Managing the Herd

When I say herd, I'm talking about all three of our cows.  Hopefully by next fall our heard will grow to four cows, that's if our two heifers produce calves.  Yeah, the math doesn't add up there because next month one of the herd will be removed for processing--beef.  Our goal is to run no more than 6 to 8 cows total.  Need to keep the herd manageable for the amount of pasture we have, including our horses.  There are several types of cattle operations, like: beef, calving, dairy, purebred, grass finished, grain finished, organic, mini breeds, etc.  We're focusing on quality beef from 'organic' grass fed mixed breed steers.

Ideally we'll have three producing heifers that will give us some steers and replacement heifers for a sustainable small herd.  That's our simple plan, but with it comes the regular care and ongoing maintenance of the animals, land, and fencing.  Our cows need to be kept healthy, and to do that we have to handle them.  They need routine vaccinations to prevent illnesses, worming to manage parasites, and ear tags for identification and fly control (yes, ear tags with insecticides to kill flies and their larvae).

Since cows are large animals and won't always hold still for you, no matter how tough a cowboy you are, we'll need at minimum a head gate to restrain them.  Big operations use expensive squeeze chutes with head gates, but our simple operation just doesn't afford the big money toys so we shop around for used equipment and cash in our sweat equity to accomplish our goals.  A couple of weeks ago I found a used head gate and installed it in the our small pasture near the operations headquarters (farm house and barn), and plan on adding a wood chute, a turn, and catch area in the next few weeks.  We need to have this setup operational by mid January when the cows come back in heat so we can breed them.

Installing on posts a Priefert auto/manual head gate

We found an Artificial Insemination (AI) Tech in the area and will be scheduling her to come out mid January to inseminate for fall calves.  We'll select semen from an Angus bull known to throw smaller calves for the first time to reduce likelihood of calving difficulties.  Then as first time cow parents we'll worry like crazy that our cows are eating healthy and hopeful there won't be any problems after the ~283 days until the calves show up.

Until then we'll keep working on the chute and catch area and make sure the heifers stay healthy.  We'll actually be getting our first beef at the beginning of next year.  In late December our Angus steer will be processed, we're having Farmer's Helper out of Harrisburg coming out for an on-site slaughter.  We'll be sure to share that experience as well.  We'll likely sell a half of the steer, and a quarter is already spoken for so only a quarter would be available if we opt to sell it.  We'll decide last minute after we know the hanging weight and how much beef we'll have.  Then we might do a couple how-to videos on canning beef and beef stew.

Check back in on us and see what we're up to.