Kingdom of Callaway - Fulton, Mo 65251 | I have enjoyed the calving back and forth discussion today.
I have nothing to hide - Here is how part of mine has gone recently:
I purchased 82 cows over the winter, mostly broken mouth heavy third period breds. My goal is to calve them, wean off the calves, and fatten the mommas for selling as weigh cows. I have 8 left to go, so out of 74 that have calved, I have lost 11 calves, as shown in the photo. Of the 11 deads, 2 were stepped on I think, two just never thrived even after doctoring, and the rest were dead when I found them, probably from the cold. I lost one momma cow giving birth. I check them every day when I feed them, and in the morning on a side by side. They have all calved outside on their own with no barn access. Frankly, it's root hog or die, and I knew that when I bought them that would be the case. I gambled that we would have a normal easy winter, and I lost that bet on several calves the last couple of weeks with the wet mud and subzero temps.
As a soft hearted cattleman, I hate it that I am not set up better to save more calves, but frankly, financially it doesn't make sense for me to spend more time and money on them than I already do. With the average price of $630.00 I have in each purchased bred cow, the plan is working for me here, and I intend to keep doing it.
Picture was taken after the ground thawed enough I could bury them. If I had any more die, I'd need longer bale spears!
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 0215211558a (full).jpg (99KB - 331 downloads)
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Honest photo of last 30 days calving.
