On the first of Animal Science 114 in college, my professor re-stated things I guess I had known my whole life but never thought of in that context. What they said was that for output of any biological system to be maximized (weaning weight, reproduction, feed efficiency, etc.), four things have to be maximized (health, nutrition, management, and genetics). This video does a great job of showing people that cattle don't just get "some of this and some of that" for feeding programs. I know for a fact that a good mineral program can make a difference. Thanks Mike for showing folks who may not know that cattle producers spend great amounts of time and A LOT of money figuring out and executing proper nutrition programs to maximize that part of the equation. I saw a creep feeder in one of your pastures, what is your operation's creep feeding program?
Mike every try loose mineral with garlic in it, I've been using it for fly control on my operation. not a 100% it works but my pink eye incidents seem to be less and less. Thanks for the video. Your cows look in great shape.
Or just buy the salt mineral blocks with garlic added in it at your local farm store, so much easier, no more flies after three weeks of consumption, makes life much easier. Farmers here are buying them up by pallets, the lady at the store had to save me one because they are selling faster then she can keep them in stock
Thanks, Mike. I have been away from RU-vid for a few weeks just being busy with my own "stuff". Glad to see that all appears good on your farm. I will try to tune in more as the weather turns.
Really found what I was looking for. Having a farm is my idea for retirement. My parents are veterinarians and I have the feeling for the cattle and farm live.
Hi again! Your cattle look great! Some don't realize you get back out what you put in! Whether it's care time feed whatever are some ways you have some control. Wow you best keep your eye on that cow. Soon she might be the cow who jumped over the moon! Lol lol Love those licks and the critters really enjoy them too. Funny when you said you were in radio because the first couple times I heard your voice I thought the same. That guy should do radio! Lol Tomorrow is the big dinner and I'm cheering for your success and complete enjoyment for all! As always thx for sharing Mike...
Nutrition is the most important thing to a cow. I feel if you don't feed them right then their immune systems won't work properly. Then you have a. Sick cow. Thanks for the great video
A very mooing beginning and A very mooing ending. Yeap I've seen cow's jumping over fences and gate's to and I get angry when I have go after them or fixing fences because of that happening too. Right now we're having problems with flys especially the horse fly's 😡 !! cause of this weather and the thought of using a car air freshener hanging around my neck has crossed my mind but that anti fly sprayer and powder looks a better idea !!!. Lol 😆 great video Mike 👍
Great video and timely after the " Hay Address" ,shocking as it was to see what the cost of buying hay was to the ranch there are other associated cost. For those interested go back and view Mike's video "The Cost of Ranching" .
I tried giving my heifers loose minerals, but they wouldn't touch the stuff. So I tried the hard mineral blocks and they LOVED them! By the way, you should enter that one cow in a jumping contest or something! That was a beautiful jump! Anyways, awesome video!
Definitely the voice of a professional broadcaster. I have been involved in a row crop operation in Eastern NC most of my adult life. I don't have allot of experience with livestock. In addition to row crops I'm a contract poultry grower. Good luck with the challenges of farming/ranching.
Great video on min and vitamins I agree on luck tubs being expensive but in some operations it just works better we use both loose and tub mineral and think both are overpriced but I've tried mixing my own minerals just dosn t work as well thanks for the video
@@amyshomesteadanimals we used to get them locally at Carol sales (wholesale feed products) think they have since closed but found by the time we mixed there mineral and vitamin packs and other stuff it didn't really save much think you could ask your local feed store or farm store think they can get them
D Bruns, I am in Oregon and unless I travel for this, the only thing within 60 miles is pellets. (Pellets seem to be popular out west). I am looking for loose minerals and hoping to find a good product/place to buy from on-line. P.S. Thanks for your reply, much appreciated!😊
@@amyshomesteadanimals dont know much about Oregon but maybe wherever you get your pellets probably can get loose mineral or mineral tubs in my opinion what you would save mixing your own mineral just not financially beneficial unless your trying to put in a fly control or medication which you can already get in loose mineral or tubs maybe even pellets
How long can you keep cows in one pasture? ...I mean, is there a cow per acre per week/month formula? Or is it when one field appears to be eaten up you move them then. -Thanks!
Well it depends on the size of the pasture and how the grass looks. If I measure and get an idea of yield I can get a good idea how fast they will eat it. Alot of the times it is something you just have to judge by eye, although one part can be eaten and they havent touched another area of the pasture. Moving water helps move the herd. Thanks - Mike
The colors usually indicate a higher concentrate of a certain mineral. Browns are usually a mix. Blue is Cobalt. White are salt. Not sure about yellow. I've never used those ones. Thanks Cody -Mike
I see you sell cattle in belle fourche but u can't buy smartlic tubs that are made there. Also you can buy smartlic tubs with fly control in it. Also the vetgun is a viable flycontrol we caked ours and shot them with the vet gun which is damn near 90% kill on horn flys.
From what I hear, they work, but you still have flies. But if you have a fly control herd across the fence from a non fly control herd, you will notice.
All my animals get loose minerals. Gosts get selenium blocks also. What breed of pig are you going with? I total missed except 10 min. of Wed. Night talk.
Those were replacement heifers we purchased from another producer. He freeze branded a number on them for tracking. Just like an ear tag that they can't lose. Thanks Katherine -Mike
Other than angus do yall run any other trype of cow like what breed was blonde cow? I'm trying to figure out what type of cow would be best fot the herd I'm trying to start. Maybe you could do a video on that.
Hi Mike , Another great video which I always look forward to watching . Pretty sad news down here in Australia which I know you can empathize with we are have a horrific drought here and the poor farmers and their live stock are suffering badly . There has been alot of funds raising from the community and the goverment has finally released a financial scemes offering to help our farmers but its to little too late. The Aussie spirit is shining through in helping our farmers by giving them donations and feed for the livestock too but that is very lkmited now too it is just a horrible and sac time which unfortunately is not uncommon down here . Coukd you please say a prayer for our farmers which would be gratefully appreciated. Take care and blessings to you all .-
Wow, that is sad to hear. Do you have a link for donations or anything? I hate seeing it but it happens. Just part of the life I guess but not any fun to deal with. Thanks a bunch - Mike
Our Wyoming Life Hi Mike here is the Donation site for the Australian Red Cross www.redcross.org.au/drought?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIs_OuqOTY3AIVi6uWCh1OEgssEAAYASAAEgJeUfD_BwE The farmers would greatly appreciate your kindness Cheers .
We keep salt and mineral blocks out all year and protein tubs out in the winter. The cows do better by adding the tubs to their diet. We also feed grain and cattle cubes. Seeing your cow jump the fence made me think about a cow my sister once had, she would jump a fence anytime she wanted. My sister named her Crazy Jumper, but called her CJ. She could raise some big calves.
That jumping cow was unusual to see. I wouldnt have thougt it possible. No wonder you brand them in case they vanish off your farm. You certainly seem busy out there. Pity you dont have some farm workers to help out.
Once a fence jumper! My little town in Arizona has went from 1500 to almost a million. I'm going to have to find me place up in your neck of the woods. Great video
Hi Mike...lots of things to consider, Might it be worthwhile to place the salt licks somewhere near (not too near) the fly sacks...so that they stand a higher chance of getting dusted? … or is that yet another way to distribute fertilizer? Terry
Thanks Terry. Hard to tell from the video but the fly bags were about 100 yards from the mineral on on the way to water. Hopefully they walk right by them. :). -Mike
Hi Mike! Informative video...as always! I love getting my Wyomjng prairie "fix" every Sunday morning. Thanks Mike, You, Erin and the kids have a great week! Deb
Mike just a hint put your fly bags close to your water sources more cows will use them that is what I have figured out due to them all go there once to twice a day
Thats the crazy thing, I sat there for a while, no one came up to use it. Then I left, hoping to find one in it. Again no luck. Its hit and miss. I am thinking of better ways already Thanks - Mike
do you find you have more "wow these cows are very dumb" or "wow these cows are smarter than you think" moments on the ranch? also i always wonder what cattle ranchers 150 years ago did with things like vitamin deficient grass since im sure those viatmin bricks didnt exist then or most other aids you have in properly raising cows.
From my research 150 years ago cattle were moved across great expanses of land and in one are where minerals were lacking they would find them again as they moved across the plains. But back then cows were on their own, I dont think every single one mattered like they do today. I think I have more smarter moments but not by much lol Thanks MW, welcome back - Mike
I was pretty suprised to see that cow jump the fence. That was a little scary. It would be bad for her to get caught up on the barbed wire. They can be pretty agile when they want to be! LOL!
Do you get milk for the calves from the mother or use something else? My wife and I have goats and if you are interested my wife has plenty of goat milk. Also, as I have said, I am a truck driver and I see a lot of places where people harvest hay, and it sits for seems like years. Would this hay still be good?
I saw an ad this morning b4 your video for glasses usa and sometimes I don't see any ads , when I see an old owl video there have been ads …. 39 k subs yeah !!! keep on haying I know circle boring on a tractor with no cab and no radio very boring.... oo hoo squealers coming we used a 2 or 3 foot plywood by 4 foot to move with a handle in it to move pigs
Are the lick barrels molasses based? We used to have liquid molasses type stuff brought in and pumped into feeders that the cows would lick. Really helped with the cows we had out in the woods pastures.
I think I have a solution for your hay problem you said that you have two kinds of hay that are planted. Use the seed spreader on the atv to spread alfalfa seed and the alfalfa has good yield. We do this on our farm it works. Please respond thanks and please consider this idea.
i have lots of old stories about cows and fences. the one i remeber most was a cow that got her head through the bottem of a slide. (no idea how the slide got in the pastur in the first place) she spooked and then the whole heard took off right through the fence. had to get horses and helpers to rope her and take the slide off. then move back into the pasture and rebuld the fence. what a day that was. i laugh now. you bring back lots of memeries. thanks mike.
Here’s how hard it is to get rid of flies. During the first Gulf War I was tasked to Displace and Relocate well West. We drove down sand roads for almost 24 hours, we stopped for fuel, if you couldn’t get done with personal need during that stop, to bad. When we got to our location there was nothing around us for 200 Miles. We got there in the middle of the night so we just set the guard and slept where we fell. The next morning we broke out chow and the Dad-blam Flies followed us. All I could think of was a million of the critters holding on the bottom of the truck, in the wind, yelling at the other Flies, “You can make Buzz Bomb, hold on man” “Oh no, Blue Bot, just couldn’t hold on, and he had 5,000 kids” They don’t have regular Flies there, they were absolutely maddening.
