Post by liveoak on Jul 10, 2011 19:24:51 GMT -5
First let me say that all my cows are round fat, have plenty of grass, and mineral/salt, etc...and I hand feed the calves 20 percent cattle cubes several times a week. The calves are FAT but they are greedy pushy little buggers!
The three largest/oldest boys, ages 5 months and 3 months, have brought a dry angus cow (Scarlett) into milk, She is due to calve in September.
I have also observed them sucking on a 5 year old brahman cow that is due in October but they have not successfully got her bagged up,
Two of the boys are first calves for their 2 year old moms. One of those first calf heifers does have a smaller bag and so I can see how her steer wants more.
The other two boys have moms with nice large full udders and PLENTY of milk. But because they get together and pester Scarlett (angus), she has apparently given in and now she just lets them suck. Cayenne, the brahman, on the other hand, lets them suck but as I said her udder is still flat.
So my inclination is to cull Scarlett because she is not going to have enough colostrum if this continues.
One bullcalf in particular (whose mom is a good milker with plenty of udder volume) is only 3 months old. These are beef calves and the idea is that they will be weaned this fall and sold at market. So I would prefer not to wean just yet. The other two steers are 5 months old. Again, would prefer to wean this fall and get the profit from extra growth on grazing.
These calves are just round fat piggies! I have watched them bully the two cows I mentioned.....and attempt to nurse some of my other docile cows/heifers.
I want to wait to cull Scarlett until absolutely necessary because locally prices are down due to drought and I am hoping that we will get some rain and prices will come back up.
So for the sake of Scarlett's September calf's colostrum, when is the latest I could sell her, and the calf be okay???
Or, if I keep her, and let her calve, will her calf have any colostrum? Could she at some point kick off these bullies?
How do you handle this?
The three largest/oldest boys, ages 5 months and 3 months, have brought a dry angus cow (Scarlett) into milk, She is due to calve in September.
I have also observed them sucking on a 5 year old brahman cow that is due in October but they have not successfully got her bagged up,
Two of the boys are first calves for their 2 year old moms. One of those first calf heifers does have a smaller bag and so I can see how her steer wants more.
The other two boys have moms with nice large full udders and PLENTY of milk. But because they get together and pester Scarlett (angus), she has apparently given in and now she just lets them suck. Cayenne, the brahman, on the other hand, lets them suck but as I said her udder is still flat.
So my inclination is to cull Scarlett because she is not going to have enough colostrum if this continues.
One bullcalf in particular (whose mom is a good milker with plenty of udder volume) is only 3 months old. These are beef calves and the idea is that they will be weaned this fall and sold at market. So I would prefer not to wean just yet. The other two steers are 5 months old. Again, would prefer to wean this fall and get the profit from extra growth on grazing.
These calves are just round fat piggies! I have watched them bully the two cows I mentioned.....and attempt to nurse some of my other docile cows/heifers.
I want to wait to cull Scarlett until absolutely necessary because locally prices are down due to drought and I am hoping that we will get some rain and prices will come back up.
So for the sake of Scarlett's September calf's colostrum, when is the latest I could sell her, and the calf be okay???
Or, if I keep her, and let her calve, will her calf have any colostrum? Could she at some point kick off these bullies?
How do you handle this?