Heifers and Helpers

  

I may not be as cute as this little helper at the Pratt sale barn. But I like to think I was just as indispensable. 

I am under no delusion that I was the most vital helper during the County Line's latest cattle work. That honor went to our veterinarian, Dr. Bruce.

He was at the farm Monday to preg-check 25 heifers - our first-time mothers. Many times, he has done  the examinations manually. But this time, he brought along a helpful machine. It's like a sonogram machine for cattle.

I seem to have mostly gotten Bruce's reflection in the photo below, but maybe you can also see an image, too. It's a little hard to see what you're photographing when you're taking the shot over someone's shoulder in bright sunlight. (Thanks for your patience, Dr. Bruce!)

 Most of the first-time moms were 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 months pregnant. 

I was the secretary for the ladies' doctor's appointments and also helped move them up the lane. Dr. Bruce inserts a wand to get the image and determine the approximate gestation, based on the size of the baby.

When I saw 001 come through the chute, I had to take a close-up. I knew I'd be able to find a baby photo of her. She would have been one of the first babies born in 2020, and she would have been born to a heifer, too.

August 2, 2021

January 25, 2020

No. 001 was pregnant, but three of her pasture mates were not. Those three - and an Angus bull - made a trailer trip to the Pratt sale barn. 

To make the sorting job easier, Randy always marks the  "open" cows with "O" on their sides and puts a chalk streak down the front of their faces. 

 

We sorted them off from the rest, and they had a chauffeured ride to Pratt, where they'll be sold on Thursday.

As one was walking away at the sale barn, I realized the Hereford-looking one was my 2020 Valentine's calf. I always thought she was so pretty, and I also noticed her as we fed silage this past winter. But, just like a sports team, you have to make tough cuts to the roster. And not being pregnant is a big deal for cattlemen.

Notice the "heart" shape on her chest: She made an appearance on the blog in February 2020.

 The rest of "girls" were transported to a different pasture, where they will graze as "ladies in waiting" until this coming winter when they will deliver the Class of 2022.

The Exodus

There have been some rowdy protests going on around the globe as the pandemic continues.

We had some protests at The County Line last week, too, but they have nothing to do with the coronavirus. These mamas were a bit upset that they were separated from their babies. They didn't know that it was for their babies' own good.

We sorted them from each other so we could haul them separately to summer pastures. It's better for the babies if we put them in one trailer and haul the much bigger cows separately. We don't want the babies trampled in the trailers as we traverse down the roads from the farmstead to the pastures.

So despite the loud protests, it's really for their own good. Hmmm ... perhaps there's a message there, too. (And that's as political as I'll get here.)

The babies are much less concerned about the separation. Their bellies are full for the moment, so they are more curious about the humans who've invaded their space. (As I was looking through photos I'd taken, I decided these youngsters were trying to count by 2s and got a little out of order. So much for homeschooling, right? There are probably some parents who can relate to that at the moment!)

Anyway, after three days of gathering, sorting and hauling, all the mamas and babies are at summer pasture. (And the pairs were reunited in just a few hours. This anxious baby couldn't wait to get into a more traditional position to begin nursing.)

It sounds so simple - three days of gathering, sorting and hauling in the beautiful days of spring. Idyllic, right? But as with Paul Harvey, there's "the rest of the story." While the transition from April is more traditionally known as "showers to May flowers," at The County Line, it's also the signal for cattle to make the exodus from lots near home to their summer pastures.

Depending on the location, the methods vary.

At a couple of the winter locations, it includes a 4-wheeler ride. That's not necessarily a bad thing on a nice spring morning - as long as the participants cooperate.

The day before this move from the pasture south of our house, Randy had shut the cattle off from water so that they'd be more inclined to come up into the lot. It worked, since the gathering went well. They did need some nudging to get them up into the next corral for sorting. 

It's true love that he drives across the muddiest parts so that I don't have to.

Even with the smelly lots, I couldn't ignore the beautiful blue sky as a backdrop.

There might be even fewer photos than normal of the sorting process. This year, we have some part-time help, but there's a learning curve when it comes to sorting. While our helper hauled a cow who hadn't calved to another lot, Randy and I sorted the mamas from the babies.

 

As I said earlier, the mamas are a lot more concerned about it than the babies.

There are no photos of getting them loaded into the trailer either. All hands on deck are needed to push them into the trailer, and no camera needs to be crushed or dropped in the process. My leg got a whack from a kicking calf; the camera didn't need to suffer the same fate.

This group went to the Ninnescah pasture. The old cottonwood at the gate is the first witness to the annual spring ritual as Randy swings open the gate.

I wish its branches were as plentiful and strong as they were 30 years ago, but like the rest of us, the cottonwood is showing its age.

We added the double gate a year ago. The old gate got knocked out as we were slipping and sliding because of excessive rain. Even though the reason was an inconvenience, we are enjoying the new, spacious entry into the pasture. (See more about the soggy conditions last year that added 12 miles to the journey with each load in this 2019 blog post.)

We put all the cattle into a holding pen while we haul all the mamas and babies to the pasture. 

Once they've all arrived, it's time to let them out of the holding pens, where the babies find their personal milk machines ...

And they head out into the pasture to explore.

With the Ninnescah Pasture populated for the summer, it's off toward home and resting up for more days of gathering, sorting and hauling to other pastures. 

Sorting and transporting the bulls to the different pastures happened on another day. Below, the bulls take off to find the "ladies" who'd arrived at the Ninnescah a couple of days before.

Last Friday, we moved the pairs from Peace Creek to the corrals about half mile away. We drove them down the road, nudging them along with three 4-wheelers.

The mamas were definitely distracted by the green wheat along the way.

This littlest calf had to work hard to keep up.

We eventually got them into the corral and sorted (though again, there is no photographic evidence of the actual sorting).

But, eventually, they ended up at the Rattlesnake pasture, a place where Randy's family has been taking cattle for more than 100 years.

Even when the circumstances around us seem foreign and incomprehensible, it's a comfort to have these spring rituals continue.

Heifer's arrival at Palmer's pasture

Lip-Smacking Good

It is no longer politically-correct for restaurants to call their food, "Finger-licking good!" (Sorry KFC.) Honestly, when I did a Google search, I learned that the old KFC ad campaign was revised in 2011 - not as a response to Covid-19. That was when the fast food chain decided it was time the slogan kicked the proverbial red and white bucket. The phrase's greasy connotations didn't gel with a healthy makeover KFC was undergoing, and it was dumped for the virtuous “so good."

Bovines are unable to anatomically perform "finger-licking" anyway. So maybe Purina's Range Cattle Mineral is lip-smacking good - at least, if you ask the consumers on The County Line. 

 I went along for the ride as Randy made the latest to-go deliveries to the cows.

 He refilled mineral tubs at all the cattle's locations.

It doesn't look that appetizing to we mere humans. But, evidently, it's gourmet fare among the bovine set.

It didn't take long for the cattle to congregate at the refilled "salad bar."

Beef cattle require a number of minerals for optimal growth and reproduction. Just like some humans supplement their diets with additional vitamins and minerals, we offer a mix that includes calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and several other additives.

At this point, our cows are still getting silage and hay for feed. Early next month, they'll be going to summer pastures. But until that time, we provide the additional nutrition that the bagged supplement can provide.

They could be the spokes-ladies for a Purina campaign.

Minerals are important building blocks of functional life. When the body in question is a 1,200-pound beef cow whose purpose is to produce income, she may need supplemental minerals during several crucial periods throughout the year. Proper mineral and vitamin nutrition contributes to strong immune systems, reproductive performance, and calf weight gain. Diets with mineral imbalances may cause poor animal performance, resulting in reduced profitability.

 Here are just some of the reasons we supplement with minerals:

• Calcium and phosphorus are the major mineral components of the skeleton. Long-term deficiencies of either can cause bones to weaken and even break. In addition, a decrease in one or both can reduce the amount of milk produced by a lactating mother. A phosphorus deficiency can delay puberty in heifers and can delay mature beef cows from returning to heat. Cattle also need correct amounts of calcium for the nervous and muscular systems to function properly.
• Sodium and chlorine (salt) provide for the proper function of the nervous and muscular systems. They help regulate body pH and the amount of water retained in the body.  
• Magnesium is essential for proper enzyme and nervous system function and for efficient carbohydrate metabolism. A magnesium deficiency is uncommon except for cows grazing lush-growth fescue or small grain pastures during the late winter and early spring, which may cause grass tetany, a serious and sometimes fatal metabolic disorder. 
• Beef cattle require 10 microminerals. Seven of the 10 have established requirements, including iron, manganese, copper, zinc, selenium, cobalt and iodine. 

We also provide salt blocks in the cattle lots.

I may have clicked the camera shutter "a few times" trying to capture the action that signifies its lip-smacking good. (Mental note: Add this to my "things I did during a pandemic" list.)

Randy patiently waited. But he also said he was glad I was using digital photography and not film. He couldn't afford me.