I really love your videos and transparency. Your voice is so easy to listen to and your care is evident. So refreshing to learn and watch and see someone putting out quality beef.
It seems like some tough trials but I'm glad that you are progressing. You seem to be getting a lot of knowledge along the way. I wish you continued success and thank you for the update! 😃 Go Buckeyes!
There have been some long days that is for sure. There has also been some good lessons, all in all we are moving forward. Glad you enjoyed the update. Go Buck is right!
So i have some advice for ya. Norm go ahead and castrate why because once he turns 2 years of age as a bull they get nasty and with horns he will hurt you! bottle fed or not for some reason Jersey's are the sweetest cows but meanest bulls. Also as far as bottle calves may i suggest you buy a nurse cow get a jersey cow that will take any calf or a hiefer and once she calves add one more on her 1st freshining. the second time she calves buy bottle calves and let her raise them. You can put up to 4 on her i have done this and have been very successful with raising nice calves to sell on down the road and have built my herd on a budget this way with beef bred calves. Good luck :)
You should watch the NZ video on calf rearing which you could somewhat follow and make more money, search 'Quality Calf Rearing Kiwi Bharat' and you'll see what is possible. Anyway, always interesting to watch your videos and the learning curve you're going through.
Regarding the bloat. I realize that a tube may be the preferred method but you may want to invest in a trocar. We haven't had bloat in a long time but a trocar gives you quick results that can save an animal because you can't always know how long they've been down. An animal laying even slightly down hill on it's side can drown on it's saliva so they need to be sitting up.
Interesting tool for sure! I will have to check more into that. The bloat problem taught me a lot and I am going to do my best to never have to go through that again.
My husband successfully just used a knife to pieced the side between the last two ribs up high, releasing the air slowly by working the knife back and forth. When the vet finally arrived, he administered calcium glucose by mouth for energy. Within in minutes, she stood up and walked off. Grazing Acres Farm.
Where I live in the early spring everything just explodes with new growth. Everything is green and moist almost over night. I make sure i have hay on hand and i move my cow away from the green about mid day and put her on the hay. I may do that for about 2 or 3 days then i will leave her on just hay for a whole day then go back to 1/2 day green 1/2 day hay. I do that for about 6 or 8 days and then no more hay. I do the same thing with my goats. After loosing a animal to bloat i started doing it like that and haven't had any issues. Bloat aint no joke!
You are correct! Bloat is no joke! I lost a cow to bloat about 3 months after she calved. It was a very hard thing to deal with and having the little calf made it harder. In my case though, bloat was caused by feeding non gmo pellets. When it comes to grazing bloat has never been an issue. We are in the processes of the pastures turning green now and the cattle will graze and return to bale feeder all day long, so maybe they are making the transition into grazing full time by themselves. We start grazing full time about mid April and at that point the hay will be completely gone so they will not have it to fall back on. Do you have Birds Foot Trefoil growing in your pastures? It reverses bloat, did you know that? Another option I am looking into is growing Sanfoin in our pastures.
believe it or not I killed a pig like that. I sold my horse and had a bag of alfalfa cubes left over so I thought what the heck, give it to the pig. the next day she wouldn't stand up or couldn't stand up. later that night she was gone. she was healthy and almost ready to be butchered, smh. my kids mostly raised that pig, they carried buckets of water to her for 5 months. they did a good job and all of them were looking forward to the meat. still bothers me till this day, pig did good, kids did good, dad screwed up. smh. I don't have any of that growing but I did see where one of your viewers suggested sanfoin and I looked it up and I'm gonna try that. I will check into birds foot trefoil a see what that's about. thanks, be good.
btw, I just built 4 poly reels with a wire running through and a curly cue hook. I use cord reels for my trout lines and was gonna use them for poly and just leave a piece of poly hanging out with a hook. I watched your vid about how you make yours with a wire. bam! good stuff right there. told my pops about it and he thought it was a great idea so that's a done deal. I already have it stretched half way across the pasture letting them get use to it.
check this out for yourself But we had a jersey that was bloated and the vet stuck a needle in its side into the stomick and let the air out that way worked great
Great video. A suggestion, what is a fair price to pay for bottle calves? Also, If I were to start an operation would it not be advantageous to choose a heritage breed, such as Highland cattle?
Just thought I would share some info on dealing with horns. You can obviously dehorn at a young age with paste or burning, but you can also take off the horns at an older age if needed with little pain to the animal. They sell a special wire called "gigli wire" that is designed to cut quickly through bone and does horns with no problem. If you use it 1/2" above the fleshy growing point they usually don't bleed, or very little, as most of the horn past that point has no blood supply (think of it like fingernails). This won't stop the horns from growing further, so you may need to do it twice if they get long enough to be a problem again. 16 of my 17 head have horns, and so far I have had no issues. Grazing with lots of room to move and not feeding grain (that they would fight over) really reduces the problems from having horns. Be wary of all bulls, but especially Jersey bulls. Jerseys have a history of being fast and deadly, especially the "tame" ones. That said over half of my Holsteins are still intact at the moment.
+Steve Meyer Thanks so much for the breakdown on horn removal. I have lots to learn and people like yourself have been a huge help along the way. Let me ask you a question about my jersey, do you think the green cheerio band would be too small for my Jersey bull? Or would you suggest another band at this point? I need to get on the ball (no pun intended). lol He will be 1 year in March.
I think you made a good trade Jason, horns are no fun to deal with. The comment about rolling the bale feeder is only one issue, another is if you need to run them in the chute, they are more dangerous and can get hung up trying to get into the chute... Plus they can throw calves with horns.
Yeah, your probably right. I see that she is big boned for sure and that's not good. I never thought about having her in the chute but your right! I don't need any troubles.
I liked the heifer you swapped and the one you swapped for so looks like you did well, but horns are cheap to remove. I prefer polled but keep paste for the occasional horned calf. I leave warts alone as they tend to be gone by the time they are two. But the ones we have had in our herd haven't been as big and fleshy as your example. Is it time for an update on your herd?
Thanks. I really #176 (the one I swapped for). She is a great mother as you will see very soon in my update video. I hope to have the video uploaded by the end of January so keep and eye open for it. As far as warts no one has them anymore and I am glad. What is this paste you speak of for horns? My cow Mylee had a calf this year and it showing horns now about 1" long. Is it too late for paste? In the future with Mylee's calves, what age would I want to apply paste? Thanks!
@@GrazingAcresFarm, all the farm stores carry a paste called dehorning paste. It is cheap but most recommend buying new yearly or every other year. It is caustic. There are probably some TH-cams on using it. I know of some on Facebook. It is recommended that you do it at from three to 10 days. You separate the calf for several hours and remove the paste before returning to mom or you cover it with duct tape. There are banding methods as well. They work well if about one year old and done carefully. My vet has also done it for about $35 which is a relatively high price. Many are cheaper. I just take them in so no mileage fee. I hear some very cheap prices from some vets in the calf's first few months.
@Debasir 52 I agree. I wish I did leave little man a bull. He just turned 30 months old and I had to have him processed. Broke my heart to see him go. Still miss him daily when I go to move the herd. He was a good boy. Here is some pictures I took before he left. photos.app.goo.gl/avd4t8Wr81spxZYw5 As far as Norm , he was banded and is a steer. Problem is getting the weight on him I'd like to see on just grass.
Grazing Acres Farm Grazing Acres Farm Don’t beat yourself up over it. I am pretty sure the greatest bulls of the last hundred years have all been castrated and sent to market without ever siring a calf. Sorry for your loss, easy to tell he was family. Jersey bull/steer make good pets, beef not so much.
Considering building s herd myself. Plan is red poll closed herd. Great video. Thanks for posting. Suggestion. Purchase and sale price info would be helpful. When u send for processing where do they go? Do you sell the meat or is it sold wholesale? Can a person make any money raising and selling cattle wholesale?
Reds are awesome cattle. They will work during the hot times of the day when the blacks are laying in the shade. Best of luck with them. On the suggestions: Are these video ideas?
Thanks! We leave the bull with the herd for a few months to make sure everyone is bred. Once the bull has bred a heifer/cow he will not have interest in them 3 weeks later when their next heat should be. Watch the bull daily, when you see him showing interest in the heifers and mounting them make a note of date. The leave him in with them for an additional 3-4 weeks to see if he shows anymore interest. If there is zero interest she is bred. Good luck!
Thank you for the quick response. Sorry I think i worded that wrong. At how many months old will the heifer be when she is ready to be bred. I have angus/hereford heifer
Depends...lol Some call any form of rotational grazing...... custom grazing. Others like myself make an income raising other peoples livestock. There are many different arrangements with custom grazing. In my case, a guy pays me a wage to manage his cattle. He supplies everything they need (mineral salt, kelp, wormer, hay, etc.) and pays the lease on 180 acres. I am paid by the hour or time spend doing anything related to them. So people are paid by the X amount per head per day and others by weight gain, this is where the agreement varies a lot. My job in the summer months is to practice rotational grazing, moving the herd daily. This builds soil fertility fast, good soil equal fat cattle. I also move the water and mineral station with the herd daily. The land we lease is setup for rotational grazing, it has 27 water spigots scattered across the farm. In the winter, my job is arranging hay deliveries and placing the bales around the pastures so I just move the herd to the bales as needed. In the winter, I have to manually fill water stock tanks, right now 25 head is averaging 350 gallons of water a day. There is a run down of how it works. Hope it helps and if you have further questions, just ask!
horns.... band them. Put them on the base of the horn. They really turn out nice. They fall off themselves. Do it in the fall after the flies. She's probably a little bit holstein.
Good job Jason, cattle look good from what I can tell. Since I'm a total noob, that doesn't mean much, lol. I'm sticking with all polled cattle, Red Polls to be specific. I'm also going to stay pure bred I believe. I know about hybrid vigor but I want to keep a pure blood line I think. I have to believe that the clean grazing and diversity of our forages will negate the importance of the hybrid vigor so much. As I grow and learn, I may change my stance on that though, not sure yet at this point. If I decide to cross, I may use red angus. Whichever way I go, I'm going to go with a closed herd and handle my own bulls. I always heard the Jersey bulls were big and aggressive. Since I'm going to work towards as small a frame as I can get and polled, I wouldn't keep that bull intact and he'd be in the freezer when he was big enough. I want small high stock rate cattle that perform on pure grass, I like red and polled. But that's just me. I think you were given good advice on that big boned cow, if she passed that trait down, the calves would probably always be hard to birth and it doesn't seem like a very good trait to have as far as carcass quality, more bone and less meat. Unfortunate about the bloated cow, too bad she didn't give you a heifer but a steer is better than nothing. I can't get that attached to my animals, there's no way I could part with them if I did, I'm too soft. Those losses like the cow are hard but those are the learning experiences we learn from. You're learning quickly and doing a good job. Do you have your cows preg tested or does you bull guy just get them covered and hope for the best?
Yeah, you've given if way more thought then me my friend. lol I just dove in last year when the price on cattle dropped. Right now, I have two options. 1. Keep breeding and sell feeders to guy I graze for which I would continue to graze here. 2. Keep breeding, finish and sell to guy I graze for. (He has a direct market) 3. (I haven't thought of this one yet) lol The Pharo bull I used belongs to the guy I graze for. Actually this Spring the bull will be coming to down with his cow herd. We are going to change things up a bit and go more cow/ calf vs finishing. Should be interesting. I think he said, I would be having 25 calves drop from just his cows. Yeah, I don't intent to let the jersey near my other cattle. He was just a cheap way to start building some fertility on my land but he does need cut or banded. How big is too big for the small green cheerio bands, any idea? I have them on hand. I some times wish I didn't get attached but I do. I see them just as much as my family. In most cases the hole left from sending one to processing is filled by another pretty quick. Six years ago, I would have never guessed cattle were so pleasant to be around, boy how times can change. lol We did not do preg testing, we let the bull do that. The cattle were with the bull for 2 months, the first month to get the job done, the 2nd month to make sure he got it done. I guess there could be a chance he failed.
Yeah so he just put the bull in with them to breed then they were covered for another month to be fairly sure they took. Sounds like a plan, cow/calf is what I'm going for with a focus on pure bred replacement heifers. I'll finish my own steers and build my herd off the profit from the feeders and the cull cows/heifers I don't want to keep for breeding stock. I think that's a good move going more to cow/calf. A third option could be doing a little of both. I also liked that you were thinking ahead with your own place and other rented pasture in case complications arise with the other deal, always good to have alternatives. My herd is primarily meant for building healthy soil with cover crops and rotational grazing since my primary income is from cash crop I can kind of play with my cattle project. As long as the cattle project can sustain itself I figure my best return will be from my improved soil fertility so anything above that is a bonus for me. I'm going to try to do some custom grazing as well to supplement my income until I get my herd built to a point where it's sustaining itself. Hopefully that will also help me with higher stocking density without so much investment in cattle up front. I have no idea about the bands man, sorry. I have not had to deal with any of that yet. I bought all mine as young replacement heifers so they won't even be bred until next summer. I don't even own a bull yet. Thinking I may have them A.I.'ed to start with so I don't have to deal with a bull on hand and hopefully I can get a good line with EPD's I like and a high success rate the first go and they can keep on grazing and making money without the hassle of me dealing with a breeder bull for another year. I decided on a cow/calf/replacement heifer centric business model specifically because I know I have an issue getting attached to my animals. I'll feel a lot better producing animals for breeder purposes than slaughter. Still that leaves the steers and the culls to deal with. With those though I can just market them and let someone else be the bad guy, lol. With any luck I can ignore their eventual fate once I'm removed from the process. I hope I get hardened off and can deal with slaughter and direct marketing as I think we probably have a good market here for the beef as long as I can produce good grass fed beef. Good cattle are made by good stockmen. Good ones are a pleasure to work with. My dad's side of the family are the opposite, they're loud and rowdy, rough with animals and theirs suck because of it. They do everything ass backwards. They breed for big calves that have to be pulled injured cows, big animals and are constantly out of grass and feeding hay. I don't know how they deal with that chit. Pretty much seems like my worst nightmare scenario.
Yeah, I figured I was better to cover my butt and have a place to move cattle to if for some reason we lost use of the leased farm. The land owner tells me not to worry, even if the other guy was to pull out she said I can keep my cattle there. I think see like me living so close and watching the land for her. Today starts deer gun season and we allow NO hunting, so I also keep poachers away. I have pissed many deer hunters off the last 5 years. lol The deer know where they are safe. Either way, I figured it wouldn't hurt to start putting in pastures here at home. We were planning to AI but quickly changed our mind when we learned more about it. First, you have to know each heads cycle date and keep in touch with vet (to do AI). Some people use a hormone to put all the cycles on the same day so the vet can do them all at once. That does not seem natural to me so when used the bull. There is a lot of work to not owning or having access to a bull. lol I think your plan to avoid heart break is solid. Going cow/calf will make it a lot easier on me. It's hard loading cattle that I know the fate of after spending a full year with them. It's sad the way some people treat livestock. Breeding for big calves is never a good idea and you would think they would see that but they never do. Fools!
Good points on the AI. I may reconsider, I was hoping to shorten the calving time and get it all done in a shorter window, both breeding and calving. I knew about the estrous synchronization process already but I'm still not very comfortable with the hormones being used as you mention. So maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go ahead with a bull purchase when we get closer to breeding age. Thanks for the comments, always enjoy sharing opinions and insights.
When I started buying cattle a year ago, I asked several cattle farmers their opinion on going 100% without vaccines. They all freaked out when I asked that, for instance one person said, "Blackleg would kill your herd" (Blackleg is carried by deer). There was several things they warned me about this is just one example. On the other side of the coin is the consumer and for grass fed you have to find the right market to make profit. My father sells cheese for a dairy farmer at farmers markets, I have been to several markets as a helping hand. I listen to customers ask these crazy questions before they will even sample the cheese's. Like..Have the cattle had vaccines or antibiotics? or Do the cattle have access to grain. So for this reason, I see a market for completely vaccine/antibiotic free beef. Now will it holdup, that is the question. I truly believe that rotating the cattle helps them avoid health issues but I guess I will see.
I have been running my herd without vaccines for 17 years now. I only give antibiotics on rare occasions (prolapsed uterus, etc). The only thing I give to every newborn calf is BoSe which is Vitamin-E and Selenium supplement to prevent white muscle disease. I do this for the same reason as you are and that is people will pay a premium for antibiotic and growth hormone free beef. Good luck and don't let the occasional setback get you down. Learn from it and move forward.
I have raised breeding stock for over 30 years. We used to vaccinate every animal with everything that came down the pike every year. We now only vaccinate weanlings and yearlings. Except this year we gave the cows lepto/vibrio vaccine because they share water source with a high deer population. I would be thrilled to never have to vaccinate again...cows or dogs! Who vaccinates the deer? ;o) We also use management intensive grazing. The cattle and soil are thriving. Advise you to get your soil, hay and pasture tested for optimal nutrition, if you haven't already done that.
+SteeleFarm Glad to hear you've been vaccine free for so long, now I know it can be done. I would probably do the same as you and only treat when needed. I am curious though, have you had experience with this white muscle disease? I haven't given either one of my calves anything so should I be concerned? I always figured mothers milk was the best medication. Thanks for sharing your input, it's nice to see some new people leaving comments.
+Cindy Bluett You say your livestock share water sources with deer but you practice rotational grazing, I am confused. lol Do you have streams in each paddock? Do you not provide water in stock tanks from a spigot? If you are providing spigot water, why worry about Blackleg?
i know a guy with a shorthorn jersey cross cow that literallly raises calves as big as her, granted they are out of a angus bull though. best thing to do about warts is smash them with pliers
she looked like it to me i could be wrong, yea a vet told me to use pliers and smash a few and it works! makes the immune system kick in and they dry up and fall off
That is awesome! I have had a few low line here on the farm and they are a blast to raise. They are very docile and easy to work. As far as breeding, I would say roughly 20 months of age. From what I have read about low line the heifer will not start her cycle unit 14-18 months of age. Good luck!
Grazing Acres Farm you were right on the money.. my lowline cow dropped her first calve today. But found the bull was not the lowline bull but charlais. Thank goodness didn't have to pull.
There are a few places to find them. 1. Livestock Auctions 2. Facebook Livestock for sale groups 3. Craigslist Just pay close attention to what you buy and if you have no knowledge to what to look for I'd take someone who does. Not everyone is honest and they will lie just to make a sale. Best of luck!
@@GrazingAcresFarm okay but he traded you for one of his so if he traded the cow is now his so its still on his land and has horns still ? Why can't norman be on the large land
Norm probably could be on the bigger farm if I pushed the issue. I just figured it would be a good idea to have a small second spot for cattle so Norm is the first. I figure he will starting to build soil fertility for future cattle I bring here.
It's not really that risky if you are rotational grazing. The cattle never eat the grass low enough to pickup and issue. All the nasty stuff cattle get lives close to the ground if not on the ground, we don't graze any lower than 6-8".
There is little truth in horned cows, beside longhorns being any issue....i have shorthorns most with horns a few without and herefords...they all get along great...and are extremely easy to work....i actually got a bull with horns because o want all my cows to have horns..why have shorthorns without horns...makes no sense to me....it was a good looking cow , I don't really like black cows, other than baldies...you get the good from h erefords and the premium a black cow can usually bring..angus cows are not usually easy to work and in reality have poor quality meat...if it wasn't for the Angus society brainwashing campaign in the 80s no one would run them....love the videos andf appreciate the longer one keep them coming
The horned girl is very docile at least for now. With the temperatures dropping I have been manually filling stock tanks with water twice a day (400 gallon). Tonight, the horned girl was there drinking when I arrived. She just stood there and let me rub her belly while I was filling tanks but she is big boned. For that reason I feel I did good trading her. She will probably leave here in the Spring. I have had good and bad temperament cattle of several different breeds. I think it goes into genetic and how they are raised from birth. So I can't say Angus are difficult to work, I think it breaks down to each cow. If you have several calm cattle in your herd then usually they can keep a crazy one or two calm but if you have more crazy head than calm, I'd sell the farm and move before the neighbors start complains about cattle in their yard. lol I like the baldy's. I have finished 4 low line badly's and they were a blast. I remember I called one "Meatball".
My question: have you considered a small claims filing against the guy who committed fraud. Even if you don't win, scaring him and giving him a few sleepless nights might be a little payback. And if you do win...bonus!
If your referring to the guy who lied to me about the cattle I purchased, then no I haven't considered a claim. For all I know the guy he purchased them from lied to him, so it becomes a he said, she said game and I don't have time for that. The best I can do is learn from it and move forward.
That short horn heifer is not a pure bred our neighbor has a dairy shorthorn herd and there coat are dark red. Your calf has a pale red coat and a bit of black meaning she's definitely crossed. I love your videos can you please check out my channel a like and comment on a video would mean a lot.
I agree but our vet is very reasonable. We like him so much that we actually pay more for his drive than the service. But we like how he communicates with us and is not afraid to volunteer information that most vets will keep to themselves. If I remember correctly he only charged $100 and that was with a 100 mile round trip drive.
But the meat market are small. Black and red angrist how to prime beef stock. Were Hereford or replaced. Interpretations a whole lot better cuz it has more fat. But the up bees one lane beep it has no taste
I love TH-cam. 30 years ago I would have been on my own for all this, now it’s like I have a mentor on speed dial. Great channel.
I really love your videos and transparency. Your voice is so easy to listen to and your care is evident. So refreshing to learn and watch and see someone putting out quality beef.
Interesting. Very nice stock. Good luck to you. Thank you for sharing 🐂🐄
It seems like some tough trials but I'm glad that you are progressing. You seem to be getting a lot of knowledge along the way.
I wish you continued success and thank you for the update! 😃 Go Buckeyes!
There have been some long days that is for sure. There has also been some good lessons, all in all we are moving forward. Glad you enjoyed the update.
Go Buck is right!
So i have some advice for ya. Norm go ahead and castrate why because once he turns 2 years of age as a bull they get nasty and with horns he will hurt you! bottle fed or not for some reason Jersey's are the sweetest cows but meanest bulls. Also as far as bottle calves may i suggest you buy a nurse cow get a jersey cow that will take any calf or a hiefer and once she calves add one more on her 1st freshining. the second time she calves buy bottle calves and let her raise them. You can put up to 4 on her i have done this and have been very successful with raising nice calves to sell on down the road and have built my herd on a budget this way with beef bred calves. Good luck :)
thanks for sharing, very authentic
you're easy to listen to. very informative videos, all of them.
Awesome video!! Love to see your heard growing!!
You should watch the NZ video on calf rearing which you could somewhat follow and make more money, search 'Quality Calf Rearing Kiwi Bharat' and you'll see what is possible. Anyway, always interesting to watch your videos and the learning curve you're going through.
Very informative! Thank you!
Regarding the bloat. I realize that a tube may be the preferred method but you may want to invest in a trocar. We haven't had bloat in a long time but a trocar gives you quick results that can save an animal because you can't always know how long they've been down. An animal laying even slightly down hill on it's side can drown on it's saliva so they need to be sitting up.
Interesting tool for sure! I will have to check more into that. The bloat problem taught me a lot and I am going to do my best to never have to go through that again.
My husband successfully just used a knife to pieced the side between the last two ribs up high, releasing the air slowly by working the knife back and forth. When the vet finally arrived, he administered calcium glucose by mouth for energy. Within in minutes, she stood up and walked off. Grazing Acres Farm.
We give our animals oil and baking soda when the have bloat usually works
Nice trade.
I thought so. Wait until I share an update on my herd and you get to see her calf, I think she going to be just as nice.
Wonderful channel.
Thanks! I am trying to make it stand out.
Where I live in the early spring everything just explodes with new growth. Everything is green and moist almost over night. I make sure i have hay on hand and i move my cow away from the green about mid day and put her on the hay. I may do that for about 2 or 3 days then i will leave her on just hay for a whole day then go back to 1/2 day green 1/2 day hay. I do that for about 6 or 8 days and then no more hay. I do the same thing with my goats. After loosing a animal to bloat i started doing it like that and haven't had any issues. Bloat aint no joke!
You are correct! Bloat is no joke! I lost a cow to bloat about 3 months after she calved. It was a very hard thing to deal with and having the little calf made it harder. In my case though, bloat was caused by feeding non gmo pellets. When it comes to grazing bloat has never been an issue. We are in the processes of the pastures turning green now and the cattle will graze and return to bale feeder all day long, so maybe they are making the transition into grazing full time by themselves. We start grazing full time about mid April and at that point the hay will be completely gone so they will not have it to fall back on.
Do you have Birds Foot Trefoil growing in your pastures? It reverses bloat, did you know that? Another option I am looking into is growing Sanfoin in our pastures.
believe it or not I killed a pig like that. I sold my horse and had a bag of alfalfa cubes left over so I thought what the heck, give it to the pig. the next day she wouldn't stand up or couldn't stand up. later that night she was gone. she was healthy and almost ready to be butchered, smh. my kids mostly raised that pig, they carried buckets of water to her for 5 months. they did a good job and all of them were looking forward to the meat. still bothers me till this day, pig did good, kids did good, dad screwed up. smh. I don't have any of that growing but I did see where one of your viewers suggested sanfoin and I looked it up and I'm gonna try that. I will check into birds foot trefoil a see what that's about. thanks, be good.
btw, I just built 4 poly reels with a wire running through and a curly cue hook. I use cord reels for my trout lines and was gonna use them for poly and just leave a piece of poly hanging out with a hook. I watched your vid about how you make yours with a wire. bam! good stuff right there. told my pops about it and he thought it was a great idea so that's a done deal. I already have it stretched half way across the pasture letting them get use to it.
check this out for yourself But we had a jersey that was bloated and the vet stuck a needle in its side into the stomick and let the air out that way worked great
Great video. A suggestion, what is a fair price to pay for bottle calves? Also, If I were to start an operation would it not be advantageous to choose a heritage breed, such as Highland cattle?
Jersey cows are used to milk same as a Holstein
You are correct but they are also raised for meat.
I love this channel!
Thanks!
Fine looking cattle. Which brand of milk replacer are you using?
To be honest, I haven't fed enough replacer to have a favorite. I do get non-medicated though in which cost more for some crazy reason.
Just thought I would share some info on dealing with horns. You can obviously dehorn at a young age with paste or burning, but you can also take off the horns at an older age if needed with little pain to the animal. They sell a special wire called "gigli wire" that is designed to cut quickly through bone and does horns with no problem. If you use it 1/2" above the fleshy growing point they usually don't bleed, or very little, as most of the horn past that point has no blood supply (think of it like fingernails). This won't stop the horns from growing further, so you may need to do it twice if they get long enough to be a problem again. 16 of my 17 head have horns, and so far I have had no issues. Grazing with lots of room to move and not feeding grain (that they would fight over) really reduces the problems from having horns.
Be wary of all bulls, but especially Jersey bulls. Jerseys have a history of being fast and deadly, especially the "tame" ones. That said over half of my Holsteins are still intact at the moment.
+Steve Meyer Thanks so much for the breakdown on horn removal. I have lots to learn and people like yourself have been a huge help along the way.
Let me ask you a question about my jersey, do you think the green cheerio band would be too small for my Jersey bull? Or would you suggest another band at this point? I need to get on the ball (no pun intended). lol He will be 1 year in March.
Putting big bulls to heifers is a not a good idea, how did the heifers go with calving ?
I think you made a good trade Jason, horns are no fun to deal with. The comment about rolling the bale feeder is only one issue, another is if you need to run them in the chute, they are more dangerous and can get hung up trying to get into the chute... Plus they can throw calves with horns.
Yeah, your probably right. I see that she is big boned for sure and that's not good. I never thought about having her in the chute but your right! I don't need any troubles.
I liked the heifer you swapped and the one you swapped for so looks like you did well, but horns are cheap to remove. I prefer polled but keep paste for the occasional horned calf. I leave warts alone as they tend to be gone by the time they are two. But the ones we have had in our herd haven't been as big and fleshy as your example. Is it time for an update on your herd?
Thanks. I really #176 (the one I swapped for). She is a great mother as you will see very soon in my update video. I hope to have the video uploaded by the end of January so keep and eye open for it. As far as warts no one has them anymore and I am glad.
What is this paste you speak of for horns? My cow Mylee had a calf this year and it showing horns now about 1" long. Is it too late for paste? In the future with Mylee's calves, what age would I want to apply paste? Thanks!
@@GrazingAcresFarm, all the farm stores carry a paste called dehorning paste. It is cheap but most recommend buying new yearly or every other year. It is caustic. There are probably some TH-cams on using it. I know of some on Facebook. It is recommended that you do it at from three to 10 days. You separate the calf for several hours and remove the paste before returning to mom or you cover it with duct tape. There are banding methods as well. They work well if about one year old and done carefully. My vet has also done it for about $35 which is a relatively high price. Many are cheaper. I just take them in so no mileage fee. I hear some very cheap prices from some vets in the calf's first few months.
In NZ we got a national age mark system. So very hard to get away with lying about age of cattle
Think I would have kept little man as a bull, and made Norm a steer. Little Man was going to be a beast. Keep up the good work 👍
@Debasir 52 I agree. I wish I did leave little man a bull. He just turned 30 months old and I had to have him processed. Broke my heart to see him go. Still miss him daily when I go to move the herd. He was a good boy. Here is some pictures I took before he left. photos.app.goo.gl/avd4t8Wr81spxZYw5
As far as Norm , he was banded and is a steer. Problem is getting the weight on him I'd like to see on just grass.
Grazing Acres Farm Grazing Acres Farm Don’t beat yourself up over it. I am pretty sure the greatest bulls of the last hundred years have all been castrated and sent to market without ever siring a calf. Sorry for your loss, easy to tell he was family.
Jersey bull/steer make good pets, beef not so much.
Considering building s herd myself. Plan is red poll closed herd. Great video. Thanks for posting.
Suggestion. Purchase and sale price info would be helpful. When u send for processing where do they go? Do you sell the meat or is it sold wholesale? Can a person make any money raising and selling cattle wholesale?
Reds are awesome cattle. They will work during the hot times of the day when the blacks are laying in the shade. Best of luck with them.
On the suggestions: Are these video ideas?
Could be videos. I meant it as a suggestion to add that info when you make videos. As a banker I always think in terms of numbers.
Love your videos! About how many months do you breed a first time heifer?
Thanks! We leave the bull with the herd for a few months to make sure everyone is bred. Once the bull has bred a heifer/cow he will not have interest in them 3 weeks later when their next heat should be. Watch the bull daily, when you see him showing interest in the heifers and mounting them make a note of date. The leave him in with them for an additional 3-4 weeks to see if he shows anymore interest. If there is zero interest she is bred. Good luck!
Thank you for the quick response. Sorry I think i worded that wrong. At how many months old will the heifer be when she is ready to be bred. I have angus/hereford heifer
You don't want to bred her too soon, I like to wait until heifers are at least 20 months old before introducing the bull.
So what is custom grazing exactly? I'm new to all of this haha.
Depends...lol Some call any form of rotational grazing...... custom grazing. Others like myself make an income raising other peoples livestock.
There are many different arrangements with custom grazing. In my case, a guy pays me a wage to manage his cattle. He supplies everything they need (mineral salt, kelp, wormer, hay, etc.) and pays the lease on 180 acres. I am paid by the hour or time spend doing anything related to them. So people are paid by the X amount per head per day and others by weight gain, this is where the agreement varies a lot.
My job in the summer months is to practice rotational grazing, moving the herd daily. This builds soil fertility fast, good soil equal fat cattle. I also move the water and mineral station with the herd daily. The land we lease is setup for rotational grazing, it has 27 water spigots scattered across the farm. In the winter, my job is arranging hay deliveries and placing the bales around the pastures so I just move the herd to the bales as needed. In the winter, I have to manually fill water stock tanks, right now 25 head is averaging 350 gallons of water a day. There is a run down of how it works. Hope it helps and if you have further questions, just ask!
horns.... band them. Put them on the base of the horn. They really turn out nice. They fall off themselves. Do it in the fall after the flies. She's probably a little bit holstein.
Good job Jason, cattle look good from what I can tell. Since I'm a total noob, that doesn't mean much, lol.
I'm sticking with all polled cattle, Red Polls to be specific. I'm also going to stay pure bred I believe. I know about hybrid vigor but I want to keep a pure blood line I think. I have to believe that the clean grazing and diversity of our forages will negate the importance of the hybrid vigor so much. As I grow and learn, I may change my stance on that though, not sure yet at this point. If I decide to cross, I may use red angus. Whichever way I go, I'm going to go with a closed herd and handle my own bulls.
I always heard the Jersey bulls were big and aggressive. Since I'm going to work towards as small a frame as I can get and polled, I wouldn't keep that bull intact and he'd be in the freezer when he was big enough. I want small high stock rate cattle that perform on pure grass, I like red and polled. But that's just me. I think you were given good advice on that big boned cow, if she passed that trait down, the calves would probably always be hard to birth and it doesn't seem like a very good trait to have as far as carcass quality, more bone and less meat.
Unfortunate about the bloated cow, too bad she didn't give you a heifer but a steer is better than nothing. I can't get that attached to my animals, there's no way I could part with them if I did, I'm too soft. Those losses like the cow are hard but those are the learning experiences we learn from. You're learning quickly and doing a good job.
Do you have your cows preg tested or does you bull guy just get them covered and hope for the best?
Yeah, you've given if way more thought then me my friend. lol I just dove in last year when the price on cattle dropped. Right now, I have two options.
1. Keep breeding and sell feeders to guy I graze for which I would continue to graze here.
2. Keep breeding, finish and sell to guy I graze for. (He has a direct market)
3. (I haven't thought of this one yet) lol
The Pharo bull I used belongs to the guy I graze for. Actually this Spring the bull will be coming to down with his cow herd. We are going to change things up a bit and go more cow/ calf vs finishing. Should be interesting. I think he said, I would be having 25 calves drop from just his cows.
Yeah, I don't intent to let the jersey near my other cattle. He was just a cheap way to start building some fertility on my land but he does need cut or banded. How big is too big for the small green cheerio bands, any idea? I have them on hand.
I some times wish I didn't get attached but I do. I see them just as much as my family. In most cases the hole left from sending one to processing is filled by another pretty quick. Six years ago, I would have never guessed cattle were so pleasant to be around, boy how times can change. lol
We did not do preg testing, we let the bull do that. The cattle were with the bull for 2 months, the first month to get the job done, the 2nd month to make sure he got it done. I guess there could be a chance he failed.
Yeah so he just put the bull in with them to breed then they were covered for another month to be fairly sure they took. Sounds like a plan, cow/calf is what I'm going for with a focus on pure bred replacement heifers. I'll finish my own steers and build my herd off the profit from the feeders and the cull cows/heifers I don't want to keep for breeding stock. I think that's a good move going more to cow/calf. A third option could be doing a little of both. I also liked that you were thinking ahead with your own place and other rented pasture in case complications arise with the other deal, always good to have alternatives.
My herd is primarily meant for building healthy soil with cover crops and rotational grazing since my primary income is from cash crop I can kind of play with my cattle project. As long as the cattle project can sustain itself I figure my best return will be from my improved soil fertility so anything above that is a bonus for me. I'm going to try to do some custom grazing as well to supplement my income until I get my herd built to a point where it's sustaining itself. Hopefully that will also help me with higher stocking density without so much investment in cattle up front.
I have no idea about the bands man, sorry. I have not had to deal with any of that yet. I bought all mine as young replacement heifers so they won't even be bred until next summer. I don't even own a bull yet. Thinking I may have them A.I.'ed to start with so I don't have to deal with a bull on hand and hopefully I can get a good line with EPD's I like and a high success rate the first go and they can keep on grazing and making money without the hassle of me dealing with a breeder bull for another year.
I decided on a cow/calf/replacement heifer centric business model specifically because I know I have an issue getting attached to my animals. I'll feel a lot better producing animals for breeder purposes than slaughter. Still that leaves the steers and the culls to deal with. With those though I can just market them and let someone else be the bad guy, lol. With any luck I can ignore their eventual fate once I'm removed from the process. I hope I get hardened off and can deal with slaughter and direct marketing as I think we probably have a good market here for the beef as long as I can produce good grass fed beef.
Good cattle are made by good stockmen. Good ones are a pleasure to work with. My dad's side of the family are the opposite, they're loud and rowdy, rough with animals and theirs suck because of it. They do everything ass backwards. They breed for big calves that have to be pulled injured cows, big animals and are constantly out of grass and feeding hay. I don't know how they deal with that chit. Pretty much seems like my worst nightmare scenario.
Yeah, I figured I was better to cover my butt and have a place to move cattle to if for some reason we lost use of the leased farm. The land owner tells me not to worry, even if the other guy was to pull out she said I can keep my cattle there. I think see like me living so close and watching the land for her. Today starts deer gun season and we allow NO hunting, so I also keep poachers away. I have pissed many deer hunters off the last 5 years. lol The deer know where they are safe. Either way, I figured it wouldn't hurt to start putting in pastures here at home.
We were planning to AI but quickly changed our mind when we learned more about it. First, you have to know each heads cycle date and keep in touch with vet (to do AI). Some people use a hormone to put all the cycles on the same day so the vet can do them all at once. That does not seem natural to me so when used the bull. There is a lot of work to not owning or having access to a bull. lol
I think your plan to avoid heart break is solid. Going cow/calf will make it a lot easier on me. It's hard loading cattle that I know the fate of after spending a full year with them.
It's sad the way some people treat livestock. Breeding for big calves is never a good idea and you would think they would see that but they never do. Fools!
Good points on the AI. I may reconsider, I was hoping to shorten the calving time and get it all done in a shorter window, both breeding and calving. I knew about the estrous synchronization process already but I'm still not very comfortable with the hormones being used as you mention. So maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go ahead with a bull purchase when we get closer to breeding age. Thanks for the comments, always enjoy sharing opinions and insights.
You keep repeating that your cattle have had no antibiotics or vaccines. Is that your plan to continue? If so, why? Just curious.
When I started buying cattle a year ago, I asked several cattle farmers their opinion on going 100% without vaccines. They all freaked out when I asked that, for instance one person said, "Blackleg would kill your herd" (Blackleg is carried by deer). There was several things they warned me about this is just one example. On the other side of the coin is the consumer and for grass fed you have to find the right market to make profit. My father sells cheese for a dairy farmer at farmers markets, I have been to several markets as a helping hand. I listen to customers ask these crazy questions before they will even sample the cheese's. Like..Have the cattle had vaccines or antibiotics? or Do the cattle have access to grain. So for this reason, I see a market for completely vaccine/antibiotic free beef. Now will it holdup, that is the question. I truly believe that rotating the cattle helps them avoid health issues but I guess I will see.
I have been running my herd without vaccines for 17 years now. I only give antibiotics on rare occasions (prolapsed uterus, etc). The only thing I give to every newborn calf is BoSe which is Vitamin-E and Selenium supplement to prevent white muscle disease. I do this for the same reason as you are and that is people will pay a premium for antibiotic and growth hormone free beef.
Good luck and don't let the occasional setback get you down. Learn from it and move forward.
I have raised breeding stock for over 30 years. We used to vaccinate every animal with everything that came down the pike every year. We now only vaccinate weanlings and yearlings. Except this year we gave the cows lepto/vibrio vaccine because they share water source with a high deer population. I would be thrilled to never have to vaccinate again...cows or dogs! Who vaccinates the deer? ;o)
We also use management intensive grazing. The cattle and soil are thriving.
Advise you to get your soil, hay and pasture tested for optimal nutrition, if you haven't already done that.
+SteeleFarm Glad to hear you've been vaccine free for so long, now I know it can be done. I would probably do the same as you and only treat when needed. I am curious though, have you had experience with this white muscle disease? I haven't given either one of my calves anything so should I be concerned? I always figured mothers milk was the best medication.
Thanks for sharing your input, it's nice to see some new people leaving comments.
+Cindy Bluett You say your livestock share water sources with deer but you practice rotational grazing, I am confused. lol Do you have streams in each paddock? Do you not provide water in stock tanks from a spigot? If you are providing spigot water, why worry about Blackleg?
i know a guy with a shorthorn jersey cross cow that literallly raises calves as big as her, granted they are out of a angus bull though. best thing to do about warts is smash them with pliers
So do you think mine has jersey in her?
The pliers trick is one that was suggested on Facebook, funny you mention it too. lol
she looked like it to me i could be wrong, yea a vet told me to use pliers and smash a few and it works! makes the immune system kick in and they dry up and fall off
Great video. I went and purchased two mini lowlines calves. At what age are they good to breed?
That is awesome! I have had a few low line here on the farm and they are a blast to raise. They are very docile and easy to work. As far as breeding, I would say roughly 20 months of age. From what I have read about low line the heifer will not start her cycle unit 14-18 months of age. Good luck!
Grazing Acres Farm you were right on the money.. my lowline cow dropped her first calve today. But found the bull was not the lowline bull but charlais. Thank goodness didn't have to pull.
What grass fed Facebook group are you following?
1. Grass Fed Beef
2. Holistic Management Discussion Group
3. Grass Fed And Organic Beef Forum
There is a few that I follow.
I prefer a 10 minute video but this one is interesting.
Thanks for taking part in my poll. I have some other videos that could be equally as lengthy, I hope you'll watch them when they are released.
How do you find beef calves to bottle feed?
There are a few places to find them.
1. Livestock Auctions
2. Facebook Livestock for sale groups
3. Craigslist
Just pay close attention to what you buy and if you have no knowledge to what to look for I'd take someone who does. Not everyone is honest and they will lie just to make a sale. Best of luck!
How do the leases work
I will do a video explaining how the lease works very soon.
Why can he keep that cow and you can not ?? Can't Norman go on the land with others or will the man be mad ? Cows need company lol
He's not a fan of cows with horns overwinter when feeding hay. I am about to bring a couple calves home so Norm will have some company.
@@GrazingAcresFarm okay but he traded you for one of his so if he traded the cow is now his so its still on his land and has horns still ? Why can't norman be on the large land
Norm probably could be on the bigger farm if I pushed the issue. I just figured it would be a good idea to have a small second spot for cattle so Norm is the first. I figure he will starting to build soil fertility for future cattle I bring here.
No antibiotics is very risky never bring in a animal from another herd pretty much going have a closed herd
It's not really that risky if you are rotational grazing. The cattle never eat the grass low enough to pickup and issue. All the nasty stuff cattle get lives close to the ground if not on the ground, we don't graze any lower than 6-8".
There is little truth in horned cows, beside longhorns being any issue....i have shorthorns most with horns a few without and herefords...they all get along great...and are extremely easy to work....i actually got a bull with horns because o want all my cows to have horns..why have shorthorns without horns...makes no sense to me....it was a good looking cow , I don't really like black cows, other than baldies...you get the good from h erefords and the premium a black cow can usually bring..angus cows are not usually easy to work and in reality have poor quality meat...if it wasn't for the Angus society brainwashing campaign in the 80s no one would run them....love the videos andf appreciate the longer one keep them coming
The horned girl is very docile at least for now. With the temperatures dropping I have been manually filling stock tanks with water twice a day (400 gallon). Tonight, the horned girl was there drinking when I arrived. She just stood there and let me rub her belly while I was filling tanks but she is big boned. For that reason I feel I did good trading her. She will probably leave here in the Spring.
I have had good and bad temperament cattle of several different breeds. I think it goes into genetic and how they are raised from birth. So I can't say Angus are difficult to work, I think it breaks down to each cow. If you have several calm cattle in your herd then usually they can keep a crazy one or two calm but if you have more crazy head than calm, I'd sell the farm and move before the neighbors start complains about cattle in their yard. lol
I like the baldy's. I have finished 4 low line badly's and they were a blast. I remember I called one "Meatball".
My question: have you considered a small claims filing against the guy who committed fraud. Even if you don't win, scaring him and giving him a few sleepless nights might be a little payback. And if you do win...bonus!
If your referring to the guy who lied to me about the cattle I purchased, then no I haven't considered a claim. For all I know the guy he purchased them from lied to him, so it becomes a he said, she said game and I don't have time for that. The best I can do is learn from it and move forward.
I think the old gal gave you something more valuable than money. A lawsuit would only taint that gift.
That short horn heifer is not a pure bred our neighbor has a dairy shorthorn herd and there coat are dark red. Your calf has a pale red coat and a bit of black meaning she's definitely crossed. I love your videos can you please check out my channel a like and comment on a video would mean a lot.
Having a big vet bill on top of losing an animal is the absolute worse!
I agree but our vet is very reasonable. We like him so much that we actually pay more for his drive than the service. But we like how he communicates with us and is not afraid to volunteer information that most vets will keep to themselves. If I remember correctly he only charged $100 and that was with a 100 mile round trip drive.
But the meat market are small. Black and red angrist how to prime beef stock. Were Hereford or replaced. Interpretations a whole lot better cuz it has more fat. But the up bees one lane beep it has no taste