Snow. 3 inches of white welcomed. Moved cows to next split in SBW1 in late afternoon. We continue to offer straw to stretch our feed. Spent most of day building and fixing next unit for the 2’s at Andersons-in another month we will need to think about coming home for mid-April calving. Our 122 2’s will calve in just over two weeks. Wont that be fun.
0 Comments
As calm and without hindrance as one could possibly hope. Cows moved out of SBW2 into first strip in SBW1-lot of cover to eat and knock down, practicing covering the soil surface. We finished out SBW 1 laying out 10 bales of straw along all the heavy trails coming into water. Ryan through all manner of twists and turns, more social than mechanical, gets the generator back running to water 2’s. A healthy flock of sharptails have been hanging out at the corrals.
SW winds blow in more unseasonably mild conditions. No moves the last two days, except the calves moved to last split in WL3. I plan to move cows into SBW1 tomorrow to get on fresh feed. I think our reliance to hold the cows on full-feed straw to ‘buy some Ads’ during the mild weather is leading to some loss of condition.
Both days cold and overcast. Still hanging in SBW2 and feeding straw. Ryan borrowed a generator from Vidic to pump water for the 2’s. I observed 2 robins the other day-a little unexpected.
Brisk SW wind in morning bringing moderating temps later in the day. I moved cows to last split in SBW2. Ryan double fed all groups so he could take generator to Billings for repair. Wade captured escaped 2’s out of Tom Lammers (Todd’s neighbor) and returned to the main group.
Cold to start yet, turning nice in the afternoon. No moves today. Energy focused on the 2’s, as they escaped to the east. Also, the generator broke down again. Ugh. One heifer got in with a neighbor, which we will retrieve tomorrow. Everything stable by end of day.
Woke up to no wind and felt the cold-still not so bad. Cooler pattern with less wind has settled in. Moving cows daily in SBW2 with daily shots of straw, and alfalfa every 4 days. Biuret supplement ad lib. Surprising use of the dreaded old coarse intermediate wheatgrass. Some natives seem to more readily invade the crested wheat strips, yet very hard to penetrate the deep rhizomatic intermediate wheatgrass. Calves on daily full feed and being moved to new splits every 3 to 4 days. Both cows and calves are generating good impact and litter.
Wonderful crystal-clear star awakening sky early this morning observed before sitting. Strong gusty winds all day. Some days feel like the warmest coldest winter with the incessant winds. I moved cows to next split in SBW2.
Windy and mild weather pattern persists. I made the daily move with the cows, otherwise everyone remains in place with the regular supplementation.
Hohum…just more wind. No moves today. Continuing clean up from our wind event. We just learned that we have 55 Ops in the feedlot. We are a bit shocked and freaked out and are pulling all the right players together to try and understand what happened at the feedlot. More later.
|
Bill Milton
|
Milton Ranch LLC | Daily Ranch Journal |