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Ferdinand out with the cow herd

7/30/2016

Here is Ferdinand out with the cows and calves at the end of July. He has been running with the entire cow herd for just over a month now since the end of AI season. Counting the eight cows that he was with earlier that were separate from the larger herd that were being AI'd, I expect about 15 cows to have calves sired by Ferdinand next spring. He has continued to grow and maintain his body condition during breeding season and probably weighs close to 1400 pounds now. He will be a ton bull at maturity.

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Summer forage

7/6/2016

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Here is a picture of forages in one of our paddocks on one of our rented properties. This is 5 weeks of regrowth after the cows and calves were rotated off this paddock. This field was growing limited forage that was of marginal quality prior to our taking over management three years ago. We repaired the irrigation structure so that we could start irrigating the field and also put in electric fence so that we could implement a rotational grazing system. During the first winter, I fed hay that had red clover, white clover, and birdsfoot trefoil seed in it over a wide area of the field. All three of those legume species are pictured above. Birdsfoot trefoil is the plant with the yellow flower and is comparable to the clovers in nutrition and palatability for grazing purposes. Our ability to produce this quality of forage during the entire grazing season is a primary reason our yearlings can grow to a nice weight and finish at 18 months of age.

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Ferdinand out with the cow herd

Summer forage

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