Category: Cattle Health

  • Vaccinating your Calves

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    Red Angus steer calf grazing on October 31st, 2014. Enjoying the nice fall weather.
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    November 2nd, 2014. Hello, winter.

    Today’s post will focus on vaccinating your calves. Stay posted for our next post on weaning your calves.

    As I am typing, we are just a week away from Christmas and winter has arrived on the Wood Farm.  Normally, having lots of snow in mid-December is nothing out of the ordinary in our neck of the woods.

     

    This winter, though, our farm underwent a winter wonderland on the evening of November 1st.  Yes, November not December.

    I think Mother Nature got her months mixed up.

     

     

    Last year, our cows grazed on pasture up until the first day in December and we had hoped to have the same fall-time grazing success this year.   We had to start our cows on hay bale grazing on November 8th.

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    Hay bale grazing started on November 8th, 2014.

     

    All of our grand ideas of stretching out our fall grazing and thus, our winter hay bale supply (save $30/day) flew out the window into swirls and swirls of snowflakes.  Oh well, that’s how it goes with farming. I strongly believe that having a flexible attitude with large doses of patience and positivity can take you very far in this crazy, wonderful world of beef cattle farming!

     

    Getting back to the focus of this post (vaccinating your calves), though, we had no clue that winter would come a month early.  On that wintery day, as we watched the first snow of the season fall and pile up all around us, we felt so fortunate that the two very critical tasks to have done before winter – vaccinating and weaning calves – were done.  We vaccinated our calves on September 21st and weaned them October 4th (Post on weaning coming soon).

    Vaccinating Calves

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    Our alley, chute and head gate.

    We chose to vaccinate our calves a few weeks before we weaned them.   These calves had not yet been worked through an alley, chute and head gate and just going through that maze had the potential to be a slightly stressful event for them.  We had no desire to couple that process with weaning.

     

     

    After consulting with our veterinarian, we decided to do the vaccinations ourselves.  Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from this as it proved to be a very high-energy event.  The whole process took eight hours to complete, and I wore our 30lb son in the backpack for half that time.

    September 21st was the big day.  We had 10 Angus calves to vaccinate, ranging in age from 2 1/2 – 5 months old. Jer and I worked these calves by ourselves and boy, did we learn some important lessons.  Lessons on what NOT to do but at the same time, some affirmation that parts of our process were working.   I just can’t stress enough how important it is to remain calm, patient and positive when handling cattle, especially these young calves.  If you are getting upset and impatient, you better believe that calf is fielding those emotions from you and you are going to have a fight on your hands getting that animal down an alleyway and into a head gate.

    We administered the following vaccinations to each of our 10 calves:

    1. 2ml of 20/20 Vision 7 with spur (pinkeye).   Given subcutaneously in the upper neck.
    2. 2ml of Presponse HM (prevention of bacterial pneumonia).  Given intramuscular in the upper neck.
    3. 2ml of Bovi-Shield Gold 5 (for a range of respiratory diseases).  Given subcutaneously in the upper neck.
    4. 3ml Multimin90 (mineral supplement).  Given subcutaneously in the upper neck.
    5. 16ml of Ivermectin Pour on (wormer).  Applied along the top line.

    In addition to the vaccinations, we were able to get weights on nine of the calves.  We had been pleased with the calves’ performance and growth over the summer and the weights provided us with some much-needed affirmation that we were well on track to have 500+ pound calves for sell in November.

    When we finished up that night, we came inside and over dinner, we brainstormed ideas for making the whole vaccination process more effective, streamlined and calmer for both human and animal.  We talked about what went wrong and what went right.  The day was not perfect.  We always try not to let our emotions get the best of us when working with our animals but we stumbled a bit that day.  In the end, though, we always try to remind ourselves that at least we have cattle; yes, we sometimes get frustrated and impatient but at least we have cattle.  Could be a lot worse.  We could not have cattle and we just couldn’t imagine life like that.  🙂

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    Coming to your pasture soon…Weaning.

     

    We could check vaccinating calves off our fall to-do list.

     

    Next on the list?  Weaning.  What an adventure and yet another, learning lesson, that would turn out to be.

     

     

  • Cow Pregnancy Blood Testing

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    Are they pregnant?!

     

    Before we knew it, THAT time was upon us again.  Our 60-day breeding season had come and gone in the blink of an eye and it was time for us to answer the question that had been looming over our heads all summer – are they pregnant?!  They, of course, being our 20 cows.

     

     

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    Just another day at work.

     

    We leased a red Angus bull (known for calving ease calves) for our breeding season this year, and we witnessed many of our cows and first-year heifers being bred by him over the course of the season.

     

     

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    The mounting behavior shown by the heifer in this picture was a good sign to us at the time that she was – or would soon to be – cycling. While we did not observe an actual breeding session, her pregnancy test was positive.

     

    That being said, though, there were no guarantees that we would have viable pregnancies.  In addition, we had a good handful of cows with no observed breeding but for almost all of them, though, we did at least observe signs of estrus or cycling.   We were cautiously optimistic!

     

     

     

    Our breeding season this year was especially important and critical to the success of our operation as half of our herd were actively nursing their calves – their first ever calves – during the breeding season.  First-calf heifers are notorious for not breeding back. After ensuing the demands of a first-time labor and delivery and then, nursing that calf for months on end, some of these cows simply never regain the body condition needed to resume estrus.

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    We had our eyes on this momma cow all summer. She appeared to be struggling with maintaining good body condition while nursing. Fortunately, though, she showed signs of cycling and while we did not observe a breeding session, her pregnancy test did come back positive.
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    We were also keeping our eye on this momma cow. On the positive side, she was nursing and eventually weaned, a very nice sized heifer calf. On the negative side, the demands of lactation proved too much for this momma cow as she never did cycle again after giving birth. We recently culled her from our herd.

     

     

     

    In our herd, we had a few momma cows struggling to maintain a good body condition while still nursing.

     

     

     

     

    In addition, we encountered an especially dry summer for our region, with grass regrowth and quality not on par with previous years.

     

     

     

    Our momma cows were being tested in a very big way this past summer.  Could they maintain the body condition needed to provide milk for their calves AND be bred back all the while grazing -at times- on lower quality pastures?  It was the question that loomed over our heads all summer and quite honestly, right up to the day we found out who was pregnant and who was open.  As you can see in the picture above, we did not have a 100% pregnancy rate.

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    Cow pregnancy checks – 2013

     

    With last year being our very first year to have cows pregnancy checked, we went the traditional way and had our vet come to our farm and do pregnancy checks on our 10 cows.

     

     

    This year, though, we had 20 animals to test for pregnancy, and we felt it would be more cost-effective for us to draw a blood sample from each cow and have it tested for pregnancy.  We learned that a company called BioTracking (www.biotracking.com) developed a pregnancy blood test for cattle called BioPRYN, which is performed by cooperating labs across the country.  This option was very appealing to us not only for financial reasons but also for time reasons.  Jer and I could do this together and we did not have to try to work around our vet’s schedule or risk having the weather bad on the day the vet comes.  We could make the decision on relatively short notice, depending on the weather and how we ourselves were feeling and if we felt ready one morning or afternoon, we could simply round up the girls and get it done.

    We knew that we wanted to do pregnancy checks via a blood sample but we needed to find a laboratory that would test the samples for pregnancy at a reasonable rate and time-frame.  We did some research and discovered that the closest lab to us that did the BioPRYN test was the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.  As we quickly learned, the process in which the lab uses to determine pregnancy via blood is very straightforward.  The lab simply tests for the presence of PSP-B (pregnancy specific protein-B), which is produced by the placenta, in the cow’s blood.  The heifer/cow you are pregnancy testing must be at least 28 days post-breeding and 73 days post-calving.  The cost of the pregnancy test is $2.50/sample.  We ordered a sample kit, which included 50 tubes and 50 needles and needle holders.  The cost of this kit was $34.50 (shipping included).

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    November 2nd – Hello, winter. We meet again.

    We ordered the kit while our breeding season was still active.  After the kit arrived, we placed the box on the shelf in our office and we waited and waited and waited.  We waited until November 11th to be exact.  We were getting hit with some seriously early winter weather (1st snowstorm was on the 1st of November) combined with some mild days and our grounds were a sloppy, muddy mess.

     

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    November 8th – Melting snow giving way to a muddy, sloppy mess.

     

    The morning of November 11th was a calm one with the ground frozen and no wind, no snow and no rain; the temperatures were definitely bearable to be working cattle through the chute.  Jer had the day off as it was a holiday and we were expecting another snowstorm soon.  All signs seemed to indicate that today was THE DAY.  The timing worked out really well for us because my mom was visiting from Montana and she was able to watch our little boy so the two of us could focus 100% on the task at hand – getting our 20 girls, one-by-one, down the alleyway, into the chute, locked in the headgate and a vial of blood drawn.  If my mom had not been visiting during this time, I would have simply worn our son in the backpack or we would have scheduled our work around his naptime.

    Jer and I worked together that morning and in less than 2 hours, we had worked each of our 20 cows through our alley/chute/headgate and had 20 samples of blood.  The blood was drawn from underneath the cow’s tail.  In some cases, Jer was only able to pull a tiny amount of blood and we were very nervous that the sample would not be enough for the test.  In other cases, he pulled a bit too much blood (hit a vein) but this was a learning experience and our very first time doing something like this.  By the last 10 cows, Jer was quickly becoming an old pro at drawing blood.  Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from that morning as I was 100% occupied with my task of keeping everyone in line and staying in the alleyway.

    With our 20 cows happily back in their pasture and our work area cleaned up, we really wanted to get the blood samples in the mail ASAP.  The lab only does bovine pregnancy testing on Mondays and Thursdays and we wanted our samples to be at the lab for the Thursday testing.  Jer rushed to town and shipped our samples via FedEx to the lab in New Hampshire.  I called the lab on Thursday morning and they had just received our blood samples and would be testing shortly thereafter.  The lady on the phone told me to expect our pregnancy results via email by noon the next day.  We were so nervous!!!  As it was, Jer ended up being in the field all the next day and the results were sent to his email.  My mom and I spent the whole day wondering and wondering and wondering.  By 5:30pm, I was beside myself with what the results were.  Jer arrived home and we quickly found out that 19 of our 20 cows were pregnant!  The one open cow was not a big surprise as we never did observe her cycling after having her calf.

     

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    We would like to order 19 more of these, please. Due for delivery in spring/summer 2015.

     

    Needless to say, we were relieved, elated and anxious for another calving season!

    Calving season 2015,  here we come!  We pray for 19 healthy, red Angus baby calves.

     

  • Snow as a Winter Cattle Water Source

    027It’s gotten to the point where I can almost predict the reaction from folks when I tell them we don’t water our cows in the winter time.

    “You what?”

    “No water – just snow?”

    “Really?”

    “Boy, you’re tough on your cows!”

    “How does that work?”

    It makes me smile every time, but I tell them that despite their concerns, studies have shown that non-lactating cows can get by just fine in wintertime without stockwater – as long as they have an abundant supply of snow.  Fortunately for us, snow is one thing northern Maine winters have no shortage of!

    The Cattle Water Problem

    We started using snow as a cattle water source by way of necessity.  After a couple weeks of dried up springs and freezing water troughs, we realized it wasn’t going to be feasible to provide consistent water for 10 cows on a daily basis when the temperatures don’t get above freezing for months at a time.  Hauling water was going to be a daunting chore, and keeping an electric heating element in the tank would be very costly – some estimates put the electricity costs at over $1,000/year to keep the water heated!

    Like many farming problems, this one could be solved by money, with a developed spring, frost-free nose pump, or a drilled well with pressurized underground piping to a waterer.  But we didn’t have the thousands of dollars for those solutions, so we researched and hoped for a better solution.

    Research on Snow as a Water Source

    Since Maine has abundant snow in the winter time, it made perfect sense to have the cows eat snow, but was it a feasible solution, and would it affect the health and performance of our cows?  We turned to scientific research for guidance.

    Here’s what we found:

    From Utah State University:

    Many wonder if cows can eat snow in the winter to supply all their water needs. The answer is yes. There are many situations where cattle can survive on snow without having any other water supply. Many ranches throughout the West and Midwest with cattle on large pastures and few or no water resources depend entirely on snow for winter grazing.

    Several studies have shown there is no reason to expect cattle performance to deteriorate when animals use snow for water. Researchers found cows using snow for water did not differ in live weight amount of body fat compared to cows receiving water.

    From Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development:

    Cattle do well when snow is their only water source, as long as there is adequate snow present, and it is not hard or crusted over. It is important to monitor cow and snow condition on a daily or second day basis. A lack of water reduces feed intake, and cows can lose condition fairly rapidly when water is deficient. Studies in Canada have shown some cows have gone 50 to 60 days with snow as the sole water source without any adverse effects.

    From Beef Magazine:

    South Dakota ranchers Reuben and Connee Quinn have relied on snow in winter pastures for more than 30 years. They say cattle do well with snow as their only water source if they know how to use it and have adequate snow that’s not crusted and hard.

    From Ontario Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs:

    ….beef cows eating snow as a water source experience no disadvantages compared to those drinking water.

    Here are some additional articles:

    073Replacing Water With Clean Snow for Ewes and Beef Cows

    Snow as a Water Source for Wintering Beef Cattle

    Utilizing Snow as a Water Source

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    The Results

    Overall, we were pleased to see the overwhelming support for the use of snow as a water source.  So we tried it.  And it worked!  All winter long, our cows ate snow and did well on it.  While we realize the importance of regular monitoring of cow condition, snow intake and snow quality, we are happy to take advantage of the abundant snow and look forward to another water-trough free winter!

     

     

     

     

     

  • 10 Pregnant Heifers and One Long Snowy Winter

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    Our vet, Dr. Simon Alexander, of Exeter Veterinary Services, about to palpate one of our heifers.

     

    In a previous post, we discussed pregnancy checking our 10 heifers and discovering that we were 10 for 10.  All 10 of our heifers were pregnant.

     

     

     

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    Still grazing on November 24th!

     

     

    At that time we were in mid-November and winter was getting a slow start in northern Maine.  I mean a real slow start:  We were still grazing!  No winter hay had been consumed on our farm yet.

     

     

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    Hay bale grazing site awaiting winter grazing.
    Early-November 2013.

     

     

     

     

    Our hay bale grazing sites were patiently waiting….

     

     

     

     

     

    Mother Nature may have gotten a late start in our neck of the woods but in the end, she more than made up for her slow start and when we thought we had seen the last of her, she popped in for a surprise visit, just in time for the start of calving season.

    This would be our first winter with cattle on the farm and we were a bit anxious of all the what if’s and unknowns that come along with overwintering livestock in snowy, cold regions. To our way of thinking, we had three primary components of animal welfare to consider and manage for during the winter: 1) Animal Health, 2) Nutrition, and 3) Shelter/Cover and Pasture Safety.   We wanted to manage our herd in such a way that would lead our heifers into their calving season strong and healthy and in the best body condition possible.

    Animal Health

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    A heifer getting her shots.

     

    All 10 heifers received the following three vaccinations during their pregnancy check:  1) Decotmax for parasites, 2) MultiMin90 as a mineral supplement, and 3) Bovi-Shield Gold 5 for a range of respiratory diseases.

     

     

    Having a consistent vaccination schedule, with the appropriate vaccinations for the needs and requirements of your herd, is critical for your animals’ health.  Furthermore, when dealing with pregnant cattle, keeping current on shots is important for the welfare of the mother cow and her unborn calf. Vaccinations, while important, are no replacement for good animal husbandry, though.  It was our responsibility to ensure that our heifers received the care needed to sustain a harsh, northern Maine winter.

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    Getting a head count of the herd.
    April 2014

    To assess our heifers’ health and condition on a daily basis, we  continued with our twice-daily herd checks over the winter months. Whenever we approached the herd, it was an automatic act for us to immediately get a head count of the herd.

     

     

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    Our young son assessing the condition of the herd.
    April 1, 2014

     

    Once everyone was accounted for, we would check on each heifer individually.   Since our heifers were pregnant, we were paying special attention to any signs of a miscarriage, such as bleeding.

     

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    Patches of hair rubbed off due to lice.

     

    At one point during the winter, we noticed that our herd was having a major lice problem.  So, we applied a pour-on delouser to each heifer.  This is something we may not have noticed if not for our herd checks.

     

    Nutrition

    On our farm, we strive to maintain a grass/roughage-only diet with mineral supplements and when needed, protein such as barley.  Therefore, throughout the winter, our heifers had access to hay and a mineral supplement high in copper and selenium, which our soils in northern Maine are deficient in.  Prior to hay feeding in the fall, we provided 1-2 lbs/head/day of barley to supplement the lower quality grass that our cattle were feeding on in late fall.  

    By providing our pregnant heifers with a consistent supply of high-quality hay and mineral throughout the winter, we hoped for them to be in the best possible condition coming out of winter.  Springtime would bring calving and shortly thereafter, another breeding season. We wanted our heifers to be strong and healthy, with the endurance required to handle labor and delivery, the summer breeding season and hopefully, another pregnancy while still providing milk for their calves.

    Springtime would also bring green grass and a return to our rotational pasture grazing; it is at this time that we expect to see an increased rate of gain as compared to the winter months. The amount of food consumed during the winter months tends to slow down, with animals displaying compensatory gain in the springtime when on pasture.  They are eating to make up for any losses they incurred, weight wise, during the winter.

    Shelter/Cover and Pasture Safety

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    Hay bale grazing, with a large wooded area in the background for shelter.

     

    Through the course of the winter, our heifers hay bale grazed in three separate sections on our farm. In each of these three sections, they had access to hay, water (mainly in the form of snow), mineral and shelter.

     

     

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    Spruce tree serving as a wind break for this heifer.
    Note blue mineral barrel at the base of the tree.
    Our mineral barrel set-up has changed to an upright system.

     

    Since we currently do not having any housing for animals on our farm, our heifers sought cover/shelter during inclement weather in wooded areas (e.g., fir, spruce, cedar, dogwood, alder, birch, aspen and willow stands).

     

     

    As we did during the grazing season, we continued with our pasture and fence checks.  We repaired fence as needed and checked for any dangerous objects and removed them.

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    I cut away the blue, bale twine after taking this picture.

     

    In particular, we wanted to remove any objects that the heifers could get tangled up in such as twine and string from the bales and tarps and the tarps themselves.

     

     

     

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    Shoveling snow off the top of a hay bale.

     

     

    In addition, we had daily maintenance with our hay bales, and shoveling snow and chipping away at ice was an almost daily task.

     

     

     

    To help organize our thoughts and observations during the winter months, we continued with our note-taking and record keeping for both the cattle (health, nutrition, etc) and the property (fence damage, snow level, temperatures, etc).

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    See ya in a few months, fence!

     

    We made notes when the fence line disappeared under the snow pack, when the voltage on the electric fence plummeted with high snow pack and so on.

     

     

     

    It takes work to tend to a cattle herd – no matter the size – during the winter months and when your winter season lasts half your year, the daily grind can become pretty monotonous and tiring.

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    On days when the wind was blowing and the snow was piled high, I would remind myself, as I was trudging my way to the herd, that I signed up for the whole kit and kaboodle when I became a cattle owner.  Not just the sunny and warm days.  It is not supposed to be easy.

    That doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy what we are doing.  You have to love this way of life – hard knocks and all.  Jeremiah and I embrace that this way of life is hard.  Life as a cattle owner will stretch your limits, your pockets and your patience beyond what you thought you could ever handle.  It will break some and make others. We hope to be in the latter category. 🙂

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    It certainly was one long snowy winter here on the Wood Farm but that all seems like a distant memory when we look out the window at a sea of green grass and a healthy crop of young calves frolicking in the pasture!

     


     

  • Pregnancy Check: Is That Heifer Really Pregnant?

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    Our veterinarian, Dr. Simon Alexander, pregnancy checking one of our heifers.
    November 2013.

    Our last few posts have been bouncing back and forth between our current calving season and our breeding season last summer.   Today, we bridge that gap a bit with a post on what we like to call “Is that Heifer Really Pregnant? – aka Pregnancy Checks.”

     

     

    Check out our past Breeding and Calving posts below:

    Cattle Breeding Series – An Introduction

    Deciding your breeding season

    Selecting your bull

    Lessons learned in selecting your bull

    Active Breeding: What Now?

    The Calving Bucket

    It’s Calving Time: Part 1

    Colostrum aka “Liquid Gold”

    It’s Calving Time: Part 2

    Our last post in our Cattle Breeding series found us nearing the end of our 60-day breeding season, wondering if all 10 of our heifers really were pregnant.  From our observation sessions, we felt reasonably certain that eight of our 10 heifers had been bred.  If not for those sessions, we really would have had very little clue as to what occurred during those 60 days. Our time spent with the herd and the observations that we recorded did (and continue to) provide priceless insight into the dynamics of our herd and all it costs us is a bit of our time…..

    As we neared mid-September, our breeding season was coming to a close and we had winter on the mind.  Specifically, we were coordinating our winter hay supply and putting together our winter hay bale grazing strategy.  In the course of sorting through the logistics and crunching the numbers, it became increasingly evident that we simply could not afford – financially and otherwise – to carry open heifers through the winter.  If one of our 10 heifers was not pregnant, she would be on the truck come Fall.

    Since we had very little experience with pregnancy checking, we contacted our veterinarian, Dr. Simon Alexander of Exeter Veterinary Services to schedule a pregnancy check for all 10 heifers.  We scheduled for Dr. Alexander to visit our farm in mid-November; he would conduct the pregnancy checks and we would also administer several vaccines at that time.

    That gave us roughly two months to prepare for the visit.  Roughly two months to figure out how exactly we were going to restrain these heifers in order for them to get pregnancy checked and to get their shots!  The vet sure wasn’t going to be able to walk out to the pasture and simply “check” them where they stood!  If only.  Ha!  If you remember our post where we talked about our lack of a tractor??  Well, we also lacked a holding pen with an alleyway and a squeeze chute with a headgate.  These are items that we were fully aware we would need in order to work our herd – no mater if the herd is 10 animals or 100.   When you work with large livestock, like cattle, you need a safe working environment for both you, the animal and your veterinarian.

    While we would LOVE to have an alley and sweep system with a connected squeeze chute and head gate, we are far, oh so far, from ever being able to afford that system.  That is the dream.  So, keeping with having an open-mind and being able to be innovative, creative and flexible – on a fixed budget – we came up with an alternative.  A very labor intensive alternative for Jeremiah but one we were confident he could accomplish.

    Jeremiah was going to build our very own version of an alley and sweep system.  At some point Jeremiah will write a post on his adventure in building our very own alley and sweep system.  For now, suffice to say, this project ended up being a huge, monumental undertaking and it would consume every free second he had for those two months but the final product was so entirely worth it. I was so incredibly proud of what Jeremiah accomplished.  The entire structure was built with wood he cut from our property and milled on our sawmill.  Once all the wood was cut, he spent night after night, well past the sun set, putting the whole system together, nail by nail.  It was unbelievable what he created.

    With the completion of our alley and sweep system, we could check-off on one very critical component to our system. We still needed sort sort of squeeze chute and/or headgate to attach to our alley and sweep system.  While we don’t live in a part of the country known for beef cattle, beef cattle farmers are here in northern Maine and they band together when a fellow farmer needs help.

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    We were able to borrow a portable livestock scale with a headgate and squeeze.

     

     

     

     

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    Our homemade alley and sweep system with attached squeeze chute and headgate.
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    Alley and sweep system.

     

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    Our completed homemade alley and sweep system with attached squeeze chute and headgate.

     

     

    Our system was now complete.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We were ready for our vet visit and…….

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    to discover the fate of our herd and our entire operation.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We constantly spoke of all of the what if’s that could happen during our vet visit;  most notably, we feared that one after one, our vet would announce “Not pregnant”, until all 10 were deemed open at which time we would probably assume the fetal position and cry.  A LOT was riding on these pregnancy checks. Our operation could end before it really even started.  That was a very real fear for us.  Jeremiah and I lean towards more of a proactive approach, and we do not shy away from a bit of risk. We took a leap of faith with breeding 10 heifers to a yearling, unproven, bull.

    We were about to find out if our leap of faith would produce rewards or sad, sad tears.

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    Our first heifer to be pregnancy checked, little UL 220.
    Dr. Alexander of Exeter Veterinary Services

    The day had finally arrived and Dr. Alexander was here, about to climb into the chute and pregnancy check our first heifer.  Ironically, the first heifer in line was UL220.  She is our youngest heifer and she ended up being our first heifer to have her calf this spring.

     

    That first pregnancy check was a very big positive, literally and figuratively.

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    and another one pregnant!

     

     

     

    One by one, each heifer was guided into the squeeze chute, pregnancy checked and then given their vaccinations.

     

     

     

     

    Each heifer was given three vaccinations:  1) Decotmax for parasites, 2) MultiMin90 as a mineral supplement and 3) Bovi-Shield Gold 5 for a range of respiratory diseases.

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    Just another night on the ranch for baby Wyatt!

    My responsibilities during this time were to document the event, with both written and visual records, and watch our 9-month old son. So, I strapped our son to my back, grabbed my notebook, pencil and camera, and I was good to go!

     

     

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    Jeremiah administrating a vaccination.
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    Jeremiah working the headgate and Derrick guiding a heifer into the chute.

     

     

    Jeremiah assisted in administrating the vaccinations as well as operating the headgate and keeping the entire operation running smoothly and safely.

     

     

     

    Our good friend, Derrick, assisted with encouraging the heifers to work through the alleyway, into the squeeze chute.

     

     

     

     

    All of our fears of the vet yelling out “Not pregnant” were quickly stomped out when one after one, our vet called out “Pregnant!”.

    Folks, we had 10 pregnant heifers!!  100% pregnancy rate.  We probably still would have curled up in the fetal position and cried – for joy – if we had thought of it.

    We celebrated by getting a pizza, uploading pictures and transferring our notes from that night to our computer!

    We were certainly not in the safe yet, though.  We needed 10 live and healthy calves on the ground in the spring.  The hard work was starting, we needed to get these pregnant heifers and their unborn calves through a northern Maine winter!