Category: Cows

 

I wrote a few weeks ago about Benjamin being sick. Unfortunately he still is. It seems he has pneumonia or something similar. He’s alert but very lethargic. Miguel and I spent an hour or so on Monday getting Ben into the head gate so that we could treat him with NuFlor. It sounds easy when I write it, but getting Benjamin to do anything he doesn’t want to is nigh on impossible. He’s a gentle bull, but he goes where he wants. To get him into the paddock, we have to bring all the cows, then herd them back out leaving him behind. Turning the cows into the barn paddock, where we store all the hay and produce, is like turning a kindergarten class into a candy store that doesn’t have lids on open containers of candy.

People do ask if we give our cows antibiotics. The answer is yes, in cases like this and only in cases like this. Benjamin was given an injection of Nuflor in the original post I mentioned above, and then he was given 30cc on Monday of this week, followed by 30cc on Thanksgiving. Benjamin is sick and he’s being treated with all things we think will help him get better. If Benjamin was a cow we were planning on eating at some point (he’s not) then we would follow the advised withdrawal period, plus a good safety factor. We only process cows a few times per year, so if he was remotely close on his scheduled time, we’d simply wait till the next time we process cows which would be months later. We do not give antibiotics as a general course of treatment, like in their food, or when they first arrive on farm. These are the things that people are generally worried about, the preventative usage of antibiotics. This we do not do.

I’ve talked about how we now have beef for sale. Here is where I am recording the final weights for both cows. This is for my records and your curiosity.

#15 had a hanging weight of 500 pounds even. She was processed on 11/13/2014. She was ground for hamburger except for ribeyes and filet mignon.

#9 had a hanging weight of 321 pounds. She was also processed on the 13th and was ground the same as 15.

I forgot to mention in my post last night that we have 2 more cows coming that will be cut into steaks like normal. That means we will have plenty of steaks, roasts, etc in another week. However I need to make some room in the freezer for that meat so please let me know if you want some hamburger to get started because I need to make some room.

Again, we’ll give bulk discounts if you order a larger amount.

Today we picked up the first of two cows we had processed. These cows were processed as all hamburger because we get such a demand for hamburger.

Well not quite everything. We did get some ribeyes and filet mignon but they have been held back for SWMBO and our private stock. For some reason these kids just keep eating all the time!

However we have plenty of hamburger for all you moms who want to make Hamburger Helper, meatloaf, etc.

We had a taste test this evening and all involved agreed that the meat came out great. Hamburger will be $7.99 per pound, however we will discount if you get a bulk of meat. And as usual we will deliver within 15 miles for a 100 dollar order.

Today we took four cows to the processor. Numbers 15, 9, 28, and 40 all took the hour long ride to Siler City. We will have beef again in a few short weeks, and with four cows going we will have plenty. Those of you who’ve been asking when we will have product back in stock need to start making room in the freezer. We will post when we pick up the beef. Remember, this time we’ll have extra hamburger so plan on hamburger helper dinners.

Fortunately, Spork was able to play hooky and go along. In the picture above he and the rat are helping get the trailer hooked up to the truck.

This was the first time we used the new loading ramp in our corral. We previously had the unfortunate combination of a stock trailer that is taller than normal, and a corral where we had not built a loading ramp yet. We got the ramp built this summer but this is the first time we’ve used it. Miguel, Spork, and I had moved the cows to the corral the day before, which was a bit of an adventure. However this morning I simply opened the gates in the corral and the cows walked right into the trailer. No muss, no fuss.

It was great to have Spork along. He is such a big help now as he gets older. In fact…

He has now passed Tammy in height!

We will have beef again by early December!

Kids and cows. Too cute.

Last week Spork and I traveled to South Dakota to go pheasant hunting. It is our second time out there, and Spork was super excited. Anytime to spend time alone with his old man is a good time to him. Add in that it’s a lodge with 13 other men and no women in sight and it’s a testosterone fest. Since he is home with three women every day, any chance to do purely boy stuff is golden. Since I’m working so much of the time, any chance I have to take him is one I jump on. This year it wasn’t easy to get there but it was worth it.

The men were super impressed that Spork jumped with in on the processing table, helping gut birds. I didn’t dissuade them by telling them he helps gut cows, chickens, and pigs on the farm so this is old hat to him. Can something be old hat when you are only 10?

Of course, you can’t get off the farm without something going wrong. While I was gone, Miguel let me know that Benjamin was sick. Since I couldn’t do anything else, I told Miguel to call the vet and to put Benjamin into the head gate. I received the following picture later in the day.

Oh good. Looks like everything went fine. Later I received the following video.

Ok, still looks ok. He walked right in and was his usual calm self. The vet texted that Benjamin effectively had a cold and he’d treated him for that. Looks like all is well.

It’s only later that Miguel tells me that just after that video ends, Benjamin decided he didn’t like being in the head gate and nearly turned it over trying to get out. He said that he’d never seen anything like it. He said Ben’s neck is so big that the head gate couldn’t lock around it but since he is so big he could get out of the enclosure. Basically he was trapped in a box. Luckily everything held, barely, and Benjamin got some medicine for his cold. He is doing much better now so all’s well that ends well. Benjamin was treated on November 6th. He was given an injection of Banamine and Excede. He was treated by Dr. Maxwell from Summit Equine.

On the way home, while boarding a flight in O’Hare, the Captain grabbed Spork and offered him a tour of the cockpit. It was a flash back to the old days when kids used to get to do things like this. Spork thought it was pretty cool and as you can see, he was sporting his Ninja Cow Farm shirt. American Airlines is once again my favorite airline thanks to this very nice Captain.

The Captain did give me a quiz at the end. He gave me three chances to answer, “What makes an airplane fly?”

Do you know? I got it on the first try, but I’m a pilot so it’s cheating for me.

 

We picked up two loads of hay this past week. Each load is 17 bales so we have 34 bales on the farm now. 17 are staged in the winter feeding pasture, the other 17 are stacked in the barn yard. We’ll pick up at least another 34 bales, probably more. It depends on how cold the winter is, and how the cows need to be taken care of over the winter. Hopefully this winter won’t be too cold and we won’t need too much hay. It’s over $1000 for the 34 bales so it’s no small investment each time we haul hay.

Benjamin must be having trouble with the ladies because he decided to get a mud facial this morning. We have some exposed dirt where we trenched a water line to the pigs earlier this year. I don’t know what it is about cows and dirt but they love to rub it all over their face, especially bulls. Benjamin is no exception.

The cows are eating marvelous grass now, but it’s the last graze of the season. Next week I will be going to get the first loads of hay and in a few weeks that’s all we will have for them to eat besides what comes from the market. The cows look wonderful and this years grazing has put the pounds on them. We will be taking 4 to be processed in about a month taking our winter stock down to 27. That’s a few more than last winter but I may end up selling another cow or two along the way. Fortunately our numbers have come up enough to cull effectively now so we can continue to enhance our bloodlines. Benjamin’s calves are noticeably bigger than our normal calves at the same age. Having his genetics in the herd is going to be a good thing.

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Yesterday we had a new little calf born on the farm. Our cow, #23 has given us a beautiful little bull calf who is healthy and spry. This is another Benjamin calf, although this one won’t get to be a bull. As is our practice he was ear tagged and castrated right away. This calf will be two years old late fall of 2016, perfect for our fall processing. In the mean time he’ll live a wonderful life eating grass and playing in the sunshine.

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Here is #47 next to momma not long after he was born. He’s already up and ready to nurse.

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Here is momma, already back to grazing with the little calf in tow. Our wonderful neighbors, the Atwoods, called and let us know that the cow was down and was giving birth. They were worried she was having trouble but by the time we got there, everyone was doing fine.

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And finally the star of our post, #47 sporting his new ear tag. He seemed a bit put out that he had a new earring. What he didn’t know was being banded was coming next. The lesson here is, don’t complain, what is coming next may be worse.