might as well continue the hijack...

I agree. I put in concrete feedbunks in my corral even though I don't use them very often because I like to do things once and move on to the next project - not come back and fix things the next year.  Same with the waterer, I like the Petersen concrete because of the same reasons. I cannot imagine a plastic unit taking the abuse the Petersen does. And one thing about a waterer, especially in my situation where I am not there daily, is that it has to work or my cattle go without water. I can not be checking on it all the time. It needs to be pretty much bulletproof.

As far as my cattle being a bit fat - yes they are. But they are fat on GRASS not grain. Mine have not even had a treat that I can remember since about May when I used it to lure them into the corral ahead of the spring vet workup. And that was just a couple pounds per head. But better too fat than too thin.

I think  right about now with most calves in the 90 to 120 day old range is the peak milk demand time. I don't mind them being a tad fat if that helps them pump up those calves. And this is an unusually wet July in WI helping with the grass. Funny you should mention the belly/toenail grass. In my first picture in a thread below the grass in the new paddock is up to there unside/belly where on the paddock they are leaving I can just start to see the top of their hooves. To me this is good utilization.

Sometimes I wish I had a few more head but then last  year I did not have any hay backupo and was scurrying around in late August.  Now I have a wrapped hay backup and the grass looks like I won't need the hay... guess that's the way things go.  

Should be interesting to see the daily gain rate on the calves next time I run them over the scale.  I agree on the facilities. Tried it the cheap route loading one of the first cows I ever bought who was incredibly ornery - almost broke my arm pushing a panel over on me... The initial investment in facilities does not all need to be repaid the first year but will make money in the long run if my plan is close.

Jim at Dawn