Spring was very slow to come this year. The ground was completely snow-covered until Easter. Then suddenly it became spring. The snow melted very quickly. Only the deep drifts around the trees remained. There was not much at all for run-off. Our dugout at home is not even half full.
Calving went fairly well this year, considering the extremely cold temperatures. We did lose a calf out of a heifer due to the sac being over the head. In mid-March we decided to ship the cow who would not mother her calf, the heifer who lost her calf, and three yearling heifers who did not quite fit in with the rest of our breeding heifers. Gregory hauled them to Provost for the sale the next day.
The following week, March 23, we sold a yearling colt to Alberta as a stallion prospect. His new owners are very happy with him and quite excited about the future.
Read Also
Beef demand drives cattle and beef markets higher
Prices for beef cattle continue to be strong across the beef value chain, although feedlot profitability could be challenging by the end of 2025, analyst Jerry Klassen says.
March 30, we dug three postholes in the corral. We needed to redesign and rebuild a section of fence so that Gregory could get bales to the bulls without going through the main corral and the cows and calves. It took a few minutes for the auger to chew through the top few inches because we had been driving there all winter, but after that it was quick digging in the dry earth.
In early April, Peter Ulrich from Ulrich Herefords at Claresholm, Alta. delivered our new Hereford bull and three pairs of cows and calves. In February we bought six cows with their fall calves along with a long yearling bull from Ulrich Hereford’s dispersal sale. They are all registered Herefords and will be the beginning of our small registered herd.
MORE ‘Eppich News’: Getting ready for calving season
To mark my birthday April 11, Barb had a nice dinner and cake for me. Two of Gregory’s sisters happened to be there as well and they were able to help Joseph make me a very nice birthday card. Later that day, Peter was able to bring the last three pair and was able to join us for supper.
The livestock shuffle
The mares are getting closer to foaling so we had to do the big switch. Due to the snow and the cold weather, the cows and calves were all still in the corral, but now with the warmer weather and the mares’ due dates approaching it was time to let the cows out to the home pasture. It was a bit like a Rubik’s cube as we shuffled pregnant mares, yearling foals and cows with calves around, but in the end, we had the youngest calves in the front corral, the pregnant mares in the back corral, the cows and calves out in the home pastures. The rest of the horses are out on the home half.
The long winter has been hard on our haystack. Gregory made a makeshift bunk feeder out of windbreak panels, two telegraph poles, and some salvaged 2×6 pieces of lumber. He has been chopping some barley straw bales together with the hay bales, making a pile in the middle of the feeder. He then forks the feed over as the needed. He has been very happy with the new-to-us bale processor which he purchased from Colin Anderson from Martin Deerline in Barrhead, Alta. He was a pleasure to do business with and stands behind his sales and works for his customers.
