OCTOBER 10 Michael and Nick have been working on custom fence-building jobs and Robbie helped them for a few days. The day after we preg-checked the cows and took the heifers’ mothers to the 320-acre mountain pasture, we put the heifer calves in the orchard, and the two bull calves in the horse pasture. They […] Read more
Rancher’s Diary: Ranch work winding down for fall
Still plenty of grass as cows are back on pasture after weaning
Keep cows fed heading into winter
Each thin cow will need an extra bale over winter just for maintenance, never mind rebuilding
Cows need higher-quality feed, and more of it, as pregnancy progresses. Nutrient requirements in early gestation are not much different from maintenance requirements, but as the fetus grows larger the cow’s nutrient needs increase. After calving, when a cow is lactating, she needs a much higher level of protein and energy than when she is […] Read more
Cows can’t wait to head for green grass
Rancher's Diary: A quick look back at May as the spring season got underway with the end of calving, and time to start irrigating
May 5 – Last Wednesday Andrea helped Lynn put up a temporary electric fence along the south side of the pasture where the cows and calves are. This will keep the calves from eating gravel along the ditch bank and keep them away from the elk panels on that side of the field (the backside […] Read more
Easier weaning for calves using nose flaps
Reducing stress in calves when separated from their mothers
Every year, weaning time is a stress on people and animal. On our ranch, we started fenceline weaning about 25 years ago — separating the cows from the calves but putting them in adjacent pens or pastures so they could still go to the fence and be next to each other. It was a little […] Read more
Assess herd in March for lice control needs
Don’t mix treated and untreated cattle, and apply products at the proper dosage and at the proper timing
Lice are a common winter problem in cattle, especially in northern climates with cold weather and short winter days. Their life cycle speeds up and numbers increase dramatically when weather is cold and they have long winter hair to hide in. Doug Colwell, a livestock parasitologist with Agriculture Canada in Lethbridge, Alta., says sucking and […] Read more
Dealing with broken bones in young calves
For a young calf with a hind leg fractured above the hock, a dog splint may be all you need
Occasionally a young calf suffers a fractured limb, which needs to be cast or splinted for proper healing. Accidents sometimes occur, such as the cow stepping on her calf and breaking a leg. You might not see it happen, and just find the calf unable to get up, or very lame. You might discover the […] Read more
Thawing ‘oven’ speeds digging post holes in frozen ground
Sometimes a person has to build fence in challenging conditions. When ground is frozen it’s almost impossible to drive posts, and very time-consuming and difficult to dig holes. Some people have put an old tire over the spot that needs to be thawed, burning the tires at night, to have the ground thawed underneath them […] Read more
Range rides helps new horse cope with fears
August 20 Andrea, Carolyn and Nick hiked in to Running Creek Ranch last Thursday to get Emily for her week off work. Nick wanted to run the 7-1/2 mile trail, and ran it in just over an hour (with a 30-pound backpack) right before a major rainstorm. They hiked back out to their vehicles at […] Read more
A few tips for grafting calves
Occasionally a cow loses a calf at birth or a calf loses its mother, and you need to “graft” the orphan or a substitute calf onto another cow. Or, a cow might have twins and can’t raise both and you want to put the extra calf onto a cow that lost her own. Sometimes it’s […] Read more
Bonding tips for reluctant mothers
Sometimes a heifer is confused or indifferent toward her newborn calf. She may continue to lie there and doesn’t get up to lick the calf, and when she does she seems surprised to see this strange new wiggling creature behind her. She may walk away, ignoring it, or kick the calf when it gets up […] Read more
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