How (and Why) We Work Our Cows!

We are often asked about what we give our cows in the way of drugs, etc.

Once a year we schedule our Vet to visit our farm to work our Cows and their same year calves. And, Thursday was our annual day!

We start by finding a time on our schedule as well as our youngest son Jared's to schedule the Vet.

Since we start NLT 6:30 AM we'll move the herd (cows/calves) to the "Pivot Pasture" late the afternoon before. This pasture lets us pivot them in a lot of different directions.

Weather is always the big unknown. While it was wet from rains earlier this week, we did not have rain during our work. And, we are blessed to have a huge Red Oak (huge meaning greater than 4 ft. in diameter) tree just East of the corral that provides excellent shade.

Beth & I first meet Dr. Lowell Rogers (at the front of the head gate) and his wife Karen when they were fresh out of Vet school and starting their new business just north of Hattiesburg. Our families go way back - my dad once did construction work that his uncles engineered. Dr. Rogers is one of the hardest working men I know!

In this photo Dr. Rogers is adding an unique numbered ear tag to the calf's ear. That way we can track the calf while on the farm and through the harvest phase. Each male calf is also castrated (Dr. Campbell is performing this), given an antibiotic and Blackleg shot. He will also spray the scrotum to prevent flies.

Our female calves receive an ear tag as well as the Blackleg shot.

Lastly, if you look through the head gate you will see Beth taking notes and keeping records.

In this photo, the cows are patiently waiting their turn.

Our cows only get a single Lepto shot. The purpose of this shot is to keep them from the possibility of aborting their unborn calves. The possibility exist from wild animals that share our pastures that could be carriers of the Lepto virus.

We stopped worming our cows years ago! All bovine wormers kill the cows gut microbes. Management practices we do instead is constantly rotating them to new pastures which breaks the parasite cycles. Additionally, we have them on tall grass pastures vs. eating from just above the dirt. Lastly, we regularly add Apple Cider Vinegar to their drinking water.

Here is a picture of Jared. He is an excellent hand at handling the cattle gently. He uses his staff to sort out a handful from the holding pin and moves them forward to the next pin. From there he moves them into the pin where I work. My job is the move them into the chute behind the head gate for the Vet's to do their part.

Overall it went very smooth. We moved 59 cows and 55 calves through in two hours time.

Friday afternoon I again checked on the cows and calves to make sure everyone was okay which they were. As I eased through the herd they were very contented and did not express any fear of me being there. That's how we like it!

After working the cows it was time to take care of the broilers and pigs.

Here is a picture of one of the broiler chicken tractors after we moved them to fresh grass (which we do every day) plus feed & water.

And, since you have made it this far, why not keep reading and check out our sale items as well as Product Update's below. BTW - I've added Lamb to the update (to include good news).

As always, we thank you for rewarding our hard work with your trust and support.