The weather has finally cooled off a bit and we got about an inch of rain recently. Not nearly enough to help out our desert landscape of crunchy grass and dirt, but some is better than nothing. With the summer temperatures still hanging around, it has been hard to get into the fall mood so my tote of fall decorations has not come out of storage and it will probably stay that way. I feel like we are getting ready to head right into winter at this point.
I am not a summer weather kind of person, so all the heat has made me extra grumpy and definitely not motivated to get much done. The cool weather seems to put me back into ‘work mode’ and we have a few fall projects around the farm that need to get done. We are still waiting on that last cow to have her calf and I think she is waiting until the first snow to have it…. I am sure it will be a bull….because we all know none of us have enough of them hanging around.
Speaking of bulls, this time of year gets me excited and thinking about breeding season and what bulls we want to use on our cows. Unfortunately for the fall group we have, our home grown bulls are too closely related to use them, so we have looked at leasing options to get them a job ‘off the farm’. We have sent a few females out to get bred to outside bulls and of course we have a few we can AI.
It is also fall sale season so we are planning to hit some sales, visit with some friends and see if we can find anything that would improve our herd. My husband and I are always on opposite ends of the buying budget. He is always looking for a bargain and I am looking for something genetic wise that would fit in our budget. Those budgets are not the same!
We have weaned all the spring calves and have them either ready to go to their new homes or they are already there. We hate to let go of any heifers, but we have come to a point where people are reaching out to us for heifers and we feel like we need to send them to new homes. I spend a lot of time with them, so they are leading and eating well and past the stage of being stressed from weaning. We also try to match up the right kid and calf when it comes to experience of the showman. We want to make sure it is a good experience for everyone, kid and calf!
This is the time of year we wind down on the show cattle things and work on farm projects. I am just hoping old man winter doesn’t come blowing in sooner than later so we can get caught up on some things.
Debbie Elder is a native of Ottawa County, Okla. and lives on her farm in Webster County, Mo. To contact Debbie, call 1-866-532-1960 or by email at [email protected].
