Sunday, April 25, 2010
The mob now totals 600 head of momma cows
I forgot to post that a little over a week ago we added 192 purchased cows out of Arkansas to the 410 cows we currently had at the Goat Ranch, giving us 602 cows in the mob. The 192 head came with 131 calves and the cows are mostly (95%) first calf heifers. We are trying to go with 10 acre pastures but the forage quantity isn't quite there to support it. We are moving twice a day and trying to keep densities at 60,000+ lbs per acre. The pastures are really starting to come on and we have a lot of clover and mixed grasses in addition to the fescue. The residuals are all looking good, I'd score most of them a 3 (on the west side of the North Rock Barn pasture). The mob is doing a good job of stripping all of the leaves from the oak sprouts and eating most of the other weeds. Hal moved the mob across the road today and we hope to get a week and a half of grazing there before moving thru the Rock Barn pasture.
I really like the cows we bought and have been very happy with the way they are eating the trees and weeds and hopefully training the other cows to do the same. They look like a hardy group of crossbred (angus based) cows that will do very well. Most have a touch of ear. So far, I'm expecting to do most of my future cow buying in Arkansas!
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Did you encounter problems introducing the purchased cow/calves to the main herd? Increased scours in the calves?
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