Cattle & Ranching

[Mother mopar 3,345]

My dad had a problem with coyotes and Bobcats picking off calves, put a lama out there and hasn't lost one since.

When we turn new cows out, lama can be seen in a straight run across the hills booking it to the trailer trying to find out what's in it.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Never really had a problem with predators. Run around 100 mammas. Mostly brahman crosses. Some red angus to.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

1 hour ago, thestud said:

That's odd. Only calves we've lost in the last few years were all first time mama's that didn't take to the baby or they had twins and only took to one. I've got coyotes out the ass in my back pasture but never had any issue with them. Grandma runs quite a few on 2900 acres and has the occasional coyote problem but those down in Milan County are part wolf I'm certain of it.

Yea brother i dont know. Sucks man especially comin back from a great New Orleans trip.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Week old Baldy calf

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[Mother mopar 3,345]

Good looking calf, great color too.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Bought the daddy last march at the Northeast Texas Hereford Assoc. Sale. He's been a good one.

Had a rodeo this morning in the rain. Found a new calf and went to tag it. Momma wasnt havent none of it. Got after my father in law in some thick woods. She got on him and he fell and stomped him. I got between her and him hit her in face several times. Lasted about 3 minutes or so. He is pretty sore.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

Daylight savings time and temps in the 60s all next week. I'll probably ride my fence and then help neighbors get theirs in shape. Just about time to set the world on fire. I love springtime.

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

I lost 12 calves in the blizzard two weeks ago.  Highs in the 40s and 50s for the foreseeable future.  Nice to take a deep breath once in a while.  

[Errestaurants 2,570]

10 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

I lost 12 calves in the blizzard two weeks ago.  Highs in the 40s and 50s for the foreseeable future.  Nice to take a deep breath once in a while.  

Dang it man. Sorry to hear that brother.

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

Thank you.  Just too damn cold.  I think we had seven of them in the house in one day.  

[Llano Estacado 1,257]

Damn that sucks Kenny.

When my old man was running commercial cows in the TX panhandle it was always a shit show mad scramble before big storms in February and March. “This one’s going to drop. Those 3 are fine. 5 in this pasture already dominoed and hid the damn calf.”

Don’t know how guys in Montana, Wyoming, etc do it for months at a time.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

1 hour ago, Kennythetiger said:

Thank you.  Just too damn cold.  I think we had seven of them in the house in one day.  

What you run up there? Angus? Hereford?

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

Red Angus/Red Simmental commercial cows.  We've had cold, and we've had snow, but the combination of both was a little too much for the babies.  Don't remember anything like this in the last 10 years.  

[Errestaurants 2,570]

53 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Red Angus/Red Simmental commercial cows.  We've had cold, and we've had snow, but the combination of both was a little too much for the babies.  Don't remember anything like this in the last 10 years.  

Red sales good up there?

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

Not bad.  Popular in central Nebraska and slowly moving west.  Regardless of color, calf price is still hanging in pretty good but cow market took a dump last fall.  Solid-mouth cows can be had for less than $1000.00.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

I like red. Have mostly black though.

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[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

We started burning Friday evening. This was just an 80. I expect that some of the bigger pastures in the neighborhood will go up this week.

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

I worked on K-State's ranch in college, and burning was definitely my favorite part of the year.  Several hundred miles west, where I live, fires are accidental and the pastures require several years to recover.  

As an aside, pack rat nests and cedar trees were my favorite things to torch.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

2 hours ago, Shoxthemonkey said:

We started burning Friday evening. This was just an 80. I expect that some of the bigger pastures in the neighborhood will go up this week.

I need to burn a 100 acre pasture. Really can make a big difference pretty fast versus just brush hogging/clearing and putting lime down. 

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

A lot of folks didn't burn last year because it was so dry and windy. Everybody I have talked to is going to do it this year, now that things are wet. I'll take some pictures in a couple of weeks when the bluestem is coming back. It looks like a pool table for as far as you can see. Most of our ponds are full this spring so I expect this to be a very good grazing season.

[Leeroy Jenkins 2,431]

I need to burn a 100 acre pasture. Really can make a big difference pretty fast versus just brush hogging/clearing and putting lime down. 

 

Don’t let that shit get out of control. I don’t want to have to come put it out.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

49 minutes ago, Leeroy Jenkins said:

 

Don’t let that shit get out of control. I don’t want to have to come put it out.

you guys help out in Kemp? this is off 148. 

[Leeroy Jenkins 2,431]

It would have to be pretty big.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4,980]

Little NAAL with her great grandfather feeding the longhorns.

And this little calf is probably the best looking one we've had.

Edited March 31, 2019 by NotActuallyALonghorn

[Errestaurants 2,570]

On 3/15/2019 at 7:02 PM, Kennythetiger said:

 

37 minutes ago, thestud said:

Finally got my fields sprayed. One pint per acre and in a little over 24hours everything is turning brown! For the last month it’s either been 40mph winds, raining or we were in the hospital having babies. Thank god we had a cold spell last week and the grass has stayed dormant. Should start coming up pretty good in the next few weeks with high in the 80’s. Going to send off a soil sample at the end of next week. Hopefully don’t need to much out of the ordinary but we’ll see. Haven’t spread lime in two years so we’ll see

 

I usually hit mine after first cutting. What u spray? Grazon? 2-4 d

Edited April 5, 2019 by Errestaurants

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Had to put a cow down Saturday. Had a breech, got the chains but to late. momma couldn't get up over a couple days so we had to shoot her. we've lost 3 calves and now a cow. been tough. 

[Errestaurants 2,570]

been missing 3 cows for a week. Neighbor finally came by and said he had them. one had a calf. going to round em up tomorrow.  sold a couple crappy yearling bulls at the sale in Emory. got $1800. each weighed about thousand pounds. lol Sent another 6 cows and got 4K. one of cows had a calf on the way so we held her back. so 5 sold

Also sold a weak 3 month old bull calf with I think a hernia. he sold for $65. Gettin rich. 

Edited May 26, 2019 by Errestaurants

[Mother mopar 3,345]

been missing 3 cows for a week. Neighbor finally came by and said he had them. one had a calf. going to round em up tomorrow.  sold a couple crappy yearling bulls at the sale in Emory. got $1800. each weighed about thousand pounds. lol Sent another 6 cows and got 4K. one of cows had a calf on the way so we held her back. so 5 sold
Also sold a weak 3 month old bull calf with I think a hernia. he sold for $65. Gettin rich. 

Dropping calves on the way to the sale...one way to buy yourself a few more months on the ol farm.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Got 84 rolls made this morning before the old workhorse finally gave up the ghost. Called my guy in Decatur and by the time I was done eating lunch he was on his way with my new machine. First 5 bales with the new beast averaged 1480! She’s a bad bitch
 

 

Damn brother!

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[Errestaurants 2,570]

What did you pay for that baler?

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[Errestaurants 2,570]

Saturday at the Kemp Ranch

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[Errestaurants 2,570]

Just now, thestud said:

 

 

It’s a 2016 with just under 12k rolls on it. They overhauled it at the dealer after they took it in trade. They wanted $34k and offered $4800 trade value on mine. Got them down to $26k out the door

 

 

Right on brother

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

We have had about 20" of rain so far in May. My brome is 4' tall, higher if it could stand upright. I would like to get it baled soon but it is too wet to get in the field and there is still rain in the forecast for the next week. We usually get 12-14 bales off of the 8 acres in front of my house but I won't be surprised if it makes 20 this year. IF it will quit raining long enough to put it up. I'm glad this isn't how I make a living, not sure if I could take the strain.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Fertilized 90 acres. Put down 250 pounds and acre. 

[Errestaurants 2,570]

13 minutes ago, thestud said:

I got 350/acre of 15-15-15 flung April 29th. Cut last Friday and rolled on Monday. Rain in the forecast every day next week, I may put 200/acre of 33-0-0 out tomorrow when I get home from work if I’m feeling frisky. Got a 3.7 bale/acre average from this first cut so I’m starting off the season in decent shape.

 

Hard to beat that Triple 15. How many acres u bale?

[Errestaurants 2,570]

12 minutes ago, thestud said:

We bale almost 1100 acres at the family farm in Milam County. At my place I’m on 61 with another 110 adjacent to the west of me that the the neighbor lets me have on the halves.

Thats some real fertilizing and hay. Humblebrag. Lol

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Milam county is a pretty area and great pasture land. 44 farms out that way

[Ten Bears 2,489]

So how are you all working your calves?  Rope and drag or do you have calf cradles and whatnot?  

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Roundem up with horses into the pen and seperate. Work em through the chute

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[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

On 5/31/2019 at 7:47 AM, Shoxthemonkey said:

We have had about 20" of rain so far in May. My brome is 4' tall, higher if it could stand upright. I would like to get it baled soon but it is too wet to get in the field and there is still rain in the forecast for the next week. We usually get 12-14 bales off of the 8 acres in front of my house but I won't be surprised if it makes 20 this year. IF it will quit raining long enough to put it up. I'm glad this isn't how I make a living, not sure if I could take the strain.

We put it down 10 days ago and then the rain returned. Over 6". Finally got it baled yesterday after noon. 24 1500# bales. It surprisingly looked pretty good in spite of the rain. At least it wasn't alfalfa.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

#1500. Good size bales u got. Nice and tight. 

[davidg 4,040]

On 5/31/2019 at 4:57 PM, thestud said:

Leave some gates open a week ahead of time and each day go out and close the gates behind them as they migrate towards the barn/water. Have an old plastic pickup bed liner shell. Tie it to the bumper of the truck and dump 4-5 bags of cake in the shell. Drive a couple hundred feet let them catch up and eat some cake. Drive a little more. Rinse and repeat until you get to the 7 or so acres we have fenced off around the pens. Dump a round bale and couple more bags of cake in the trough in the pen and voila. Of course this is easy to do with u set 200 head. Several hundred would be a pain in the dick.

Sack broke cattle are the best cattle.

[Errestaurants 2,570]

Long story and I suck at writing but here y'all go

Had an issue with a neighbor this past weekend. 2 Saturday's ago I was in my lower hay pasture with my Father in law and saw some cow tracks around my bass pond. I've got no cattle at this place. I look down south towards my neighbors place behind me and of course i see some black cows. No big deal. Cows have no ear tags or brands.

I drive down to the fence line they're grazing on and see a big hole in the fence. Makes sense. I see the landowner who is working on a metal building and call over to him. He leases the grazing to a local guy. No big deal. I tell him about the cows and he says he knows and told the guy about it and they tried to get them back. I told him I'll get the cows back since I have the key to our shared gate and will patch the fence. He says thank you. I took care of it.

Well this past weekend one of my neighbors to the east of me calls me and says he is coming over to talk to me cause he is missing a cow. I said ok. He and his son in law come to me and say they are actually missing 3 cows and he thinks they are on my place in the lower pasture. I tell him I didn't see any cows as I was just down there mowing but I'll take him down there to check. Of course no cows. I ask him how long have the cows been missing and how many cows do you have? He says 2 weeks and 3 cows. I'm like your just now asking about them? Lol. He is missing his entire herd.

I then tell him that a week prior I put 3 black cows that were on my southern pasture back in with the 25 or so black cows the guy behind me has cause they told me they were missing cows too. I then told him that those cows also don't have a brand or ear tag and I'm not sure how they going to figure it out. They also have no pen to catch them to look at em. I could tell he was upset at me like I did something wrong. 

Little bit of the problem is I have the largest place and I'm surrounded by 20 acre farms and they have cows but don't want to help keep up with the fences. I only make hay there and fish so I try and keep up with fences best I can cause I don't want their cows grazing on my fertilized pastures. 

 

[Mother mopar 3,345]

The “old herd” as we call them are the cows that came from our place on Immanuel Rd in Pflugerville about 15 years ago when we sold out to the developers. Granddad could drive his truck out into the pasture and give a real loud “wooooo-ooooohhhh” and those crazy SOB’s would stampede to get to the truck. They’d follow it all the way up to the pens without a single cube being thrown.

This.... my ol man still does it that way, a few honks on the truck horn and over the hill the heads start bobbing knowing its supper time.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4,980]

It was swooooo-cows in a high pitched voice for us. Actually still is.

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

15 hours ago, Errestaurants said:

Long story and I suck at writing but here y'all go

Had an issue with a neighbor this past weekend. 2 Saturday's ago I was in my lower hay pasture with my Father in law and saw some cow tracks around my bass pond. I've got no cattle at this place. I look down south towards my neighbors place behind me and of course i see some black cows. No big deal. Cows have no ear tags or brands.

I drive down to the fence line they're grazing on and see a big hole in the fence. Makes sense. I see the landowner who is working on a metal building and call over to him. He leases the grazing to a local guy. No big deal. I tell him about the cows and he says he knows and told the guy about it and they tried to get them back. I told him I'll get the cows back since I have the key to our shared gate and will patch the fence. He says thank you. I took care of it.

Well this past weekend one of my neighbors to the east of me calls me and says he is coming over to talk to me cause he is missing a cow. I said ok. He and his son in law come to me and say they are actually missing 3 cows and he thinks they are on my place in the lower pasture. I tell him I didn't see any cows as I was just down there mowing but I'll take him down there to check. Of course no cows. I ask him how long have the cows been missing and how many cows do you have? He says 2 weeks and 3 cows. I'm like your just now asking about them? Lol. He is missing his entire herd.

I then tell him that a week prior I put 3 black cows that were on my southern pasture back in with the 25 or so black cows the guy behind me has cause they told me they were missing cows too. I then told him that those cows also don't have a brand or ear tag and I'm not sure how they going to figure it out. They also have no pen to catch them to look at em. I could tell he was upset at me like I did something wrong. 

Little bit of the problem is I have the largest place and I'm surrounded by 20 acre farms and they have cows but don't want to help keep up with the fences. I only make hay there and fish so I try and keep up with fences best I can cause I don't want their cows grazing on my fertilized pastures. 

 

I can't imagine owning stock and not being able to pick mine out of the herd. Hobby ranching at its finest, I guess. I proudly put the "Lazy MF" on all my critters.

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

10 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

It was swooooo-cows in a high pitched voice for us. Actually still is.

"Come, Boss" in a low voice out here.  Pretty fun to see 150 cows come running like dogs.  Much easier to lead cattle than to chase them.  

[Kennythetiger 9,500]

On 6/26/2019 at 11:24 AM, Shoxthemonkey said:

We put it down 10 days ago and then the rain returned. Over 6". Finally got it baled yesterday after noon. 24 1500# bales. It surprisingly looked pretty good in spite of the rain. At least it wasn't alfalfa.

Man, I've bought so much shit alfalfa the last two years, my cows wouldn't know what to do if they had a nice green bale.  I don't remember our last cutting that didn't get rained on (usually 3 or 4 cuttings/year here).  Oh well.  I just give it to them in the winter and say, "You guys can eat this or eat snow, I guess."  They eat it under protest.  

[Errestaurants 2,570]

24 minutes ago, thestud said:

At the airport. 3x wool blend hat with the factory crease. Ariat boots and spurs. Orders a mango sweet tea. Definitely cowboys harder than you or me

He probably has 10 mini herefords

[Shoxthemonkey 1,983]

30 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Man, I've bought so much shit alfalfa the last two years, my cows wouldn't know what to do if they had a nice green bale.  I don't remember our last cutting that didn't get rained on (usually 3 or 4 cuttings/year here).  Oh well.  I just give it to them in the winter and say, "You guys can eat this or eat snow, I guess."  They eat it under protest.  

An old trick that my FIL taught me was to water down some mollasses and sprinkle it over the hay. They will slick it right up. We had a 500 head feedlot and had a 1000 gal tank for mollasses that we put in the ration for the fats. I doubt that anybody keeps bulk mollasses around nowadays.

We put up 3 1/2 sections of prairie hay using an Allis rotobaler. Just let it lay in the pasture. Then we would buy stocker calves and turn them out on that pasture. It would take them all winter to eat all that hay but there were always remnants of bales that they had bedded on or shit on or whatever. We would drive around burning our .29 cent gas and sprinkle all of that. They would eat everything right up to a cowpie. Very effective. I haven't seen any little round bales for years but I wish I had a dime for every time I pulled the hand clutch on a WD Allis.