Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Proud of my dad

This past weekend, on one of our frequent phone calls to and from the farm, my dad and I were discussing our upcoming breeding season. He had called last week to let me know that Pete (our Genex genetics provider) would be stopping by, and wondering if we had selected our sires for the upcoming breeding season.

It's pretty early for us to select a sire for the next breeding season, mainly because we haven't seen what last year's studs are doing (read: no calves on the ground out of those sires). But, my dad and I are learning from our mistakes. 2009 was just a year of chaos - for both the farm and family. I remember getting ready to board a flight to Scotland for our honeymoon and trying to get ahold of Pete to deliver semen so I'd have something to breed cows to when I returned. We don't want to relive that experience (and stress) again.

So, my dad, Eric and myself put our heads together and narrowed the semen possibilities. We decided to go with Messmer Packer, and got 30 units on him. You see, when we first started AI-ing we bred to multiple sire groups. But when you only breed 30 cows AI/year, there's not a whole lot of progeny to get a sample on each bull. Thus, we're going to use one or two sires to get a good number of progeny (calves). We're pretty excited because we'll have Packer calves born this year (2010), and next year.

But I'm not only proud of my dad because he's got the semen ordered (and in the tank) by February (and we breed in May), but because he's going to take an AI class. For the past 10 years, I've been the only one trained on our farm to AI. That's great when you're a college kid and you live close to home around May to breed heifers and cows, but it's not convenient when you live 370 miles away in another state. So, dad's going to get trained. We'll be able to shoulder the load of breeding cows together (and maybe a local 4-H gal will learn, too). Either way, our operation will be better because of it.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Baby #2 has arrived

Just got an email from mom this morning entitled "Calf Update." We must trade at least 100 "Calf Updates" throughout February and March. Why? Because we are so excited about each new arrival (and ok, because I keep an Excel spreadsheet of data that I cross-reference with dad's calving book).

Remember our last bundle of joy was born Feb. 6? Well - they're keeping it in the family! Baby #2 is related! 0806 (Angel) gave birth first... and while we haven't decided a name for her calf, our 4-Her would like to call her Harmony. Well, Angel's mother - 27N (Heaven) - gave birth last night to a healthy, bucky little boy! We're excited about this new bundle of joy because his father is an AI stud - Messmer Packer - and we just ordered 30 more units of Packer to breed our cows this spring.

Mom tucked in her email a note about how it is supposed to be -8 tonight at the farm. Brrr! I hope the new babies that are coming into the world won't have to face that cold temp. I expect lots of calves to start rolling in now.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Say Cheese!!

My dad, Jack, tried to take pictures of the new mama and her baby. Here's his handiwork!


Looks cold, doesn't it??

Ah, ain't she sweet!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

First calf of the season!

Good morning all! I come bearing good news - we started our calving season yesterday. This is cause for excitement every year because we wait with anticipation to see the arrival of the new crop of artificial insemination (AI) calves. This year, we weren't disappointed (will publish photos of the new bundle of joy when possible).

We start calving our heifers 1 full breeding cycle (3 weeks) before the cowherd, so it was one of the new-moms who had a baby. And the day couldn't have been nicer. Saturday morning, Feb. 7, 2010, the temperatures were 34 degrees (quite nice for February in Northern MN). The mama was 0806, better known as Angel, and she had a little heifer calf. The cow has a beautiful udder. I'm excited because this is a continuation of the line of Don Burt cattle (I was given 0806's mother, 27N, as a bred heifer for handling the Don Burt cattle sale). It always reminds me of Uncle Don.

Let me know if you have any names for our new cherub! Grandmother's name: Heaven; Mother's name: Angel...