Wehner Homestead 2018 Calving: Done

[greybeard]

Agree with GB. The last few years we have been running nearly 75% heifer calves. When my son would report that so and so had a calf, and "of course it is another heifer" I would just say well, "a live heifer is better than a dead bull" ..... We were beginning to think all we were going to get was heifers when we want a greater percentage of bulls since steers are worth more at sale time. This year we are running closer to 50/50 so far, but unfortunately have had a few dead ones. Shipped one cow 2 weeks ago that wouldn't take a graft calf. Shipped 2 today that had dead calves and the one we would have tried to put a calf on, was totally nuts in the chute and we couldn't even get ahold of her teats to check for milk so I said GONE.....She seriously tried to kill him with kicking out. Not worth getting hurt, and I would not subject a calf to that kind of attitude. The other raised a mediocre calf last year and wasn't the best milker so no point in trying to put a calf on her.

Bought 5 bred cows tonight and one cow/calf pair for under $800 ea., about $4800 total. Cattle are running cheaper in general. Some brought $13-$1500 per pair, but it will take 5 years to make a profit off them with what current prices have been the past 2 years. I cannot justify that. The ones we got were not fancy, and if they only raise their calf this year and we sell both we ought to come out even or a little ahead. It is the feeding all year that takes the profit way down. So we will run them through the chute, check teeth/mouths for approx age, and go from there. They are all vet confirmed preg today before the sale. Getting $500 for a cull cow avg, makes these pretty cheap if they all calve and raise just one calf to sell. They are a little thin, so will benefit from unlimited hay for a month then out on grass. If they do good and are not too old, they will go with the bulls and get bred back. After the second calf they will be profitable if there are no death losses.

So many unknowns in a cow/calf business, but you and I wouldn't have it any other way, tho I admit, I have often considered selling off and just backgrounding 20-30 steers for a few months.
How many months can you run yours on straight grass Jan?

 

[farmerjan]

Oh, GB as you well know it really depends on rain/moisture at the right times to keep the grass growing. That said, we shoot for 6-8 months. They will be out on pasture no later than May 1st usually. Then by sometime in Nov. they are coming off. It also depends on where they are and if we have cross fences where we can rotational graze.
We have 2 places that we move everything out of by July 1st and then nothing goes back until after hunting season so we have 5+ months of growth. We put fall calving cow/calf pairs on one with the bull. The bad thing there is no way to rotate them except to close off the 2 hay fields. So they get the hay fields after about 1-2 months on the pasture fields. We put the round bales made there along the edges of the fields where there are alot of rock and they can graze it and self feed for about 1-2 months. This winter they ate like crazy due to the awful frigid temps in Dec-Jan.
There are about 40 c/c pairs, and about 40 acres of pasture with a fair amount in woods, and about 10 acres total in the 2 hay fields. They have gone through about 50 rolls of hay total. If not for the grazing they would have gone through at least 5 x that. Figure 2 rolls per day for 40 head, minimum of 4 months is 240 rolls.
So if these just bought cows graze for 6 months, raise a saleable calf, we have alot less in them for just pasture & mineral costs than if we had to winter them to get a saleable calf. It costs about $10-$15 a month for a pair on pasture, depending on the rents. We figure $450 per year to keep a cow; to produce a calf and wean it off, breed back etc. About $1.25 per day minimum over the total year. So she needs to have a calf that will bring $550 or more at sale time without alot of extra inputs into the calf.
Summer costs will be about $100 per pair m/l. These bought cows will cost about $150 or a bit more because they are thin and will get some hay and grain for the next month to get some weight on them so they can calve and come into milk decently and have good condition to go to pasture.

 

[greybeard]

There are about 40 c/c pairs, and about 40 acres of pasture with a fair amount in woods, and about 10 acres total in the 2 hay fields.

If like here, the woods does offer some wind protection as well as some grasses that are protected from the early frosts.

$1.25/day is not a bad cost at all. Mine is normally a little higher because I don't make my own hay, but this far south, I don't usually have to feed hay as long as you do. Of course 2017 was a loss in every sense of the word, as I had to buy hay twice, lost 4 tons of feed and lost some cows in the same flood that ruined my hay & feed, and the ground stayed soggy so long I couldn't get winter forage in the ground.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Miss Mallory is nursing and starting to jump around. The kids are cracking us up. They are convinced that she’s a dairy calf and keep talking about the dairy calf in the barn. DS even said that she’d grow up to be a dairy cow!

 

[RoahT]

I love her coloring, she is so beautiful and cute!!

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Thank you!! We are really excited about her!

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Maxine still hasn’t calved. Her due date could be anywhere between 3/21 and 4/11 so we wait. She seems fairly content in the barn and may actually be taming some.

Moxie’s heifer, Mallory, is growing well. DS refers to her as “the heifer that looks like a dairy cow!”

I’ll try to get some updated pics soon.

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Maxine is still holding her calf hostage. I did some close studying today and decided that her calf hasn’t moved up yet and her udder could fill out more. Now she can up and surprise me and evict this next addition.

Moxie’s lil miss Mallory is just too precious!

 

[Wehner Homestead]

Maxine hasn’t eaten all day and has been more edgy. She is so swollen that DH claims her calf is going to walk out! Since I take daily pics of the Does, I thought I’d try some of Maxine. These are from last night. (Sorry. Black is hard to photograph.)

Moxie also has mastitis in one quarter. I think we caught it quickly and the cause seems to be that Mallory just couldn’t keep up with her milk production yet. I took a pic last night that I’ll post. The quarter was much softer and more pink than red tonight. We have milked her out in that quarter for four nights now (using a head chute, hip strap, and feed to distract), given intramammary meds for three nights, and penicillin for two nights. Due to Moxie being a first calf heifer and wanting to verify that the treatment was thorough, she will get the intramammary meds for 8 days and the Penicillin for 4 days. (It’s her back right.)

 

[Wehner Homestead]

I also got some calf pics today.

Maizy (and Scarlett’s) bull calf (DOB 2/7)

Maddie’s heifer, Indy (DOB 2/8)

Dolly’s bull (DOB 2/14)

Bailey’s bull (DOB 3/1)

Melody’s bull (DOB 3/1)

Abby Jane’s bull (DOB 3/13)

Moxie’s heifer, Mallory (DOB 3/27)