Replaced by a Drone?

I couldn't resist clicking on a link yesterday that said, "Cargill develops industry-first robotic cattle driver." It probably had something to do with this reminder of our latest cattle adventure:

Though it's a little hard to see, I have a fairly sizable bruise on my arm. It was my own darn fault. I stuck my arm where I shouldn't have. It's one of those things you do and wish you hadn't.

It's not a big deal - a little broken skin and a tender arm is much better than anything broken. And it also points out my abundance of sunspots. Let's call them that rather than age spots, shall we? (Randy heard me say "ouch," but I don't think the other guys even knew anything had happened. I'm quite proud of that.)

With only that minor hiccup, we got our first round of cattle work done this fall Monday during our rain-imposed hiatus from wheat planting and milo harvesting.

Anyway ... I'm thinking one of those robotic cattle drivers would be quite the addition to the old farmstead after reading the article in Farm Journal's Ag Tech:

Improving animal welfare and employee safety—that’s the top two goals driving the creation of the industry’s first robotic cattle mover. Cargill says the robots are designed to move cattle from holding pens to the harvest area at processing plants, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk above the holding pens. This also helps improve worker safety.

The machine uses automated arms, blowers and audio recordings to move cattle in a desired direction, and can operate in rain, snow, or mud with no delay in daily operations. Testing was conducted at Cargill’s Wyalusing, Penn., and Schuyler, Neb., beef processing facilities. The robotics are being implemented at Cargill Protein beef plants in the U.S. and Canada.

At any rate, it's not coming to the County Line any time soon, so I guess Randy will have to put up with his clumsy cattle helper instead.

The non-clumsy worker was Dr. Bruce Figger with South Wind Animal Health. He preg-checked 25 heifers, as well as vaccinating and applying a dewormer to the "ladies" and one bull.  

Yes, Dr. Figger got the glamorous job on the "business end" of the heifer. With an internal exam, he determines how far along the young moms are. Bulls arrived in these ladies' pasture in July, so they could be 6 months pregnant by now. Most were in the 5- to 6-month gestation stage. A few were a little "later to the party" and were about 4 months gestation. They will be the first in our County Line maternity ward to deliver the Class of 2019, beginning in late January and February.

The heifers are first-time mothers. Well, 23 of them will be first-time mother come late January. Two of them were "open," in other words, they weren't pregnant.

Now if those "young ladies" were your teenage daughters, that would be good news. As it is, they will become the meat in our freezer next spring.

 

After the exam, Dr. Figger applied a deworming solution to control parasites like worms, lice and liver flukes.

He also gave each pregnant heifer a shot of Virus Shield 6 that prevents leptospiriosis and BVD. Leptospiriosis is an bacterial infection that may cause abortion or stillbirth. BVD stands for Bovine Viral Diarrhea - 'nuff said. The pregnant heifers also got a shot of Scour Bos. The vaccination helps prevent scours (diarrhea) in their babies. Cattlemen want to produce healthy cattle. It's better for the cattle, and it's also better for the bottom line. Just like we gave recommended vaccinations to our children, we believe it's important to give our cattle every medical advantage to have a healthy life.

 

You remember those little pink vaccination books our parents used to keep track of our vaccinations as kids? Dr. Figger also made notes on each heifer, recording her eartag number, her gestation, the medicines she received and a body condition score.

The chute didn't work perfectly during this first round of cattle work, so Shawn did some repair work on it yesterday while Randy planted wheat. However, with 0.80" of rain overnight and this morning, we are AGAIN at a standstill.

True confessions: I had a blog post all ready with beautiful photos of sunrises and fall colors. But I just wasn't feeling it this morning after another round of rain.  We'll save that for a more optimistic day.

It's a Boy? It's a Girl? It's a Calf!

I remember opening the wrapped package that revealed whether our first grandchild was going to be a boy or a girl. Right after we opened that pink-framed sonogram, I went to the K-State Union bookstore and bought the first of many purple dresses.

Our heifers recently had their first "obstetrics" appointment. And while we don't know whether they'll be having bull calves or females, we do know which heifers are carrying "little bundles of joy." Well, they won't be so little when they are born in late January or early February. They'll likely be 80 pounds of boy or girl calf.

Veterinarian Dr. David Harder recently did a "preg check" of our 25 heifers. These were the female cattle born on the County Line in early 2015 who are supposed to be expecting their first babies. All but two of them were pregnant. We will fatten the other two and use them for meat in the freezer.

To determine how far along the heifers are, Dr. Harder did a physical manual examination. To do that, we run the heifers through a lane into a squeeze chute to safely restrain the animal and also to keep the people involved safe.Then Dr. Harder estimated how far along the pregnancy was by the size of the baby.

The assistant recorded the ear tag number of each heifer, made a notation about how far the pregnancy had advanced and recorded the shots given to each animal.

I know there are people who don't believe any type of shots should be given to animals grown for human consumption. However, we do have the veterinarian give shots to the heifers, cows and calves as they go through the chute.

The heifers (and later this week, the cows) are given a blackleg booster shot. Blackleg is a highly fatal disease of the skeletal and heart muscle of cattle. We also give a combination shot that prevents leptospiriosis and BVD. Leptospiriosis is an bacterial infection that may cause abortion or stillbirth. BVD stands for Bovine Viral Diarrhea - 'nuff said. Dr. Harder also gave a shot as a dewormer to control parasites like worms, lice and liver flukes.

Dr. Harder gave the heifers a shot of Scour Bos. The vaccination helps prevent scours (diarrhea) in their babies. Cattlemen want to produce healthy cattle. It's better for the cattle, and it's also better for the bottom line. Just like we gave recommended vaccinations to our children, we believe it's important to give our cattle every medical advantage to have a healthy life.

This is the second year we tested for anaplasmosis, a disease that is on the rise in Kansas cattle herds. Dr. Harder took blood samples from under the tail on a representative number of our herd.

Greg Hanzilcek, the head of the Kansas State University Diagnostic Lab, said in a Kansas Livestock Association newsletter that there were as many confirmed cases of anaplasmosis in Kansas cattle last year as veterinarians had ever seen.

Anaplasmosis is a a vector-borne disease, which means it's transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks, fleas or flies. It causes the destruction of red blood cells in cattle and other ruminants, so it can cause anemia. It can ultimately cause death, and it can also result in spontaneous abortions in cows. Last year, after the tests came back positive, Randy had to stir up a concoction of mineral, grain and antibiotic to mix into the cattle feed in a ration directed by Prairie Vista Veterinary Clinic. He fed the mixture once a week for 60 days in an effort to rid our herd of the anaplasmosis.

We don't have this year's test results yet. But, if the test is positive again, we will handle it in the same way. Animal activists - and even trendy restaurants - would like antibiotic use to be banned in feed animals. However, as caretakers of our animals, it's important to treat disease, just like we'd treat an illness in our own families.

It's an extra hit on the pocketbook, since it requires us to purchase additional grain, mineral and medicine. We're definitely not doing it for our own health or the health of our financial bottom line. But it's important to be responsible stewards of the animals, despite what several national restaurants' marketing firm would have consumers believe.

These are the photos you get when your job is to slam the trailer door shut!

After their doctor's appointment, we loaded up the heifers and took them to the pasture south of our house, where they'll await the arrival of their babies this winter. Right now, they also have access to an alfalfa field for grazing.

Later this week, Dr. Harder will be back for appointments with some of the older mama cows, the bulls and the calves to get ready for winter. Busy week!