OT Sneek peek at Miss Febuary

[Don McDowell]

Here's Miss Febuary 2010

[Don McDowell]

Sunday afternoon in the Hell hole, view of the Devils Saddle from the upper corral

[Chuck 100 yd]

Aint she cute!!

[don Tomás]

What great pics! Thanks...

[JerryB]

Little Angus heifers sure make nice momma cows, she looks like a good one.

[Don McDowell]

She's the first calf this year. With the weather the way it is I'm glad she doesn't have any new brothers and sisters right now.

[Otto]

Here's Miss Febuary 2010

Nude pictures aren't allowed on this forum, and no, the earring does not count as clothing.

[Don McDowell]

[octagon]

She is bovine!

[rjohns94]

what a cuty. Beautiful place there Don.

[Don McDowell]

Thanks Mike , camera's dont seem to be able to get it as pretty as it really is tho.

[BenT]

That one's a little early to the party.

[pokey]

Sunday afternoon in the Hell hole, view of the Devils Saddle from the upper corral

brrrrrrr. cutie though.

[BigSky56]

Don, just about finished calving 2 more and done this week started mid Jan heres a little girl shes a twin makes her a freemartin heifer. Its been a easy winter. Good luck on your calving.danny

[BenT]

You guys out west start your calving season early . We don't start calving around here til mid March.

[Don McDowell]

Danny we don't usually start this late, but the last couple of years we've turned the bulls out later, trying to shorten the calving season. Think I might go back to starting on the 10th. We sure breezed thru a lot of good weather, now it's cold and snowy . Supposed to be good the next couple of days and then start in with the snow again Thursday.

[Don McDowell]

Ben we calve early so when the grass is at it's best potential for milk production , the calves are mature enough to get the benefits of it.
Danny one year we had 6 sets of twins. I frankly hope we never have another set, always a pain in the ....

[nemhed]

I don't know why, but I suddenly have a craving for a nice ribeye!

[Don McDowell]

Oh heck don't just stop at one, get a dozen and invite your friends over. Burgers and brisket, and chuck roasts.....

[BigSky56]

Don twins are a pain specially if momma dont have enough milk both calves suffer and if one of the twins is a heifer she will be sterile and with seed stock thats a big loss cept for eating them. danny

[Don McDowell]

Seems like one of the twins will be weaker and sickly , so you take that one, the healthy one on the cow dies, and then you're trying to adopt a calf back on its own momma.... So if you can't find an adoption , then you end up with a leppy bucket calf to take care of all summer and fall....
We've kept a couple of heifer twins that are pretty good cows, but they haven't ever had twins, yet.

[Wes]

My heifers will start around the 10th of March. I start my cows closer to the 1st of April. I freeze too many ears and tails off the show calves if I go any earlier. Don may go out on grass a little earlier than I do. We won't be through feeding until mid May.
For some reason in '02 we had 13 sets of twins. That was out of 500 cows though. The most I had out of my own herd of 175 was 9 sets. Last year I only had two sets.
I agree they are a pain in the butt. I usually lose enough calves to graft the spares onto new mamas though.

[Don McDowell]

Wes we can generally quit feeding between the 15th of April and the first of May. The hay will be ready to start cutting about fathers day

[Wes]

I'll cut my alfalfa about the 10th of July and grass hay usually just before the 24th. I like to have a good start before county fair hits as all my 'hands' are gone for a few days showing their projects.
I'd like to see that Wheatland country again. I haven't been there since I was a kid. Sure looks pretty there.
Nice calf by the way and good luck.

[Don McDowell]

Wellsir next time you get headed over this way give a holler.

[Ysabel Kid]

Cute as a button!

[Don McDowell]

Yup and she got 2 baby sisters today.

[kimwcook]

I've never worked cattle for a living. Good or bad, that's just the way it is, but I worked for a guy that ran high breed cattle. Santa Gertrudis, etc..Bred his heifers to a full size bull and the foreman would have to do a large number of C-sections because the heifers hadn't grown big enough to pass them. I'd help the foreman because for one guy to do it is a pain. Those calves were huge and I could barely get them high enough to put their hind legs over the top corral rail and clean out the mouth and nose. Foreman used to cuss the boss something fierce because he said any time the cow's uterus would get stressed she'd probably abort the calf. Plus, it was just the wrong thing to do, but the boss just couldn't see losing the money on an angus calf or something similar for the first birth. Don't envy you guys going through calving season.

[Don McDowell]

Yuppers a fella has to use a little common sense about what bull you turn in with the heifers

Calving is a lot of work, and can get pretty stressful, but it's the most rewarding time of the year.

[Wes]

If I get headed that direction I'll get ahold of you Don.
You gotta love calving season. I'll vouch for the stress factor as well. Your entire years income made or lost in a couple months.
One year my brother bought a bull that he swore would calve easy enough to put over the heifers. We were charging pretty hard in the show steer deal then and would gamble a little. He was working and outside job and it left me calving 125 head of heifers. We'd bought some AI'd to popular club calf bulls, bred some ourselves, and covered another bunch with the aforementioned bull. Out of that group I pulled over 50, did 7 C-sections, I only lost two during calving though. I was out many, many nights sleep and am pretty sure I aged 10 years in a month. I had everything riding on that calf crop as I'd sunk deep in debt to get that bunch of cows.
Being older and wiser (not what my wife thinks) now I take less risk there and try to ease them young cows through the first couple years before I pour the coal to them.
I was just thinking Don, I have a nephew graduating from Torrington H.S. this spring and was going to try to get over there. I might as well drag a trailer and take my little group of late calves there and may be able to swing your way and see the country. I'll be in touch.

[Don McDowell]

Wes we got plenty of room in the driveway to park a trailer

[JOHNNY WACKO]

New life always make things look up.Gives 1 the feeling of good things happening rite in front of you.And all baby's are cute no matter what they are.
Life is a sweet thing to behold..

[Idiot]

Money on the hoof. I buckarooed a good portion of my life and never much cared for calving time. The last place I worked had about 5,000 mother cows and a slew of first calf heifers. The later of which kept us busy and without sleep for a few weeks each spring. There is just nothing like having yourself shoulder deep in a cow at 2 in the morning with your breath freezing on your mustache and the snow and wind blowing in your face. Add to that getting kicked every once in a while and you've got a party. Man, I miss it - I think.

Those pictures look cold and comforting at same time.

[Don McDowell]

So I'm guessing you're not packing your war bag and saddle and heading out to see if anybody needs a night calver for a bunch of heifers Just so's you can pickup some easy pocket money?

[Idiot]

So I'm guessing you're not packing your war bag and saddle and heading out to see if anybody needs a night calver for a bunch of heifers Just so's you can pickup some easy pocket money?

Ranch, you are quick my friend, you are quick.

[Don McDowell]

It's in our genes