art day results…

The 2023 calves are now the cool kids on the block. They’re styling with the latest trend amongst young cattle their age. Green ears, simple tattoos and radically cool hair cuts. The day began with a morning roundup, calves sorted away from mom and us getting some stuff set in place since it was going to be a day-long event in the sun, dust and whatever else flung our direction. Sometimes calves need a little encouragement to go down the alley (the story-telling heifers blabbed it was scary with spooky shadows) so we tried a cover to get rid of the shadows created by the sun and boards. This corral & alley system is from the hobbit era, designed by hobbits. Anyone over 5 feet tall will suffer a concussion at some point(s) during the day. You’ll note the boards going across the alley under the shade screen, which worked, by the way, eliminating shadows. Didn’t eliminate the whacks to the noggin’ though…

Another test was a canopy over the calf table to get rid of those pesky shadows around the chute and to keep the nitrogen tank out of the sun. Made the setup look like a farmers market or fair food vendor. Certified Hereford Beef, anyone?

A past post on branding was done here in a flashback… branding 2022. Today was not unusual with the exception that we tried a couple of new things to make it more smoother and more comfortable for all parties involved. Even Gus the Horse was employed. He usually doesn’t get to bite move our cows, but there are always exceptions. He required a little stretching exercise before we ventured out to get the main group of cows with Fletcher & company.

But first Houston and his little herd was brought in from the big hay field. He is separate from the Fletcher herd since his dam and sisters are in that group. He is a good looking bull, has a great temperament and all the cows he was placed with last year calved. Besides he’s part of the Potamus clan, so what is there not to like. Getting his herd was basically uneventful with the expected goofiness of cows and calves in the cool morning. They were just excited we went out to play with them and that Gus got to enjoy the festivities, too.

The first volunteer was Squeak. His mama is PIP the Angus. He’s our first baldy calf and he was bound & determined NOT to loose his snak of prickly lettuce he found in the alley. All through getting squeezed, shaved, a 23-second freeze brand, green tattoed ears & a multi-min shot he never jumped, squirmed, complained or drop his prized snak. And he was very proud of himself, too. Soon they were all done and moved out of the way for the next batch.

The Fletcher group was about as uneventful. A quick staff meeting and we were good to go. Gus joined in on the sorting party and it went smoothly. Only one instance of bumbling. That’s a given considering “the line”. Some calves act like they know what they’re doing and move in easily. Some take 3 people to get shoved into the chute. Some start into it head first and then decide rump first is better. Some never move or make a sound when in the table. Some hop around like jumping beans or let out “MAAAAA!” only because they are in the chute. Some calves may give you a bit of an attitude or give you the look. Whispers can be heard amongst them of “listen you, I can’t believe you were nervy enough to push me so that’s why I pooped in your boot!”, or “I’ve heard stories about getting squeezed till your eyes bug out but the heifers lied that it was only for big cows” and “WHY are you putting green toothpaste in my ears?! Can I use your shirt as a napkin?” and “So sorry about the bump on your forehead but you should’ve been paying attention” and the classic “Brrrrr…. I feel a draft….”

We didn’t tilt them in the table as in years’ past because the wigglers will wiggle even on their sides and not on their feet. So this was a test also, and it seemed to work. Some we had to put a little pressure on their heads to keep them from popping up around 5 seconds in but, overall, most were good but a few gave you a nice toss to the side.

The most noise came from the mama cows who were sure they were going to explode, starve to death and/or that their babies were going to starve to death because they couldn’t feed them the entire day. All calves came out (some had to be shoved out) to get a drink of water, nibble on the hay bales in the barnyard or the tasty bind weed that will continue to grow until late fall.

But soon all calves were processed, a couple pinkeye treatments (as did a few big mamas), a little fly spray for all and then everyone was taken back to the field where they will finish out the breeding season. The carnival tent has been packed up, tattoo kit cleaned up and put away, nitrogen tank taken back to our friend’s with the leftovers for their AI tanks, and the freeze brand iron left to defrost until it can be stored until next year. We slept well this night! And we’re still finding green tattoo paste here & there but it will eventually clean up.

Until next time…
~hobo