which this bull decided to investigate. Now this feeder has parallel bars going up at about a 45 degree angle and the bars are about 2 feet apart. It is built in three sections and where the sections meet is a bar that goes straight up and down. Therefore at three different spots on the feeder there is an opening that is 2 feet wide at the bottom but narrows to a point at the top instead of maintaining the width all the way to the top. Well guess where this brilliant bull put his head in the feeder? At one of these spots. What happened when he decided there was nothing in the feeder and lifted his head up and went to back up?

You got it, he wedged his neck in and was stuck. He got a little upset at this point and started really pulling back to get out. Two thousand pound bull vs. 200 pound round bale feeder. Yup, he started backing up and pulling the feeder along with him. This was more than my horse could handle, he knew that feeder should not be moving so he sucked his tail down tight, reared and turned, and decided to go visit the far side of the pasture. It took me a little bit to get him under control and not trying to run away, but there was no way he was going near that bull and feeder that was still moving around all over the place.

Now I have had this happen before to cows with these feeders and all I had to do was get in the feeder and stand on the cows head to push it down until she could get it out. They usually only go no more than 900 pounds at the time and were not pulling the feeder around. One look at this 2000 pound bull and I knew this solution wasn't going to work here. I did not weigh enough to be able to push his head down even if I could get a steady enough platform to work on, with him moving it around, there was no way I could make it happen.

So I studied the situation a little bit closer and come up with a solution finally. Since the opening at the bottom was larger than the opening at the top where the bull by lifting his head was trapped, if I turned the feeder over the larger opening would now be at the top where the bull could pull his head out real easy. I got off my horse and threw my reins to the hired hand and started chasing after the bull/feeder combination to attempt to turn it over. I yelled at the hired hand to tie the horses up and come help me.

I finally get up to the bull/feeder combination and the bull is getting a little owly at this point. I get my fingers under the edge of the feeder and start to lift it up to try to turn it over. The bull is throwing his head up trying to get it off and is not helping me at all since with his help I am having to lift it higher and higher all while walking along as the bull is backing up. I yell at the hired hand to get over and help me all the while trying to flip the feeder over. All of a sudden the bull drops his head which gives me enough leverage to push the feeder all the way to a standing position. I then managed to get my fingers under the edge again and finished flipping the feeder over.

The bull at this point lifts his head up to the top of the now full sized opening and backs out. He then calmly turns away and walks off after the other bulls who by now are in their home pasture. I looked around and spotted the hired hand and asked him why he didn't get in and help me when i was trying to flip the feeder over. He said that he had no idea what I was trying to do since I didn't tell him, which was true, and he figured one of us had better stay away from the wreck so they could haul the one that got hurt to the hospital. All I could do was laugh. I couldn't blame him for not helping me, he had no idea what I was up to. I guess I need to communicate better sometimes.

The predicaments these critters get into sometimes are amazing. The risks people take to get them out of these wrecks are also amazing. What I did might have been stupid, but what choice did I have? I had to get the bull out of the situation.

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. T. S. Eliot

Some of the Bulls enjoying a wintry hay buffet. Taken 2/2/2007.

This is not something most of you would find interesting, but it caught my eye.

Trouble-shooting reproductive failure

With fall preg-checking season well underway, some herd owners are surely pleased with their results. Meanwhile, others are looking for bred females to purchase.

The goal shouldn't be to have 100% of your cows bred each year. Herds at or near 100% pregnant year after year generally represent one of two situations — a very extended calving season or overfeeding. Neither option is cost-effective for overall herd profitability.

Financial analysis indicates a pregnancy percentage of 90-95% in 65 days is both achievable and likely most profitable. If your herd is below this level, some investigation by you and your herd-health veterinarian is needed.

What really caught my eye was the 100% of your cows bred.

HELL, THAT'S ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE!!!

I've always been happy with anything greater than 90% with the bulls out 60 days. I must be doing something right since that what the article says should be what you shoot for. I've never had a problem with this so the remedies aren't of a lot of use. Reading them though was constructive though for what I am doing right.

I put out plenty of bull power for the cows. I just use a thumb rule of one bull for 20 cows. This will take into account the rugged nature of my pastures and that I don't fertility test my bulls. If I have a bad bull or two, more than likely, I have enough bulls out there to do the job so I won't be hurt. I breed in just two pastures and I try to put a mix of ages in each pasture. The younger ones in the rougher pasture and the older ones in the pasture with less hills to climb. It seems to work good for me so why mess with things.

I really work to keep my cows in good condition so that's not a problem usually either. I will admit that the early weaning I now espouse is a strategy I stumbled into to keep the cows in better shape. Since I started that I have noticed the cows condition tends to be better year around and the breed back rate is higher on the cows.

The other day I was walking around and looking at some cows while I was waiting for all of them to come into cake when I spotted an older cow I thought was in poorer shape. She was in okay condition but I could see her spine and that she was showing her age. I worked around here to see her year brand, last digit of the year they were born, so I could see how old she was. There was a nine on her hip. This meant she was either 7 years old or 17 years old. Believe me, she wasn't 7 years old so that means this old cow is 17 years old. How she is in such good condition is beyond me but I do get cows like this so I must be doing something right. For as old as she is I wouldn't say she is in just okay condition, she is in excellent condition and I am hoping for another calf out of her. As long as a cow can maintain herself and raise a good calf she gets to stay in the herd. Age doesn't matter.

Like I said the article was interesting but I didn't learn much other than through trial and error my family has learned how to raise cattle right. A lot of the things I do I learned from my dad and some things I have learned on my own but they work here in this country for my cows. Whether they would work for other people is beyond me. There is too many variables to give hard and fast rules in the cattle business. Just find what works and keep doing it. Hell, that goes for anything in life so take it to heart.

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, it's that time of year that the Boyz of Summer get to go out and meet the ladies.

Trailing the bulls out to be with the ladies. They were getting awfully hot and tired by this point but once they saw the ladies they forgot all about that problem. Typical males. Taken 6/2/2006.

I usually do this on the first day of June but life got in the way this year so they went out a day later. That's the way things work sometimes. It sure was a warm day to be doing it. It got to like 95 degrees by the afternoon. Good thing we did it early in the morning or we would have never made it with the Boyz. As it was they got pretty hot.

There was one really frustrating thing that happened that screwed up the fun of the day. SOME SON-OF-A-BITCH CAME THROUGH THE PLACE THE NIGHT BEFORE AND LEFT A BUNCH OF GATES OPEN. This required many extra miles of riding to get the cattle back in the right pastures after we got the bulls out. My girls were out helping since I figured it wouldn't be too long of ride. The younger one is just getting good enough I can take her out more but I have been trying not to go on real long rides with her so she enjoys it more. Well having to fix the problem lead to a lot longer, hotter ride than I expected but she held up like a trooper. I was awful proud of her.

This is the second time this week someone has left these gates open. I don't know why these son-of-bitching hunters can't close the gates when they come through. If this keeps up I am going to have to take my rifle and start patrolling at night around the hills to scare them off. A few well placed shots ought to do the trick. Why I have to resort to such measures is beyond me. If people just had a little respect for each other it wouldn't be necessary. Oh well, the morality of society falling apart, nothing new.

All God wants of man is a peaceful heart. Meister Eckhart

Three of the lucky five bulls that got to go out with the young ladies and have some fun. They didn't seem very interested when we arrived at their destination but I am sure that will change. Taken 5/3/2006.

I know, I know, I'm a little behind schedule. I should have turned the bulls out to the yearling replacement heifers 2 days ago but I didn't. I felt that getting the seeding done was more important. The seeding is done though. What a relief. That has been praying at my mind for over a week now and I am glad to get that monkey off my back.

Lacking a hired man I have to prioritize somewhere and the bulls got put off. They will go out this morning though to do their job. I will start calving a couple of days later but it really shouldn't make a difference. I won't say I am behind on doing things right now but I am not ahead either. I am just keeping up with getting things done. The next few weeks are pretty scheduled in on what needs to happen at what time to keep on schedule.

I have interviewed on person for the job so far. He is very interested in the job which really concerns me. Anybody that interested in this job with the job market the way it is really smells like trouble to me. There are lots of jobs out around the country and anybody who is this anxious to come out here worries me. The last two times I dealt with somebody this anxious to come work here they both were wanted by the law and were looking for a place to hide and being this far away from things looked like a good place to hide. I will call his references and mull the situation over. I'm not too sure.

On the way home the other day I noticed how nice and green it was around the country. It sure is pretty out. Hope it continues on this nice.



So what I think we could aim for in the way of human civilization and culture would be a system in which we are all highly aware of our existing interconnection and unity with the whole domain of nature, and therefore do not have to go to all sorts of wild extremes to find that union. Alan Watts

The four Gelbvieh bulls I bought from Midland Bull Test arrived yesterday. It was nice to get them but it sure blew a hole in my day of seeding. Nice looking bulls if I do say so myself. Taken 4/30/2006.

I've been so busy I plum forgot about the new bulls arriving. Four virgin bulls from the Sitz Angus ranch. I bought them a while ago but they just got delivered, 11:00 at night on the 12th. I am going to have to talk to them about delivering bulls so late at night. I couldn't really see them until the next morning to see if they made the trip all right. They did but delivering when I can't inspect them is just bad precedent.

Don't get me wrong, they are nice bulls just like the ones I bought last year. I am really impressed with the calves off the ones last year so I will continue to get these for a while. I like the way they are turning out.

I also picked up some Gelbvieh bulls at the Midland Bull Test sale. I haven't took delivery of them yet. Once I get them I will have my bulls for another breeding season. It's coming sooner than a person thinks. Gotta plan ahead.

When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary. Thomas Paine

It seems like we haven't been getting much sun recently so the early morning sun slanting across the pastures really caught my eye.

Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. Yousuf Karsh