It's that time of the year...
time to wean the calves.
After the cows and calves have been sorted...
We haul the calves to this barn.
The calves will stay here for 10 days
until they are weaned.
We have 10 barns....this is my favorite...
It is 90 years old.
The calves are eating a round bale of hay
we made last summer.
The calves are 6 to 8 months old
and weigh 500 to 600 lbs.
These are a few heifer calves
we plan to keep as replacement cows.
Number 22 is Ruby Jean
Number 36 is Shasta,
she looks like a little polar bear!
Remember these little twins?
Number 3 and Number 4
Born in February of this year...
Here are the twins now:
They were separated at birth...
we had another cow who lost her calf,
we put one of the twins on her.
The twins had plenty of milk
and grew really well!
Enjoy the video below:
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Oh how sweet, you named a cow after me! She is sweet.
ReplyDeleteOur son climbed Mt. Shasta last year when it was covered in snow....a few months later this beautiful white heifer was born and we named her Shasta.
DeleteMy Best To You,
LuAnn
It must have been a noisy few days around the farm when you separated the cows from their calves!! Shasta is a beauty...I hope you will breed her to Ferdinand and you will have even more pretty calves! The heifers you choose not to keep for replacement heifers...do you sell them to other farmers directly or do they go out with the steers to the auction? What makes you keep one heifer over another? How old are the cows that the replacement heifers replace and do they go to auction with the steers? So many questions from this city girl turner farm wife! Sorry to be so inquisitive!!! (ok, not really that sorry!)
ReplyDeleteShasta is Fernando's baby, so she can't be bred to him. The heifers we do not choose to keep for replacement cows, will be shipped out with the steers when they are 18 months of age. We sell them to a cattle buyer. The biggest, heifers with the best confirmation we keep for replacement cows. Our cows will raise calves until 12 years of age and probably more like 15 years or better, then they are turned out to pasture to live out their lives.
DeleteThanks for your questions,
LuAnn
Great video's...I think I recognize some of Fernando's (??) baby/babies?? I had one horse that I couldn't keep in with electric fence...I'd hear a noise at night and low and behold...there Tang would be outside the barn door just waiting for me to get up (usually around midnight or two in the morning! HA
ReplyDelete