[Food] Production - Cattle/Grass Farming

Pops

Yea a table would be cool – heck a real squeeze would be nice too!

I found a homemade head gate in a fencerow and welded up a chute to hang it on. The chute is about 8ft long and has a 6ft-swinging gate on one side and a man-size gate on each side at the back. The one thing I did to help when working calves is the side opposite the gate in the front I hinged at the top so the bottom could be swung in to crowd a smaller animal or back out for a larger one.

I built a crowding gate from some steel panels I was given so the only cost was hardware, a small gate and some posts. I’ll try to take a picture or two for folks who aren’t sure what the heck I am talking about.

If a person is going to have more than one or two animals a working chute is almost a must.
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Pops

Here ya go (As you can see, I don’t really want to go cut firewood)

Notice the rag hanging off the headgate handle, that is to wipe the blood off your scalp when you run into the handle!

This is the crowding gate, shot from the same place as the first pic just looking right, the metal fence here is a quarter circle, by swinging the gate they are crowded into the alley and depending what position the sorting gate is in either into the chute or onto a trailer.

And this is a little holding pen and what we call the big corral beyond. The various gates are so we can sort and move animals from one field to another, cut them out for working, shipping or whatever.

I’m not sure what the dog is for…

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Pops

I guess I should also say the chute and crowding gate end are probably stout enough to run grown beef cattle through, but the holding pen end is kind of puny since it is just cattle panels on salvaged posts. It does OK for the 600-700lb Holstein calves we are growing right now but would need some strengthening if we had White Face, Angus or whatever.
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Pops

Well the little calf expired. He really tried but I am gonna guess his gut just wasn’t developed well enough to absorb nutrition; he was at least 5 lbs lighter than the day he was born.

The biggest problem with trying to help him was that his esophagus was too small for my pill pusher and even worse, too small for my stomach tube. I don’t know if it would have made a difference but I did feel pretty helpless.

The grandkids were here for a visit and I probably would have dispatched him before he went on his own had they not been.

On the bright side the granddaughter made a pretty good hand this visit. She fed a dozen bottle calves while Susan fed the Little One, took care of the chickens and picked out our new feeder pig.

At one point when she went to help me feed the neighbors dry cows I told her she had been a big help and she replied she was getting pretty good at doing chores and then tentatively asked if Pops and Gram were going to have the farm for a while because she liked farm work.

Score one for Pops.
Wink

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SpringCreekFarm · Intermediate Crude Joined: Mar 03, 2006 Posts: 844

delete

skyemoor

PrairieMule

Pops

deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 587

I have been raising purebred Scottish Highland Cattle. For a few years now, and am very impressed. There is even a market for their hides. Their beef has the most protein and the lowest cholestrol of all red meats, it is lower than chicken. They are almost 100% self maintaining. No vets, easy calving, they are dual milk and meat. They are very quiet to handle. Cows are very maternal. Their genetics is geared to grass and browse. They fatten on grass. www.cruachan.com.au is a good site for info. I used to raise Black Angus/Hereford now nothing but Highlands. I have seen the thermometer here in Northern Alberta dip to -55F or 60F and in the summer it can get to +100F they seem to thrive. They also are very prolific I just had a 20 year old cow die who quit calving last year. That is a lot of beef produced per cow.

deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 587

You can find a lot of practical info at www.smallfarmcanada.ca

Ludi

Scottish Highland are gorgeous cattle for sure, deMolay. Are they considered a "primitive" breed? This might account for their hardiness and maternal abilities.
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deMolay · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 04, 2005 Posts: 587

They are a very primative breed and have a few peculiar traits. For example if it is a very bad year for grass or water, the females will not breed that year, but will try and survive until the situation improves. Because of their long shaggy hair they are not much bothered by flies. Their colustrum is much heavier and thicker than anyother cow breed I have ever seen in 50 years of ranching. They will browse on leaves and buds like a deer or moose if not enough grass. You never have to assist with calving. Over hundreds of years going back to the first records of them in Scotland around 1000 AD, the Scottish Highlanders and Crofter's turned them loose in the winter on the Highlands. Those that could not calve on their own died. Harse but this removed those with a predisposition to hard calving and needing help out of their gene pool. They also fatten on grass. And they grade higher carcass scores on average than any other breed. I am completely hooked on them. Did I mention they are very calm and docile around human's. At first a few years ago I was quite intimidated by their long horns, having only been around polled animals. But now I use them like a bicycle handle to stear them around.

Tanada

I think I asked a while back but don't recall and I am too lazy to dig through this thread.

Anyone on here raising Yak? They are suppossed to be much like the primitive Scottish cattle just above. They self calve, have no wintering problems, are docile amongst humans, can handle any altitude from sea level to 18,000 feet, do not need grain, produce saleble short staple wool.....

If I ever win the Lottory I would be interested in ranching them myself, but can't seem to find anyone with experience in the USA.
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Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
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Ludi

Here are some yak breeders in the USA:

http://www.yakheaven.com/

http://www.yak-man.com/

http://www.tregellysfibers.com/animals.html

http://www.yampayaks.com/

http://www.blackfoot.net/~eddy/default.html

I love the pinto yaks! Smile

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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy

Tanada