First Year Cow/Calf..... Lessons Learned, Knowledge Gained 

Glad to hear the video was insightful. Best of luck on your journey.

I also am working to become a first generation rancher, what other resources have you leveraged to help you along the way? How's your progress coming?

I started with honey bees then added chickens, from there it to adding turkeys then duck and finally cows. It's seems like it took forever to get to cattle but they are a little more expensive to add than the others. They are surely right at the top of being my favorite though. I love working with them. Glad you like the videos, thanks!

I appreciate that!

Thanks John! It's been a long summer for sure. I am glad things are winding down for the season. Yeah, the bucks are not looking so good this year!

Awesome thanks! I did not know to look for that but now I do. I appreciate it!

Yes, I didn't realize that until recently. The trick there is nursing a first time heifer. Thanks for sharing the input it's much appreciated!

Well thanks!

I love the low lines. They are a blast to work with. I have 10 of them now it's the most I've ever had at one time. One of them is red and she is such a cutie.

Thanks! It's surely gotten easier as I've learned this stuff. At first I felt like I was fishing in the dark but it all worked out over time. As I mentioned, we had some loses but that I really believe that falls back on buying bred cattle that we knew little about the Sire. I compare it to what I know about beekeeping and genetics are the key. If you breed good genetics the rest will fall right into place naturally.

You just had to bring up the "Bob scene". 😂😂😂 While editing this video, I replayed that part several times because I thought it was funny. There used to be a show (can't rememeber the name to save my butt) that had 3 brothers and they were all named Darrell. Bob And Bob's mom kinda remind me of that. I am probably more attached to the cattle than I should be but it helps to have that relationship I feel. The cattle work with you soooooo much easier if they trust you and all but 2 are that way. There is way more to the cow calf than I thought going in. The notes I have are crazy. Trying to keep track of who calves unassisted and rate their mothering ability. Some mother will straight up and leave the calf when we move. So I have made a habit of going back to check. Newborns are easy, I can carry them on the atv, anything older than 3 days isn't so easy. I pretty much have to walk them to the new pasture. Some people have told me to just leave the gate open to the old location and mama will go back later but I have seen calves go under the fence to bed down and I am always scared they will get stuck on the outside of the old fence line. It's not a good feeling to call the owner to say "hey lost a calf", so I take the extra steps and long term that does build a bond. It does suck when you tell the wife you'll be right back you just have to move the herd, expecting 20-30 minutes but that turns into 2 hours. lol I do love having the calves though, lots a fun to watch, even Bob.

Yes, lol! Newhart?! As long as you aren't personally doing any dispatching I think it's for sure a good idea to have a bond with your animals. The more you care, the better every form of farm management is and makes for a better product, well I can only imagine! My 3 rabbit operation is a little smaller than yours, hehe! Oh I can imagine the conversation (explaining) if you are an hour and a half late home, lol! I did have one baby rabbit escape and I live trapped it, only for it to escape again. I still to this day don't understand how. So, I figured it earned it's freedom and it is now our pet, free ranging bunny named Fred, even though it's a girl. She won't let you pet her, but she will let you get within arms reach without concern. Because of this, I do believe there are some wild hybrid rabbits bouncing around the yard as well. Oh well! Again, great video!

Newharts, I believe it was. lol That's funny you have a pet rabbit running the area. I know they are extreme quick on their feet so chasing isn't much of an option, plus that would only add stress. I like your approach of just letting it run free. Do you know where it goes for safety?

It seems to have dug a shallow borrow under my front porch! It also uses an old nearby shed. In the middle of winter she likes to meet me under the other rabbits cages, wanting fresh water and some pellets as well.

Thanks! He belongs to the guy I manage for. He's actually who was bred to my cattle last year. I plan to share an update on my herd so everyone can see how they are doing. I gained 3 calves from that bull and they all look very nice. Winter will be interesting as I just learned I am keeping the bull.

Grazing Acres Farm how do you keep the bull from breeding with his offspring? Nice video man .

@joemc11 We don't! It's called having a closed herd.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoy my content. My personal herd which is mixed in with the herd in this video, is tagged with different colors for steers and heifers as well. Great minds think a like. 😀

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad to hear I crossed your mind, thank ya! I have been recording videos all summer long with good intention but when I came in the door every night, I just didn't feel like editing them. I plan to share a lot of my experiences this winter.

The bull came with instructions. 1. Never put direct pressure on the bull. (move the ladies to move him) 2. ALWAYS know where he is in the pasture if entering. 3. Give him space to do his job. 3. NEVER pet the bull. I have gotten more comfortable around him than I was but I still always keep my guard up and have an escape route.

So can cows life is a risk.

Lostcreek 1 sometimes they won’t wean them and the next calf is very small because the older calf was still nursing.

@@4RTigers I don't wean my goats, let Mom wean them and have really healthy kids.

@Lostcreek 1 We are planning to wean around 10 months old. Early this year, I weaned one of my heifers that was pushing a year old, she was not a happy camper. I left the flap on for 3 weeks then removed it. After that I did see her try twice to nurse but mama wasn't having it either time. lol

Grazing Acres Farm If momma doesn't wean her calf, she doesn't get to stay on the farm. Or if she doesn't wean, but she still produces a healthy calf next year and is able to nourish it, then maybe she does get to stay. It's a hard process for a few years. But you have to decide if you want to wean, or get rid of the cows that won't wean on their own.

Lostcreek 1 I have been doing Cow/calf now for about nine year's, the best way for me has been to separate by using permanent paddocks (no touch) but only (visual contact), I wean at 6 months, the bawling slows the 2nd to 3rd day and stops by the 4th or 5th day. I make sure that both paddocks have GREAT STANDS of REALLY GOOD FORAGE, I am a all Grass no Grain Farm and this works very well for me. PS I also use the weening dates in the Farmers Almanac and it really does work. Hope this helps.

I do sell bull calves if I know someone is looking. Sadly though we banded in December so now they are steers, all except 1. Are you still interested? Here's my email honeycomb_hill@yahoo.com

Yes it's sad! I can't believe people breed to get big calves like that. I felt horrible for each one as they struggled to calve. Having a bull with calving ease is a huge benefit to everyone. Next year will surely be a lot easier.

The tags system is working very well so far. With my personal cattle which are mixed into this herd, I use different colored tags for steer and heifers on top of the different ears. Our plan was never to go into assisting calving to be honest. It just turned out that way since we didn't know the full history of the sires. Next year we WILL be unassisted since our bull offers calving ease.

Grazing Acres Farm, Gotcha! Well I'm excited to see how that goes!

The bull is only 5 year old so we hope to keep him in production for awhile yet. Since he's arrived I have been look at neighboring farms bulls and our guy is by far the best looking. As far as getting re-bred it seems to vary with each cow/heifer. I have been keeping note on each one and plan to share that information very soon. At this point, we have 3 different calving times so we have to work on narrowing that window down before we can pick when we want to calf. Of course, we would like to start calving in the spring. About the same time as deer are having their young.

Thanks. The length of time per paddock varies on the time of the year and number of head I have at the time. During the growing season my 40 head cow herd would get roughly 1 acres per day then moved to a new area.

@@GrazingAcresFarm THANKS!

Kinda makes since. The 20 bred heifer that were purchased were kept in a barn all last winter and fed high quality balage because they were mix with Holsteins. We they arrived on the farm they were very fat. At the same time though, I really believe it helps to know more than we did when they were purchased. Thanks for your insight.

Grazing Acres Farm to be totally honest if they were my cows I would be really happy I think it’s really important that you cull any cows that are flighty and make sure you don’t keep there calf’s, great looking cows keep doing what your doing 👍🏻

It's weird, I have a 2 that will processed out because they are skiddish. One of them calved mid summer. Her calf doesn't seem to give 2 cents about me. He is very calm. I would have thought he would be just as skiddish as his mama. Thanks for the kind words!

It's a 176 acre farm but only 130 is grazable.

I am kinda under the same understanding as you but I believe since the bull will be here for the winter he will have plenty of time to get every one bred, or at least I hope. He arrived here on August 1st. (edited date) Do you know the normal time window for leaving the bull with a herd of 30? I am thinking long term we may need a clean-up bull but time will tell.

Oh and you heard correctly.

@@GrazingAcresFarm I've been told it should be at least two cycles so 60 plus days but at least 45 at a minimum to guarantee the bulls access to one cycle.

@aCycloneSteve If that's the case we should be alright. I did notice I had the wrong date for the bulls arrival. I corrected it. Thanks for the input.

@@GrazingAcresFarm 30-1 tops for a great condition bull on feed, you need a cleanup bull asap.

It seems to vary per cow/heifer as to how soon they start have a heat after calving. From what I have noticed it's roughly a month maybe 2 for some. Having the bull mixed with the herd already once they do go into heat, he is right there to go to work.

@@GrazingAcresFarm sir how many cows can a bull handle?Also how old a bull is too old?.

No, we do have a couple small homemade calving sheds but do not use them much.

I was thinking I said 76 head but I may have said cows. If so, I apologize for misspeaking. I kinda wondered if we would need a clean up bull but maybe that's why the owner wants to leave the bull here for winter. That would give him time to do his job.

Central Ohio