While I was growing up, my family started calving in mid-March. My birthday is March 12th and it was always really close to that so needless to say I didn't have very many birthday parties. The presents normally came in May. My mom may not be known for absolute promptness, but one can always trust her to get it done in due time so I'm not scarred for not getting parties. Anyway, we started calving around the middle of March. Again just a disclaimer, every producer does things differently. Growing up, this meant the cattle went from summer pasture to winter pasture sometime around the first of November. It depends upon how much grass is in the pastures. From then until mid-March, they would get fed hay (that was put up in the summer) and wheat mids or whatever else they needed to meet their nutritional requirements. Whenever the first calf arrived in the winter pasture or it looked like there were a lot getting ready to calf, they would make the yearly trek home. We have two calving pastures around our house. They stay there while they are calving until mid May when they get worked and put out to their summer pastures. Then the cycle repeats itself. If only it was as easy as that sounds! Every step of that requires work and constant care and attention. Calving is normally the most intensive part of any cow/calf operation. There is a lot that can go wrong in the calving process.
Now that I'm married into a different operation, I'm learning the new ropes and how everything works. The first calf heifers (Heifers are young female cows. Normally, there are first calf heifers-heifers having their first calf that require a lot of attention and second calf heifers. From there they are considered cows.) were scheduled to start calving about two weeks earlier than the main cow herd. First calf heifers require more attention than cows do. Some producers have their heifers start calving before their cow herds for a couple reasons. First reason-the heifers require more attention. As with any "first" experience, they can be more nervous, don't know what to do and sometimes require help. Second reason-normally producers have less first calf heifers as cows, so they get a heads up that the rest of the cows are going to start soon. Third reason-First calf heifers need a little more time than cows to breed back. Producers don't want them to be later than the rest of the cow herd the next year calving so their first year, they are giving a little more time so they don't fall behind and get culled the next year. Fourth reason-Some producers have limited calving area. They want the first calf heifers to have the cleanest ground. Their calves are going to be the most susceptible to becoming sick so producers want them to have the cleanest ground before the rest of the cow herd comes in. Those are a few of the reasons, I'm sure there are lots more.
So our first calf heifers started calving around the first of January. These heifers are brought to Henry and Margaret's house. They just built a new calving barn a couple of years ago. There is a pen connected with the barn. We let the heifers out in the mornings so they can have the whole space and don't make a mess of the barn and at night they get put back into the barn. The barn was built so that the opening is on the south end. This was done because it's used in the winter. In northeast Kansas the strongest and coldest winds are from the north so you want to protect against that wind. Very rarely is there a really cold south wind. Henry gets up several times in the night to check on the heifers. If there is one calving or already calved, he ensures that the mother is taking care of it and the calf has nursed. It's important for the calf to get colostrum right away so that it builds immunity. This works very similar to how it works in humans. The cow's milk has nutrients and antibodies in it that boost immunity in the calves, the same way it works with us. If it's cold outside and the calf doesn't get colostrum, the calf can get cold very quickly. Getting a good start is very important for cattle, the same way it is with babies. It affects the calves later in life. If calves get colostrum early on and get a good start, they don't seem to get diseases and sicknesses like some other calves do that don't later down the line. When calves get a clean, healthy start in life, it requires less medication down the line since they don't get sick.
The heifers get the cleanest and closest care (right by the house so that they can be checked easily and often). The rest of the cows came home around the middle of January. They are put into a few different paddocks (small pastures so they can be checked easily). They aren't right at the house, but close. They start getting fed hay. When the cold weather started coming in, we cleaned out a shed that we normally store machinery in. We made a fence outside of it that connects with the barn we put the cattle in if we have to pull a calf. Then we set up hay bales along it to block the wind. We use our haybuster to blow straw (the stubble left over from the wheat crop) out on the ground so they have something warm to lay on. Straw doesn't hold water in it, so when they cows lay on it with wet coats, the straw repels the water and gets warm from the cow's body heat. It's such a pretty sight to see the cows all bedded down for the night on their straw and all chewing their cuds. Cows can take temperatures much, much, much colder than we can. But it's really important, when they are calving, to give them a warm place to lay down and the wind blocked so that when they calf and the calves come out wet, the calves don't get too cold to get the colostrum. It's important to give all cows a wind break against the cold weather, but once the babies are all dried off and going good, they don't necessarily need the protection that brand new ones do.
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| Okay, it's a really bad picture and I can't figure out how to get it rotated, but this is Matt blowing straw out for the calving cattle. If you look close, you can see the barn that provides a wind break for the cattle. The straw gives the cows a warm place to lay down and dry off. Sorry about the quality of the photo. I was driving another tractor. I forget to take pictures and then by the time I remember I have to hurry to get it taken. |
I mentioned pulling calves earlier. Calves are positioned to come the same way every time. Same as in humans. Sometimes, for whatever the reason, they don't get positioned like that before they get too big to turn in the womb. That's when the problems occur. Normal position is the front legs coming first with the calves. Producers can tell if it's the front feet or back feet after the cow has pushed the legs out. If it's the back feet, the calf has to be pulled. The cow has problems having it if it's backwards and if she can get the calf out, the calf is normally dead due to too much fluid being ingested. There are a lot of other calving problems that can happen, but due to the length of this blog, I think we should wait until next time. We're going to be calving for a while, so I'm sure there will be lots more stories.
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| Okay, I apologize for all these pictures being turned. I'll have my sister teach me how to turn them for the future. We had about a foot of snow on Tuesday. This is me (in the tractor and haybuster) following Matt who had the tractor to push snow. We did chores with two tractors that morning in case there were any roads blown shut that he had to open so we could get to the cows and also he bladed out the snow when we got to the pastures so the cows and calves would have a dry place to lay down. No matter how cold it is or how much snow, farmers are out there taking care of their cattle, normally before we eat. |
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| This is what we do. The cattle on the right are standing on the straw and the cattle on the left are eating their hay. Cattle eat more during cold weather. I'll explain why like my dad explained to me a long time ago when I was riding around in the tractor with him. He told me to imagine a cow having a wood stove inside of her. When it was cold outside, she needed more wood (hay) to keep warm. As the weather got warmer, she didn't need as much to keep warm. And that's how I still remember it to this day. |
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| This is a picture of the haybuster. It hooks onto the back of the tractor. You put a bale of hay in it. The hay turns in a circle inside of it. There are mechanisms (somebody more proficient in names of that stuff would have to tell you exactly how it works-I just run it) grind the hay up. Then it gets blown out on the ground. These have become very popular because the cattle waste less hay (important during drought years when there isn't a lot of hay) and the cattle get more out of the hay they are given. |
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| Cattle must drink. This is Matt breaking the ice so the cattle have water. I conveniently got out of doing it by telling him I had to take a picture :) |
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| Another picture of cattle with their hay and straw to lay on. |
Please, please, please, let me know if you have any questions. I know I used a lot of terminology in this blog and if you don't understand some of it please let me know and I'll be happy to explain it further.
One good thing about the snow is getting to sled! A big thanks to the Slipke's (our neighbors) for bringing their girls, Brooke and April, over to go sledding so Matt and I didn't look ridiculous sledding by ourselves. Farm sledding is a little different than sledding in town. Forgot about pictures, I promise to try to get better at getting pictures, but I was having too much fun. We sled down the hill, then had our UTV pull us back up, so we're sledding both down the hill and up! It's basically a really lazy version, but it was a lot of fun! Glad we took the time to do it!
Also, if you have a blog topic request let me know. I've already gotten several from Matt's sister, Melissa. I'm going to try blogging about what we're doing on the farm at the time, so I can have pictures. But, I'll try to incorporate some issues or concerns you have about agriculture in to the blog. Didn't have time this week due to the cold weather and calving, but hopefully next week.
My recipe this week is one of my favorite foods-macaroni and cheese! This is a fun twist and even a little easier than regular mac and cheese for those of us lazy ones or for a quick recipe. Feeding Matt is a little difficult because he's pretty picky about his food and likes what he likes and doesn't what he doesn't. No changing him! But I think this was a hit and since I love mac and cheese I love this recipe! Sorry I forgot to get a picture before it was all gone.
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups elbow macaroni
5 cups milk
1 stick butter
Cheese-I use shredded cheddar and sometimes mozerella
Salt and Pepper
The last time I made it, I threw a bag of frozen corn in it and Matt really liked the addition. It made it more filling.
Put the 2 cups of uncooked macaroni on the bottom of the pan. Melt your butter and pour it over the top of the macaroni. Put the cheese on top of it. Use however much you want. I normally put a lot on because we like it really cheesy. Next put the package of corn on top of it. Pour the milk over the top of it and put salt and pepper on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.
Super easy and even picky Matt likes it! Have a great week!
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