What a Difference Nutrition Makes

It has been a while since we got the Jersey bull.

 The genetic opportunity that looked so terrible.

I thought you might enjoy an update on Applejack. (Or as we refer to him Applejerk)

 When he arrived on January 28th, he was so thin and weak I was extremely concerned he would not be able to breed. The concern proved true. Not only did he not have the libido he needed he did not have the energy and strength to actually breed the cow.
He would fall if they mounted him and, after the first attempt with Lassie, he went off feed with exhaustion. He was sore and stiff. He had hurt his shoulder and limped. I almost called the vet at one point. Lassie came back in heat on her normal cycle.

Our focus became nutrition and building up this very thin bull. We fed a basic 12% beef ration of non GMO grain. To that we added alfalfa pellets and a energy supplement for horses that our Feed Guy recommended.  He had used it on some thin cattle he had bought. We started with 10 pounds (of this custom mix) a day in conjunction with good hay given free choice. We increased the amount to 20 pounds a day which he is eating now.

There seems to be a lot of controversy over feeding grain. A lot of homesteaders do not beleive in using it in any form, we try to feed as little as we can but in this situation it takes a different approach.
For one he is a bull and we are not going to be using him for milk we drink. Second is that a simple roughage ration can build an animal up from moderatly poor condition but it cannot rebuild an emaciated animal without a great deal of time and superior quality fine stemmed hay. We had neither the time or the fine quality hay.

After the wreck with Lassie we did not let him run with the cows and kept him with two of the gentle steers. We know the cows cycles and when they were close to heat we let "Ben" heat detect to standing heat. This allowed Applejack to save energy for just breeding.

It was an adventure. Even with care Applejack got trampled by Mischeif in her "Romantic" exuberance and although he did not go off feed he was very gimpy for several days after his date with her.

Finally we got his condition up and when I observed him bucking and playing with "Bullwinkle" I had some hope he might settle Lassie on the third try. We kept them apart until midway through her standing heat and let nature take its course.

Then a week later Mischief came into heat. We repeated the process and lo and behold "Applejack" bred her and didn't  collapse or wobble away. He kept beside her and was obviously vigorous enough to mount her several times.

Katie follows Mischief, their cycles have been three days apart for ages. By now "Applejack" thinks he's an old pro. He bred Katie and I swear was smug about it.

Lassie and Mischiel have both gone by their heat dates. Katie was due to cycle yesterday  or today so we are hopeful.

Lassie is due the 4th of December.
Mischief is due The 12th of December. Katie cow will be calving about the 16th.

It has been an adventure but we should get the best Christmas presents ever.....Applejack genetics from our wonderful cows.

There are still so many things that can go wrong but we are much more hopeful.

As to our genetic opportunity...Applejack....next week he gets to go back to his real home. There are Jersey heifers waiting for him and I am sure he will do them proud.

He has come a long way. It really is amazing what time and good feed can do. He has some fine milk cows in his pedigree and I chuckle as we look to a busy December and way too much milk.

Any bets we get three bull calves?

God bless everyone and enjoy the marvel of spring.

The Fence and Barn, 1 year in.

It doesn't seem like we have had the new paddock system and barn rework for a year now. Well actually  13 months.

Time does fly.

January 2018 saw the new fences complete and a lean to, new roof  and doors on the Tobacco barn. We were so pleased.

The Barn just days after it was finished.

Cows behind beautiful fence.

Now after a year we are still pleased overall but have learned a lot about gate placement, livestock travel patterns and mud.

We made one major mistake with the gates. We hung them in the standard fenceline configuration. This means the hinges are in line with the fence wire. The gates hang well that way and are fine if the gates are opened to let livestock in and out then shut again.
However if your intending to leave the paddocks open to a lane for watering the animals....they need to be able to open fully and lay alongside the fence out of livestocks way and secured against wind.

This requires the hinges to be drilled through the posts opposite to the direction of the fence...the hinges then need to be cut flush as not to hurt livestock.

 *Note the top hinge is upside down, this stops the gate from getting lifted off its hinges if stock rubs it. It doesn't impact the strength of the gate or how it swings.

This mistake has caused two gates to get damaged...one by wind getting it swinging and bending it,  the other was "Mischief" damage.  She had an itch!!!

Mischief itch damage!

Our plan is to re-hang all the gates but two.

One of the other problems is mud. The gate into paddock 4 was a problem right from the start. Our land slopes, the slope from paddock 4 to the working lane is the steepest of all the gateways. Sadly it was the only location to have a gate that stock could see and would be worked through. We have discovered it is also a drainage for paddock 4. This never showed up the previous two winters but this winter has been exceptionally wet and for the first time we also have livestock.

It is a mess and the sheep don't like it at all. Plus continuing to use the gate makes the situation worse.  Fortunatly we have a second gate to paddock 4 from the hayfield. The sheep will follow Ralph anywhere when he has a bucket and we are using the upper gate. The main gate will get a load of heavy crush in it this summer, in fact there are several places we will be using gravel to help drainage.

Cows tend to cut corners, here is damage where they come to the barn.

 We will spread a gravel pad around this corner to keep the strength of the corner post intact, plus there is nothing like washing clay splatters and gobs off a milk cow when your going to milk her.

This is the other side of the barn where we spread a lot of large crush. We thought it was too much but now we see it was just right. The traffic area stays dry. 

The Orchard gate, there was a washout under this gate from corral drainage, we filled it with about 2 feet of crush.  The water drains through the gravel and the gate remains dry and useful.

Now with spring in the air we are planning the first year of serious pasture rotation. Last cycle we did not have anywhere near enough stock to deal with the peak grass growth. With the sheep and cattle we have now we should be close to the right number. We will have to pay attention though, the Farmers Alamanac says a wet summer ahead. We will be using single strand hot wire to divide paddocks as needed.

We are totally pleased with the barn rebuild. The Lean-to gave the cattle great shelter in rainy weather and has enough room to store equiptment under cover. The addition of lights makes it extremely useful.

The lights are mounted under the edge of the roof. They are set to shine out into the paddock. 

There are two dust proof barn lights mounted on the inner wall and there are also plug ins.  For calving and lambing this gives us extra space we can work in.

 The fence Energizer is mounted in the rafters and is high and dry as well as out of reach of stock.

The sliding doors have made the barn so much less drafty on windy and rainy days. We have them set up to latch shut both from the inside, if we are working in the barn, and the outside if we are shutting things up for the night.

 A simple handle and latch secure the door from the outside and make for easy opening or closing. There are hooks on both ends to secure the doors against wind.

This is an inner latch. We use locking hooks that are quite affordable. This stops the wind or cows from working the hooks open.

We have eyelets on the 2x4 frame at various spots to allow the door to be locked partially open if needed.

 The barn just makes us happy. Lots of room for everyone out of the weather and the hay storage in the loft is dry and easy to feed from.

The only flaw.....well there is 1 hole in the new roof. Old habits are hard to break. We had become used to shooting possum without much thought to bullet trajectory. I mean the old roof was seriously full of holes so we just shot where we saw the possum

Well Ralph shot a possum in the rafters and now.....if you stand just right....you can see the hole. Yes....in our brand new roof. He did kill the possum though. Now it just takes a bit more care to varmint hunt.

So after a year are we glad we invested in the old barn?
A resounding yes. The barn meets all our needs and still has room to fill.

After a year of the permanent fence being completed, do we consider it money well spent.
Yes  we do, it does need some adjustment and some small changes but over all we are really happy with it. The portable netting seems to be a hot item but we think in our situation the permanent fence is more suitable. Our base design will allow the use of portable or temporary fencing if we need to use it. The permanent aspect means that if the stock gets out of their paddocks they won't get off the farm. (We hope, but anyone who has animals know how they find holes)

This spring and summer will see us learn more about our farm and managing grass. We love the thought of not bush hogging or mowing.

With year two of the rebuilt barn and new fences well on its way things are looking good.

God Bless all of you and keep safe.