John, I think 70 and his cohort 22 HAVE been very patient, for bulls.  They are out of sight of the cows over a ridge but can certainly hear them and if the wind is right catch their scent I am sure.  U070 especially seems very mellow. The younger virgin bull 22 has taken to pushing the Mineralyx barrel around and rolling it down hill which is getting old. I finally chained it to a sturdy post. That's about the extent of the boys mischief.

So far I have had pretty good luck with almost all home-grown calves coming within about 1.5 cycles or less. Only had one at my 45 day cutoff this spring and that was probably because the cow was out of sync wiith the rest from the year before. the closer I can get them this year, the easier it will be to get them even closer next year.

As it is my youngest calf from my last years herd is 81 days and even my youngest from a purchased bred heifer is 57 days (and dam was in heat yesterday) so they should all be cycling and very close next year.

SW Wi had torrential rains last night some areas getting 5". I had 3.5" in the gage early this morning from overnight thunderstorms.  My dam which never holds water was almost full to the overflow.  Given the dry conditions in some areas though I am not complaining. I wish we could share some though.

It is really a challenge to keep the grass in a vegtative state in this heat and with this sort of rain and humidity. Really need to keep the mower going.

BTW my neighbor and I had an extension grazing specialist out a couple years ago. At the time my pasture she looked at was about waist high and mostly stems and seed heads.  I knew it was a bit past prime but she said it was in terrible condition and should be mowed asap. She said cows can suffer malnutrition while standing in waist deep grass like that.  They will go down, as IL Cowman mentioned earlier, to get younger growth near the soil surface but the vast majority of the stems and seedheads were of little use to a cow. and the stems they hit on the way down can cause all sorts of pinkeye and other health issues.

Thanks for the kind words all.

Jim at Dawn