Another day in the life of a hobby cattle farmer.

msouth468

msouth468

Fighting for the little guy
Nov 29, 2005
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Iowa
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It is 5:30 in the morning, I decide to just get up and get ready for work. I look out in the corral and see something odd. A crippled cow that we are trying to get back into shape is laying on the ground facing downhill (they die if they do that). I go to investigate and find her giving birth. Now, we are not supposed to have babies until march. Plus she isn't supposed to be pregnant. So I have to get the tractor, turn her so she is facing uphill and help her get the baby out. Now for those of you who don't know when most mammals give birth the baby comes out followed by afterbirth. It normally isn't allot. Unless your talking about a 1300 pound cow.

Then about 10 or more gallons of the stuff comes out. So here I am freezing cold trying to pull a calf out. Finaly get the ****er out and all of a sudden It is like someone decided to pour 10 gallons of warm jello on me. It was quit disgusting. Then the cow gets up and decides to chase me out of the corral (yeah your welcome). I hope she doesn't get to attached to the calf, he won't be around for much longer. I'm going to sell him today after work.
 
My boss is in the cattle business..the family is. They show shorthorns, and breed them too, and I've learned all about these nifty things from her..including how many boxes of hair dye it takes to cover a cow. I made her a cow cake after their heifer won some national cow contest.

Don't you have to wait until the calf is weaned to sell it?
 
nursie said:
My boss is in the cattle business..the family is. They show shorthorns, and breed them too, and I've learned all about these nifty things from her..including how many boxes of hair dye it takes to cover a cow. I made her a cow cake after their heifer won some national cow contest.

Don't you have to wait until the calf is weaned to sell it?
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No you don't have to wean the calf before selling it. All you have to do is give it a bottle of colostrum and sell it. Whoever buys it will either put it on a cow that lost a calf, or bottle feed it themselfs. And on the note of your boss. I don't think it is allowed to dye a cow for show. Your boss might be cheating.
 
nursie said:
*laallaalaalllaa*..(fingers in ears)...don't talk to me about veal...
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*joins nursie in her ring around the rosies thing* lalalallllallalalallllalaa
 
I used to hang around with a bunch of ropers back when I had my horse. I'd corral the steer into the chute for them and let em out for them to rope. I never got a chance to try roping myself, though I would have liked to. My horse was too small for that....lol.....he was a quarter horse/morgan cross...Great horse..I miss him ! (I still have his saddle and tack in my bedroom closet...lol)

A friend of mine took me on a tour of her father's slaughter house back when I was around 13..... (it was right next door to where they lived).....just after they had finished with the steer. There was a bucket full of skinned cow heads in the middle of the floor....lol........I guess I was an odd sort of girl, because I thought it was neat... :rolleyes: (I have a scientific mind...I was fascinated by the eyeballs and what was left of the muscle tissue and bones and stuff....yeah, I know, wierd....but at the time I wished I could have been there during the process so I could see what their insides looked like)


Lol....sorry Nursie and Doll......but they're just isn't a squeemish bone in my body.... ;)
 
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Am I missing something here? The calf isn't going to become veal. A local will probably buy it and raise it for a 4H project. Or just to make it a feeder steer.
 
That's rough. My family has been in the cattle business for years. My sister and I raised a lot of calves from circumstances like those, or where a cow dropped twins she couldn't support. Lots of work!
 
OrionGirl said:
That's rough. My family has been in the cattle business for years. My sister and I raised a lot of calves from circumstances like those, or where a cow dropped twins she couldn't support. Lots of work!
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We had four pairs of twins last year. That is quit a bit, and there was always a smaller one that we sold off. Hopefully we won't have any this year.
 
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