Ferdinand and his fellow spring calves were weaned last week. It is a fairly simple process as I let the herd into the hay feeding area by my big hay barn, close the gate and sort off the calves. Then the cows go into a pasture on one side of a fence and the calves go into the pasture on the other side of the fence. Both groups have access to plenty of pasture and can see each other across the fence so there is no need to roam to search for their mother or calf. After a couple days of bawling, both groups settle down and I can rotate each group onto the next pastures when needed. The steer calves averaged near 650 pounds and the heifers weighed about 600 pounds which is right where they need to be to grow out during the next 11 months to yield 700 pound carcasses at 18 months of age. Ferdinand weighed 736 pounds and is starting to figure out he is a bull. I expect he will weigh over 1100 pounds as a yearling and be ready to breed cows starting next June. I am very pleased with his development to this point and am excited to see what his calves look like in the spring of '17.
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