Nearing Final Countdown

Acreage or land space is valuable. But when you own a herd of anything, the land area is not just valuable it is a commodity that is the basis of the farm and is highly traded as the needs of the herd change. Keeping them separate is an ongoing challenge.

Right now, the bull pen (a couple of acres set aside from all other fields and animals) contains 11 unruly teenagers. They are yearlings, just over a year old and spend their days testing their strength with muddy scrimmage matches, and squeaky bellows as their bull voices deepen. The For Sale ad is being run in the local farm newspaper, and we have been getting calls about the bulls but the sales don’t usually pick up until April.

The show barn (with acreage around the structure for yearling heifers, the show cows with calves and birthing area)contains the 4 remaining heifers kept from last years crop, the 6 show cows with their calves, and right now the herd sire is in the mix breeding the mother cows for next years babies.

Our main herd across the river is split. The 11 cows with calves are in the nursery field and the remaining 10 are outside the nursery field and along the hillside waiting to have their calves. The final countdown of births for the year is nearing single digits!

Soon all the animals in the main herd will be put together even though a couple of them may not calve for another month or two, it just makes the feeding process so much easier when they are all together.  We are just waiting for the fields to dry out before putting more animals into the grassy fields.