2022 Calving Season…

[unclebilly]

Well it has begun.

Calf 1


Calf 2

[unclebilly]

I posted the original post while I was in town and got home just in time to pull another… hard pull. I am glad we decided to skip skiing today otherwise we might have lost the cow and the calf.

[stevej37]

Always amazes me how strong and resilient newborn calves are.

Nice job.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Always amazes me how strong and resilient newborn calves are.

Nice job.

Especially considering we pulled 300 - 400 lbs on its wrists to get it out. We did give it a shot of metacam which you do after a hard birth.

[PorscheGAL]

Dumb question:

That white calf: Will it stay white or change colors?

How many calfs are you expecting? And will you sell them or add to the herd?

[KFC911]

That's very cool unclebilly! Can't say that I've ever done that.... or ever will

[unclebilly]

The white calf should stay white. The bull is white.

She will stay in the herd. We keep the female shorthorns (we are a purebred breeder) and sell the commercial (mixed) calves.

The red and white one is a Hereford - Shorthorn cross. The brown one is a bit of a mix. The dame is a brown Swiss / Angus cross and the sire is a white Shorthorn.

The ones I’m most excited about are the Wagyu cross calves that are due next week.

[Instrument 41]

So what are they bringing on the hoof at the stockyard? We use to get a freezer calf when all 4 boys were home. However i hear that you can get it cheaper at the grocery store than at the butcher.
.

[unclebilly]

It varies and we’ve gotten screwed by Covid the last 2 years (middle men made the money hence our venture into wagyu and direct marketing).

A 500-600 lb steer calf got about $2.15/lb last year. The Heifers got about $1.90/lb.

They would have been 7 months old. From there they go to a feed lot to get fattened up for another year or so.

[stealthn]

You had me at Wagyu, when’s the BBQ Scott?

I know there is a big waygu producer here, I just haven’t tried theirs yet.

[Instrument 41]

So what has your feed cost gone to? Corn or grass? That cost at market is about what I paid for the calf cut and packed from the market. Do you pay to have them hauled or do you move them yourself. I know fuel increases are having and effect on sell price.

[sc_rufctr]

I love country stuff like this and those are some proper cows!

Do you remember the lost watch scene from "City Slickers"? lol

[unclebilly]

Brant Lake Wagyu is 15 miles south of me and they have a store front on 58th ave SE.

Our costs have NOTHING to do with what we get paid for our calves if you sell at the auction hence my foray into purebred breeding stock, Wagyu and direct marketing.

If the Wagyu calves look good, I’m going to AI a bunch more to Wagyu this summer.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

The white calf should stay white. The bull is white.

She will stay in the herd. We keep the female shorthorns (we are a purebred breeder) and sell the commercial (mixed) calves.

The red and white one is a Hereford - Shorthorn cross. The brown one is a bit of a mix. The dame is a brown Swiss / Angus cross and the sire is a white Shorthorn.

The ones I’m most excited about are the Wagyu cross calves that are due next week.

I grew up in Herefordshire, was about to ask if that was a Hereford but the speckled legs threw me

https://www.herefordbeef.org.uk/about/

[David]

Taken at the Houston Livestock show a few years ago. I didn’t know the kid but thought it was cute.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

I grew up in Herefordshire, was about to ask if that was a Hereford but the speckled legs threw me

https://www.herefordbeef.org.uk/about/

We had all purebred Herefords up until this year. We put our Hereford bull in the freezer and bought a white shorthorn bull that fit with our plans.

Herefords are great, friendly cows (too friendly) but sadly disposed to cancer eye (maybe not as much of an issue in the UK) and the market here wants red or black angus like cows right now.

If you cross an angus with a shorthorn, you get better calves which I why there’s a market for the shorthorn breed right now.

Interestingly, shorthorns are some of the original domestic cattle breeds so there is a desire to get back to some of the old blood.

[drcoastline]

I like the brown one, please can I keep him? I promise to walk him, feed him and clean up after him. He can sleep in my room.

[stealthn]

This thread is making me hungry 😄

[billybek]

Well, now you have some proper cold calving weather!
Hope everything goes ok in this -11 deg C temperature.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my buddies grew up on a dairy farm. So all his live as a kid he mucked stalls, and helped take care of cattle. The state came along and used emanate domain and bought the dairy farm and that piece of property is underwater as Lake Arcadia.

He worked in the tech industry and retired. He bought a 1/4 section of land in the corner of Oklahoma county. He raised cattle and his goal was to have enough of them his wife would quit naming them, so he could buy and sell them as needed. He had to stop all horse breeding when they got up to 8 horses, and his wife had them all named and they are all just turning hay and grass into poop and just really large pets.