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Post by willowgirl on Mar 31, 2019 0:26:38 GMT
We were getting a bit behind on our breeding, so I talked the boss into letting me set up a batch of cows. Trouble is, I used last month's "Cows to Breed" sheet from the DHI. No, I didn't set up any that were already bred, but there were a couple who had come back open on the last preg test who were "further out" and should have been serviced first.
So, I talked my boss into letting me start a second batch the following week. We were doing the first round on a Wednesday-Wednesday-Friday rotation, so I started the second group on Tuesday for a T-T-Th cycle. Set up 5 cows in each batch.
My boss's wife pointed out this meant we could have up to 10 cows fresh in a seven-day period next fall. Yikes! I hadn't considered that. But wait, it gets worse ... because we also caught a bunch of cows in natural heat during the same period.
I checked the log book today and from March 21-29, we bred a total of 15 cows. Oh no; what have I done?!
The icing on the cake is that all of these cows will start coming due on ... Dec. 28, right smack-dab in the middle of the holidays.
Um, happy new year?
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Post by feather on Mar 31, 2019 0:31:47 GMT
lol Holy Cows! It's kind of funny unless you were planning a vacation during the holiday season.
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Oops!
Mar 31, 2019 0:46:07 GMT
Post by Mari-in-IN on Mar 31, 2019 0:46:07 GMT
We were getting a bit behind on our breeding, so I talked the boss into letting me set up a batch of cows. Trouble is, I used last month's "Cows to Breed" sheet from the DHI. No, I didn't set up any that were already bred, but there were a couple who had come back open on the last preg test who were "further out" and should have been serviced first.
So, I talked my boss into letting me start a second batch the following week. We were doing the first round on a Wednesday-Wednesday-Friday rotation, so I started the second group on Tuesday for a T-T-Th cycle. Set up 5 cows in each batch.
My boss's wife pointed out this meant we could have up to 10 cows fresh in a seven-day period next fall. Yikes! I hadn't considered that. But wait, it gets worse ... because we also caught a bunch of cows in natural heat during the same period.
I checked the log book today and from March 21-29, we bred a total of 15 cows. Oh no; what have I done?!
The icing on the cake is that all of these cows will start coming due on ... Dec. 28, right smack-dab in the middle of the holidays.
Um, happy new year? Hi ya! I guess my first thought here is as far as inclement weather... Lord knows I'm not too familiar with a lot of these proceedings but I do remember all of those years when our dairy farmer friend would sometimes have calves show up in the middle of winter - a bad winter mind you - and things weren't so good. At least - he did have some snug places in the barn to corral up mum and calf... I'm kind of assuming that wherever you are at that the weather isn't too terribly awful in December... Around here - January/February is when it gets really bad...
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Post by willowgirl on Mar 31, 2019 2:27:18 GMT
Yes, it usually gets pretty cold in January, but mostly the calves go across the front of the barn, and have jackets on, so it isn't really too bad for them. And it's much easier for the cows to calve when they're not heat-stressed toward the end of the pregnancy and in early lactation!
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Oops!
Mar 31, 2019 14:03:09 GMT
Post by Mari-in-IN on Mar 31, 2019 14:03:09 GMT
Yes, it usually gets pretty cold in January, but mostly the calves go across the front of the barn, and have jackets on, so it isn't really too bad for them. And it's much easier for the cows to calve when they're not heat-stressed toward the end of the pregnancy and in early lactation! Yeah, you definitely have a point there in regards to cold vs. heat. Seriously? They wear like real jackets? I've never seen that - I'll have to look that up later! ~Mari P.S. Yeah - Happy Holidays for sure! Just curious - I know you aren't too thrilled about when they are going to calve - but - is it out of the norm for you guys to breed 15 in a 9 day time period? Sorry to ask so many questions... I just have limited knowledge from when I used to help out our farmer friend when he was milking... I mainly helped with everything else except the milking and breeding. Plus, he only milked somewhere around 40-50 girls.
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Post by willowgirl on Mar 31, 2019 16:40:08 GMT
Yeah, calf jackets are a thing! They look something like the doggie coats people put on their little frou-frou mutts, lol.
We're milking around 90 cows, so breeding 15 in about a week is around one-sixth of the herd. That's a lot! It's a small operation; my boss, his wife and I do all of the milking. This week, we had six cows due, although only three had calved as of Friday. But we had two heifers who also popped during that time period, so along with breeding, dry-offs and treated (mastitis) cows, we were hustling!
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Post by Jolly on Mar 31, 2019 16:42:28 GMT
Today is a good day, for I have learned something....Cow jackets, hmmm...
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Mar 31, 2019 16:57:17 GMT
Wow willowgirl , Sounds like ya'll were very busy! And will be come December... I found pics of them - they are so cute - I've never seen anything like this except the things that they put on horses... Yeah, pretty cool to learn something new... And thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. ~Mari
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Post by willowgirl on Apr 1, 2019 2:37:42 GMT
OH, not a problem! I love talking about cows. Poor Numb has to hear me rattle on all the time ...
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