Calendar Girl

 

This trio of calves was my March "centerfold" on this year's family birthday calendar.

It was one of my favorite baby calf photos of last year. And when family members were thumbing through the calendars at Christmastime, they invariably commented on these cute little faces. These portraits also ended up on notecards.

I'd been looking for "my little calendar girl" on the right this winter. With her unusual markings, I wanted to see how she looked now that she's all grown up. 

 

Here she is in the heifer lot earlier this winter, awaiting my daily delivery of silage to the bunks. 

And here she was in the working chute. On Tuesday, No. 87 - along with 24 of her "friends" - began the next step toward motherhood.  It had me singing Neil Sedaka's "Calendar Girl" in my head.

 

Calendar Girl 

by Neil Sedaka

I love, I love, I love my calendar girl

Yeah, sweet calendar girl

I love, I love, I love my calendar girl

Each and every day of the year

Babies are always special. My "baby" will turn 33 this year. (Not sure how that happened so fast.) And it's now been a decade since we first learned we'd be grandparents. 

(This was Kinley's first "photo" on Kim's County Line.)

So why is No. 87 the one who caught my eye? Her buddies were equally cute as babies. But her distinctive facial markings had me looking for her this winter - just to see if I could find her among the crowd at the bunks when I fed every day. (She didn't have the eartag when I took the photo, so I was trying to match facial features while running the auger on the feed truck, getting it positioned, etc.)

 

It's "birds and bees" time on our Kansas farm. On Tuesday, No. 87 and her fellow heifers went through the working chute in preparation for this season of "love," or, more accurately, lust.

As I wrote earlier this week, the bulls had their doctor's appointments with Veterinarian Bruce Figger to make sure they were ready to fulfill their job description here on the County Line. But the bulls aren't the only factor in the "birds and bees" of a Kansas cattleman. The heifers who will become first-time mothers next winter also have been getting some extra care.

Because they require some additional attention for calving, we want to get the first-time mothers to come into estrus (or heat) at the same time. It gets the heifers' reproductive cycles "in sync" to shorten the calving season for the heifers, which saves labor at calving time. (Well, it saves some labor for the humans - not the mama cows.) We check them frequently in case they are having trouble calving.

This year's OB/GYN candidates were born in early 2020. In 2022, they will become mothers for the first time. 

Beginning March 11, our 25 yearling heifers had their silage topped with MGA. MGA is melengestrol acetate, which suppresses the ovulation cycle for the heifers.

 

 For 14 days, Randy added the MGA to the silage and fed the equivalent of 1/2 a pound per head per day.

Then, on April 13, we ran the heifers through the working chute to give them a shot of of Lutalyse, which makes them come into heat.

Here's No. 87 as she's arriving for her "appointment."

They also get a vaccine to prevent respiratory issues and diarrhea when in the chute, but the Lutalyse is part of the "birds and bees" equation.

We also used a pour-on insecticide to guard against lice and other critters.

When I opened Facebook Wednesday morning, guess whose face was staring at me as a Facebook memory? Yep, it was my March calendar girl and friends. It was a year ago that I first published No. 87's photo on Kim's County Line with this blog post, Social Distancing in the Cattle Lot.

Out of curiosity, I looked to see if I recognized any other of the babies from that year-old blog post.

No. 80 (who looks like she was playing hide and seek on Tuesday) was also part of the 2020 blog post. Here she was a year ago:

March 2020

 And lo and behold, there was another one. No. 75 now ...

... and then.

March 2020

And here's No. 54 in March of last year, waiting her turn in the lane before entering the calf cradle working chute.

No. 50 - who was in the photo with No. 87 near the top of the post as they were waiting for breakfast - was also in the March 2020 "social distancing" post. (Look at those eye lashes!)

 

I knew I had a photo of No. 01, since she would have been the second calf born last year.

February 2020

It was a trip down memory lane. And it's one of the rewarding things about operating a cow-calf operation. The girl babies sometimes become part of our herd after they are all grown up. And we get to watch them have babies and continue the cycle as the years pass.

After their shots, we turned them out into the lot with the bulls where we let nature take its course, so to speak.  

"Hey, ladies! Welcome to the neighborhood!" a couple of the bulls appear to say.

Maybe they are finding their "calendar girl" right about now, too!

In Sync

Alfred Lord Tennyson once said, "In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love."

Well, I don't know about love, exactly. But it's "birds and bees" time on our Kansas farm. Last week on Earth Day, we ran the heifers through the working chute in preparation for this season of "love," or, more accurately, lust.

Earlier, the bulls had their doctor's appointments with Veterinarian Bruce Figger to make sure they were ready to fulfill their job description here on the County Line. But the bulls aren't the only factor in the "birds and bees" of a Kansas cattleman. The heifers who will become first-time mothers next winter also have been getting some extra care.

Beginning in March, our 25 yearling heifers had their silage topped with MGA. MGA is melengestrol acetate, which suppresses the ovulation cycle for the heifers. For 14 days, Randy added the MGA to the silage and fed the equivalent of 1/2 a pound per head per day.

This was the first step in getting the heifers to come into estrus (or heat) at the same time. These young ladies were born in early 2018. In 2020, they will become mothers for the first time.

During their Earth Day "doctor's" appointment, the heifers each got a shot of Lutalyse, which makes them come into heat. We do this to synchronize the heifer's reproductive cycles.

N'Sync isn't just a singing group. We get the heifers' reproductive cycles "in sync" to shorten the calving season for the heifers, which saves labor at calving time. (Well, it saves some labor for the humans - not the mama cows.) Because heifers are first-time mamas, we check them frequently in case they are having trouble calving.

 

 Randy also gave each heifer a vaccination to prevent respiratory issues and diarrhea.

Then it was time to introduce the guys to the ladies. Some 283 days later, the babies are supposed to arrive. So we will expect to get our first 80-pound bundles of joy next January 28 or so. 

Later this week, we'll be moving the remainder of the older cows to summer pastures. Then, we'll "assign" bulls to their respective pastures. 

The bulls are ready. The cows are ready. And if all goes as planned,  the miracle of life begins yet again on the County Line.

Commencement: A New Stage of Life

This past week, we hauled the heifers to the Palmer Pasture. After several dreary days of cattle sorting and hauling, it was nice to have the sunshine brighten up the scenic view. It seemed a good omen for these females who are beginning the next phase of their journey on the County Line.

These heifers will be mothers for the first time in 2018. But they started out life on our farm. They were born during our 2016 calving season.

 

At this time last year, they went with their mothers to summer pasture. In the fall of 2016, we brought the whole Class of 2016 back to the farm and weaned them from their mothers. We sorted out all the boys, who became feeder calves. At the same time, Randy selected 25 of the females to become part of our breeding stock. The veterinarian calfhood vaccinated them in November 2016. 

Their brothers and sisters went to the sale barn in March. Later in March, the heifers began another step toward motherhood.

In March, Randy mixed MGA into the feed given to the 25 heifers. MGA stands for melengestrol acetate, which suppresses the ovulation cycle for the heifers. For 14 days, Randy added the MGA to the grain in the feed truck and fed the equivalent of 1/2 a pound per head per day.

Then, in April, we gathered the heifers to run them through the working chute.  Randy gave each of them a shot of Lutalyse, so the heifers will come into estrus (or heat) at the same time.

He also gave each of the 25 heifers a shot of vaccine to prevent respiratory issues and diarrhea.

 

So why do we try to synchronize the heifers' cycles? We do it to shorten the calving season for the heifers, which saves labor at calving time. (Well, it saves some labor for the humans - not the mama cows.) Because heifers are first-time mamas, we check them frequently in case they are having trouble calving.

The heifer below was waiting for her turn in the chute.

April 2017

I spent a little time looking at photos of the 2016 calves. I'm not sure whether this is the same one, but it definitely has a similar eye patch.

March 2016

Maybe this one was trying to stay incognito so she wouldn't have to go to her OB-GYN appointment. I know that feeling.

But they all had their time going down the lane ...

... and into the chute.

The same day the Lutalyse shot was given, four bulls came a callin'. The bulls were chosen for the "job" because they are bulls whose offspring are expected to have lower birth weight, making it easier for the first-time mothers to deliver their calves. The newest bull, which we bought last month, also joined the party.

The four bulls stayed with the heifers for 10 days. Last week, the heifers and our newest bull arrived at the Palmer Pasture.

Some 283 days later, these females will become mamas for the first time. We will expect to get our first 80-pound bundles of joy next January 28 or so.

We also hauled the rest of the bulls to the different pastures with mature cows. Our cow herd should begin calving around February 7.

And the story will begin yet again.