Cows with bull

Yesterday morning I let the cows into the bull's part of the corral so they can eat his hay.  This is the last hay bale for the Spring, and after the bale is eaten they will be let out into the yard to eat grass.   I knew the cows would have eaten their hay bale by morning so when I woke up at 7 am I went outside to let the cows into the bull's part of the corral.  Then I went back to sleep as 7 am is early for me.

The calves loved being in the new part of the corral.  They ran around like wildfire and would jump and kick and twist and turn as they raced each other.  The bull immediately found that cow 20 was in heat.  He wanted to mount her.  She wasn't in standing heat and just wanted to eat some hay.   Around and around she moved to eat hay and the bull followed.  Cow 20 is a big cow.  While Fritz the bull has been getting bigger and taller this Spring, he still is smaller than cow 20.  But Fritz stood tall.  Where there is a will there is a way.  In the afternoon I saw that Fritz was eating on one side of the hay bale and cow 20 was eating on the other side.  I saw cow 20 had her tail sticking out a little bit as she ate.  Not normal when cows eat.  I think the tail stuck out slightly since the bull recently bred her.

The hay bale before I let the cows into this part of the corral.

One calf had decided to climb into the wooden feeder to pick at the leftover grass I had placed in there the evening before.

Photos of Fritz in action.

Once the calves settled down from running around, a number of them stuck their head through the fence to eat grass in the hayfield.

A few videos of the cattle.

Cows to hay bale.   23 seconds long.  https://youtu.be/GHk4SCDVMgg

Bull checking cow 20 out.   The camera's battery was getting low so I didn't get a video of him trying to mount the cow.  14 seconds long.   https://youtu.be/I9PdyQt-bzk

Bull puts his head through a fence

Recently I saw Fritz the bull push his head through a fence by the water trough while a cow was drinking.  Fritz wanted to check the cow out to see if she needed some of his loving.  This fence has wire attached to it to stop the cattle from putting their head through the fence.  Fritz pushed the wire back.  I was concerned since the wire has pointed ends and I didn't want the wire ends to poke Fritz's head.  The wire didn't when Fritz withdrew his head.  To fix this problem I added some more wire to this wire and wrapped it around a pole to hold the wire in place.  So far this is working.   We are only days away from me letting Fritz join the ladies.

Temporary corral panels and calf photos

Yesterday I noticed several of the extended corrals panels were getting bent.  These were the panels right next to grass on the other side.  The cattle want to eat grass even though they have plenty of hay.  Sometimes they moo at me when they see me on the other side in the grassy area.

To help protect these two panels I tied a couple of wooden pallets against the panels.

These photos show other areas.  Last year the panels were against the taller grass.  This year you can see the grass-free areas are starting to grow things since the cattle can't get to that area.

A nice afternoon.  Many of the calves were sleeping soundly.

Two of the heifer calves are smarter and getting brave.  They will come close to me when I am in the corral.  When I am on the other side of the fence I will pull some grass and feed it to them.  They will take the grass from my hand.  Othe calves so far aren't brave enough to take grass from my hands.   The cows see me feeding grass to the calves and immediately come over.  They push the calves to the side and want the grass.  That is why I hand feed the grass to the calves.  So the calves can get some grass.  Even so, I have had some cows reach over and pull the grass from the calves' mouths if part of the grass is still sticking out of the calves' mouths as they eat the clump of grass.  Even the mother cows will pull grass from their calf's mouth.  One calf is getting smarter and will move away or turns its head so a cow, or her mother, can't get the grass from the calf.

Cattle vaccinations

Today the cattle got their first round of vaccinations.   I never did this before.  But I have seen at some auctions they announce when cattle had vaccinations.  The vaccinations help protect cattle from certain illnesses; but does one get more money for cattle who were vaccinated?

I talked with a few other people and they vaccinate their cattle.  This idea also started as Michael and Kari asked if I vaccinate my cattle and offered to help me vaccinate them as it is a more than one man operation.

I learned it is best to vaccinate the cattle in the Spring.  Cows and calves.  And if not vaccinated in the past, the cattle get two shots, about a month apart.  For me it is best to do the vaccinations when the cattle are in the corral and before they are let out to grass on June 1.

I was waiting until the last calf was born, but who knows when that will be.  Two vaccinations a month apart, let's start now.   Kari and Michael had the day off work today and the weather and temperature was ideal today.  Tomorrow, not so much.   Kari and Michael came over after 2 pm and we started.

I wanted to do the bull and the cows first.  The vaccinations are with a needle and it is best for the cow to be in the headgate so they don't thrash around when they get their shot.  The hard part was getting the cows into the headgate where it would lock in place.  Some cows didn't want to approach the headgate.  Some cows didn't push hard enough to lock the headgate and then would back out.  The one cow left to have her calf was not going to be vaccinated.  She almost did as she was locked in the headgate when I noticed her.  We let her go.

One cow was fast.  As we left out the cow that had been vaccinated the next cow rushed right behind her and got out before we could close the headgate.  So we had to get her back into the loading corral.  Kari and Michael ran around the corral after her while I handled the loading corral gate.  I didn't do a good job as I accidently let another cow out.  More running around in circles after the cows.  At times amusing to watch.  We finally got the two cows back into the corral.

Donna came over when we were almost done with the cows.  Donna then reminded me about the ivermectin I usually pour on the cows' back to control ringworms, flies, and other insects.  Duh.  I forgot.

The bull was the last to be vaccinated.   We released him then herded him into the south corral.  Then we got the two replacement heifers out of the south corral so they can be vaccinated and be with the cows.  You'd think herding the heifers out of the south corral would be easy.  Wrong.  It was harder.  Michael and I got one heifer out.  The other heifer didn't want to go and we ran in circles to get him out.  Finally he ran over to the gate by the water trough.  Before Kari and Michael got the gate open I heard a loud crash and breaking wood.  The heifer ran through a part of the corral by the water trough.  This is a part of the fence I can just slip through to get in and out of the corral.  The heifer couldn't slip through the fence so she broke it.  Then it was an effort by Michael, Kari, Donna, and I to get the heifer back into the corral before she could take off elsewhere.  We got it done.

The heifers were a handful.  Like teenage girls.  Even in the headgate they fought hard to try to get out.  We had to calm them down so Kari could give them a vaccination shot.

Then we put the cows and heifers back into the loading corral. The cows were like, why are you putting us back into the loading corral?   I had to pour the ivermectin on the cows so we had to get them through the runway once again.  This time we didn't have to have the cows go into the headgate.  Enough cows in the loading corral runaway and they couldn't move much to get out of the way as I poured ivermectin on the backs of each cow.  Then release them then do another group of cows in the runway.

Now time for the calves.  Most of the calves, except three of them, were out in the extended corral.  First we got the three calves into the loading corral runway.  Then we had to get the cows and heifers back into the loading corral.  Again? The cows said.

Then we got the rest of the calves into the loading corral runway. After that we let the cows out and put them in the extended corral.  Of course the cows then stood on the other side of the loading corral fence and mooed for their calves.

Now the calves.  The headgate wouldn't work as the calves are too small for the headgate.  I have a calf table which I had only used a couple of times over the years.  Michael and I would release one calf at a time and guide the calf to the calf table.  Of course the calves didn't want to go into the calf table.  The calves are already too heavy for Michael or I to lift and carry individually.  It took two of us and it still was an effort to carry a calf who didn't want to be carried and would fight.  We got two calves done.  Kari gave them a vaccination.  I poured a little ivermectin on the calf's back.

Two calves and it was an effort for Michael and I.  I got the idea of moving the calf table to a gate for the loading corral runway.  Michael and I wouldn't have to carry the calves so far.  I used my tractor to lift and move the table.  Okay.  That's done.  It should be easier.  Well... a little.  Only a little.  We didn't have to carry the calves but they would run and twist and turn and around we would go.  Michael and I didn't have to run as far, but we still would have to run.  The calves seem to run faster than the cows do.

The loading corral runway gate went against the calf table on one side.  On the other Kari would stand guard so the calf wouldn't run around that side.   When we were done with the calf we let it out of the calf table, then Kari and I would let the calf out of the loading corral gate.  One time when we were doing this another calf ran around the calf table and Kari and I had to head it off, then back around the calf table.

It took both Michael and I working together to get a calf to go into the calf table.  Then Kari would pull the lever to pull the one side to hold the calf in place.   Our work was a job for three people.

Finally we got all the cattle vaccinated.  Whew.  We let everyone, but the bull, to be together and all were now happy.

Michael and Kari told me they had fun doing this.  Well good, because it was some work to do this.  This was not a typical day.  I worked up a sweat running around and was tired at the end.

Michael and Kari's dog Max wanted to be with us.  Once we were done with cows we let Max join us for the calves.  Max wanted to be with us and watch, not be a cattle dog.

Once the cattle were done, and Michael and Kari left, it was time for me to fix the broken corral fence.  This is where the heifer somehow got through the fence.  Imagine that.  The middle rail got replaced.  The middle post got replaced.  Then that caused the bottom rail to be replaced.  And the right half of the second from the bottom rail to be replaced.  More and more as I fixed one thing.  Then another.   And for some reason some nails didn't want to come out or go in the rails.  Pulling on a large crowbar to get some nails out.  And even big thick nails wanted to bend instead of going easily into the newer rails.  The final nail will be done tomorrow as it was getting dark by the end.  I will have to drill a small hole in the rail for the final nail tomorrow.

One of the rails the heifer broke when she went through the fence.

Hay bale. Mud. Fence fix.

Sunny dry day.  Good.  Give us time to dry things out.  The recent snow broke off some evergreen branches.  Late day I spent time cleaning some of the branches up out of the north pasture. I have more branches to clean up in the middle pasture tomorrow.

I put out a hay bale this morning.  Parts of the corral and extended corral are still muddy but I made it. When walking I was careful where I walked so as to not get stuck in the mud again.  I drove the tractor a little extra near the hay feeder.  That gave me some easy places to walk when I unwrapped the netwrap from the hay bale while the tractor held up the hay bale.

Somewhere on the lower left side of the photo is my lost sock.

No new calves today.  When looking at the calves I found this one in the loading corral's runway.  I herded her out then repaired the fence panel in the runway the cattle had pushed off one railroad tie.  I added some more long nails.  Maybe that will stop the cattle from moving the fence panel.

The last calf born is doing ok.  Most of the other calves hang around each other, or are next to their mother.  This last calf usually is elsewhere laying and relaxing.  And he seems ok with being by himself.

Snow again

Mother Nature pulled an April Fool's joke on us.  I woke up to lots of snow.  What happened to the rain that was forecasted?

On one side of the house the snow was on the tulips rising up.   The other side with a roof overhang was snow free.

 

The snow stayed around until evening. We only got up to 38 degrees today.  Slow snow melt. Even though it was cloudy all day, by evening the only snow left was in the shady areas.

In the morning it was time to put out another large hay bale.

The corral had been drying up.  With a little under an inch of moisture the past 24 hours the corral went back to mud.  If I knew this was going to happen I would have waited longer before bringing the cows into the corral and extended corral.   Fortunately no new calves today.  Too muddy and wet.

This evening I opened the gate to the loading corral.  There is grass in there and will give the cattle a drier place to lay tonight.   Of course, even though the initial cows that entered the loading corral had eaten the hay, they immediately began to eat the green grass.   I'll see how things are tomorrow.  I don't want the cows to pull up all the grass and then turn this into a muddy area.

Ditch burning, calf photos and tree

Rain didn't come until 6 pm. I was able to burn the rest of my ditch this afternoon as the wind was light.

I checked on the calves today.  No new calves.   I noticed the cattle has pushed in one of the loading corral runway fence panels.

I walked around the corral looking for all the calves.  I was one calf short.  Then I looked in the loading corral runway and found the missing calf.

I saw these two calves laying together.  I went and got my camera as the calf on the left was laying right against the calf on the right.  His head was on the other calf's shoulder and under her head and neck.  Pretty view.  Initially I thought it was the last calf who was born as I couldn't see the ear tag.  Of course when I came back the left calf woke up and raised his head up.  No it wasn't the last born calf.

The last born calf is fine.  Every time I checked on him he was in a different part of the corral.  So he is moving around.  Sometimes laying next to his mother.  Other times elsewhere.

This is a female box elder tree.   The bark was peeling away at this location. I removed the bark.  Under the bark and against the tree were box elder bugs.  This is where they hide!   And on female box elder trees, not male box elder trees.

Start of harrowing and extended corral build

Spring is coming off and on.  Earlier this week our temperatures were high for three days.  One day even set a record high temperature at 71 degrees. The last few days our temperatures are now back to normal.

The grass was starting to green. I had planned on putting out one more large hay bale in the pasture before setting up the extended corral.  But the recent warm temperatures sped up the grass growing. Every day was much greener.  Now the cows were spending some time nibbling at the fresh grass and not always eating the hay.  Not good to wait three more days to set up the extended corral.  The gras needs to get a start growing.

But before I can set up the extended corral I first need to put the harrow together and then harrow the NE pasture.  I need to get the harrow into the north pasture before the extended corral is set up.  Assembling the harrows went slower than expected.  I thought I would be done yesterday but it then rained much of the afternoon.  I finished assembling the harrow this afternoon.   In the past some harrow sections would come apart by the time I was done so I spent more time and effort chaining sections together.

Harrowing the NE pasture went well.  Partway through I had a short time of rain and graupel.  In the photo below you can see the harrowing areas before and after the rain and graupel.  There wasn't much of the moisture but the little that fell made a difference.  I also harrowed the fruit tree area.

Once the NE pasture was done I went out to the north pasture and harrowed where the extended corral would be, and a little bit of the north pasture.  The photo below shows the manure and snow I had pushed out of the corral earlier this Winter.  Almost all of our snow is gone.  But this was a huge pile of snow, and the manure slowed the melting down.

Then off to make the extended corral.  The past few years I made the extended corral a little smaller each year.  The reason is that the cattle obsess with eating all the grass until there is nothing left.  And that is even with all the hay for them to eat.  Making the extended corral smaller allows the grass to slowly come back in the previous year's extended corral.  I don't need a large extended corral.  The only reason for the extended corral is a place to put the large hay bale.  When I put out a new hay bale the cattle are kept in the corral so they won't get in the way or get hurt when I put out a new bale.

The extended corral is done and now time to let the cattle out to the hay.  And time for them to stop mooing at me to hurry up with my work.

While the other calves run around to check out the extended corral this calf is already starting to eat a little hay with the big cows.

Some of the rest of the calves.  The newest three calves still spent time laying and sleeping and they were still laying in the corral.

I'll see if tomorrow I will continue to harrow the hayfield and other pastures. The ground is still moist and often I could see a little indentation from the tractor tires.  I may wait a few more days.

Cleared snow in corral

Today after I put out another large hay bale for the cattle, using the tractor I cleared most of the snow out of the corral.  Less snow gives more areas the cattle can lay other than just in the loafing shed.  And would be less moisture, and mud, when the snow melts.  I also cleared most of the snow out of the south corral where the replacement heifers are located.

Corral and loading corral

This afternoon I finally finished painting the barn.  More on that in another post once I get photos taken of the new paint job.

I had time left so I got the chainsaw and trimmed the railroad ties in front of the loading corral.  Some of the ties were a bit longer so I evened them out.  I have spikes in the ties and into the ground holding the ties in place, so I didn't trim the ties any shorter.   Next year I'll try to remember to move some dirt to make the other trailers be a little taller.

I had more time available and I got the lawnmower out and mowed the weeds down in the corral.  The cows earlier had eaten what they wanted off the weeds, then the weeds died.  The look did not appeal to me.

I used my rake to flip the manure in half the yard.  I need more time for the manure to completely dry before mowing to even out the grass height in the yard.  At least the yard looks better than the tall weeds did in the corral.

Fixed corral fence

This morning I got around to fixing the corral fence board the cattle had broken when they were in the loading corral on Wednesday.  This cow is the one that reminded me that I needed to fix the board.

On to the next project.

Starting the wean

This afternoon I separated the cattle to start weaning calves.  First, I had to go hiking.  More on that in a post tomorrow on my hiking blog.  Before I went hiking I put all the cattle into the corral.  The yard was mostly eaten and I didn't want the cattle in the yard when I was gone.  Earlier I had forgotten to hook the chain on the loading coral gate and the cattle found that out in the morning and pushed the gate open.  Most of the cattle were in the loading corral eating the grass so getting the few that weren't in the corral was quick and easy.

The cattle weren't in the yard as long as in the Spring.  I had put protection up, but quickly and not as good as in the Spring.  So these cattle made a mess of some things.

The walnut tree that re-grew this year was eaten.  The cattle apparently got their tongues through the fence.

They knocked off part of the house's drainpipe, then stepped on it within the concrete block area.

Usually I had a tarp that I could tie to the well's pump house.  I couldn't find it so I tossed a couple of other tarps on the roof.  The cattle kept pulling the tarps off the roof.  Then they tore off part of the shingles.

I had some large plastic garbage bags in this crowded area.  The cattle reached in and found them and pulled them out and spread them across the yard.  Here are a couple of them.

After my hike was over Donna, Kari and Michael came over to help me sort the calves from the corral.

Before they arrived I discovered the cattle made a few problems in the loading corral.

A broken fence board.

The cattle popped the gate between the loading corral and the loading runway off its hinges.   That never happened before.

By the time Donna, Kari and Michael arrived I has separated the cows from the calves.  The cows out of the corral.  The calves into the south part of the corral.  Each wanted to go through a gate.  I just made sure only the cattle I wanted through that gate went through that gate.

Here are the calves in the south corral.

Some of the cows outside the corral.  Plus the two heifer calves I will keep as replacement cows next year.  Donna, Kari and Michael helped me sort the two heifers out of the corral.  Kari handling the gate. Michael helping me herd the heifers I wanted.

Two of the heifer calves lost their ear tags.  The first born lost her tag days after she was born.  I am keeping that heifer.  I will put in a new tag another day.   The heifer below I will sell next week.  Since she will go into the stockyards next week I want to made sure she had an ear tag so she didn't get mixed with someone else's cattle.   This was harder to do than expected.  Usually they get stuck in the head gate when they try to get through it.  On her first attempt she squeezed through the head gate. That never happened before.  On the second attempt I made sure the head gate wasn't open as wide and then she got stuck.

By evening the mooing by the mom's and the calves had started.