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Vaccinating your Calves
Red Angus steer calf grazing on October 31st, 2014. Enjoying the nice fall weather.

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.

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

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. 🙂

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.
December 17, 2014
Cow Pregnancy Blood Testing

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

December 7, 2014
No Risk Ranching – Custom Grazing on Leased Land

No Risk Ranching – Custom Grazing on Leased Land
Greg Judy
Green Park Press, 2002

We recently wrote a blog post on leasing grazing land. The inspiration for our leasing endeavor came primarily from reading Greg Judy’s book. It’s a book that has helped change the mindset of cattle farmers and ranchers across the country, and helped many achieve a greater level of profitability. Read more below.

While most of us desire it, land ownership is probably the greatest obstacle to profitability in the cattle business today. In his 2002 book “No Risk Ranching”, Greg Judy tackles this issue head-on, and describes in detail how you can successfully start up a cattle operation without owning land, or even animals!

Like many others, it had long been Greg’s dream to own a farm. He bought a bunch of land in his home state of Missouri, put together some cattle, and struggled for years to make it all pencil out. After coming dangerously close to losing it all, Judy met a friend that helped him see ranching in a totally new light. He began reading the Stockman Grass Farmer publication and attending grazing schools where he realized the importance of Management Intensive Grazing, and looking at grass and cattle management in a whole new light.

Greg realized quickly that his land mortgage and cattle ownership were sinking his operation. He also began to discover the many parcels of unoccupied grazing land surrounding his farm. Absentee landowners were looking for someone to manage their ground, and Greg was looking for land to put cattle on. He also realized that many cattle owners are looking for someone to manage their animals and are willing to pay for that management on a per-pound of gain or per-day basis. Greg began a headlong journey into land leasing and custom grazing that rocketed him to incredible success as a Missouri grass farmer.

In “No Risk Ranching”, Judy describes how to find idle land to lease, contact landowners and put together a lease proposal. He even provides a detailed example of a lease proposal. He then provides details on custom grazing and how to work an arrangement that is profitable for both the cattle owner and grazier, while improving the quality of the leased land.

Throughout the rest of the book, Judy walks the reader through the details of setting up a leased farm from scratch, including high tensile electric fencing, water development and overall grass and property improvement. He describes stocker cattle management and the economics of ranching as well. Greg writes this book from a very humble perspective of someone who’s learned a lot and wants to help others along as well.

“No Risk Ranching” is one of my favorite cattle-related books because it planted in me a philosophy and mindset that I believe is essential to our success in the cattle business. It also provides some excellent detailed, practical information I’ve used for setting up infrastructure on our farm and the expansion we have planned for the future. It deserves a place on every livestock farmer’s bookshelf.

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October 29, 2014
Snow as a Winter Cattle Water Source

It’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:

Replacing Water With Clean Snow for Ewes and Beef Cows

Snow as a Water Source for Wintering Beef Cattle

Utilizing Snow as a Water Source

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!

October 26, 2014
Leasing Land for Cattle Grazing

A property near where we live that has been for sale for years and sadly, starting to turn back into woods.

Are you wanting to expand your herd size but you are running out of pastureland?

Do you drive by abandoned fields, longingly wishing that your cattle could graze there?

Are those fields quickly turning back into woods?

Are your neighbors looking for a natural and cost-effective way to manage their overgrown fields?

Have you ever considered leasing pastureland??

Leasing pastureland can be a win-win for all parties involved.

As the leasee, it may be just the ticket you needed in order to buy those 10 new heifers or it may provide you with the additional pastureland you needed in order to allow your existing pastures time for grass regrowth.

Leasing those extra 20 acres may allow you to graze further into the fall season and help lighten the load a bit on your winter feed cost (hay!).

By allowing your cattle to graze their land, the lessor may be finding just the ticket they needed to help manage their fields.

August 2012 – 56 acres of old potato fields that had reverted back into woods, over-your-head grass and patches and patches and patches of alders and dogwood.

In our neck of the woods, we have an abundance of abandoned potato fields that are quickly reverting back to woodlands and forests.

August 2014 – Our 18-month old son is now standing where we stood in the picture above.

For some landowners, the cost of maintaining these fields as pastureland is just not worth it – financially and otherwise. These fields take more than just a little push mower to maintain. Because of the woody elements in these fields, mowing has to be done with either a bush mower or a tractor with a mower attached. This equipment costs money. The fuel needed to run these machines costs money. And for many, the time element and the physical labor required is the biggest obstacle of all.

Our farm – October 2012

July 2014 – Our farm with cattle. 🙂

For some people, though, buying an old potato farm and clearing it back into pastureland and putting a herd of cattle on it is a dream come true.

Mowing and maintenance aside, the landowner(s) may simply find pleasure in the animals themselves. They may find the sight of cows grazing in their backfield pretty neat. There is certainly something to be said for the calming affect of animals such as cows. I often find myself escaping to the pasture to simply watch our cows. Not for any particular purpose. Being a wife and mom while running a farm can have it’s stressful and overwhelming moments. Being with our herd reminds me of why we are doing this and recharges my batteries for another day or at least another hour. 😉

Part of the 20 acres we lease from our neighbors

This year, we came to an agreement with our neighbors that worked for all parties involved. We need additional pasture land to support our growing herd and they were more than happy to let us cows “mow” the field for them, even though they do have the equipment to mow it.

Our cows grazing on leased land.

We walked away with an additional 20 acres of pasture land for our cattle to graze! We agreed to fence the property and remove the fencing if at any time the lease situation was not working out.

I can’t tell you how many times our neighbors told us how much they enjoyed seeing cattle grazing on their property. Coming from the West, where cattle are as abundant as black flies here in northern Maine, I get a kick out of how much people around here enjoy just seeing our cattle…..from the road, as they go on an evening summer drive. I know I have said this in a previous post but I will say it again: We used to be the only people on our road that didn’t have cattle; now, we are the only ones on our road with cattle. ha!

We hope that this is just the beginning of us being able to lease nearby land. Like I said earlier in this post, we have a lot of abandoned or unused potato fields in our area, and we would love nothing more than to see our herd grazing on them. It is hard to see these beautiful fields and pastures turn back into woods. By allowing grazing on these fields, we hope that we can turn back the clock and restore these fields to their former glory.

September 17, 2014