Weed Control, New Calves and Branding

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A good point that was made this week was the control of weeds and invasive species. From my time being out here, there has been quite a while spent out in the field and by the house pulling, spraying and identifying weeds and invasive grass species. There is a need for this because if you do not then the invasive species and weeds will take over and then there will be little for the livestock to graze.

Another point that was made was the importance of checking the herd. After we were done branding, we let the herd into the west catch to pair up before pushing them out to the other pasture. After pushing them out I found afterbirth on the ground, which raised the question of where the calf was and who gave birth. After four to five days, we found no sign of a calf. But when we pushed them into the catch to go to the far west pasture, we found the calf and he was very healthy and showed no significant problems.

Something I would change is the way they do their branding. I personally would brand rather than just put the brand on an ear tag. I would also change the way we check the herds. I would have set days where we go out and check all the livestock to make sure we do not run into complications like we did with the missing calf.

Some questions that I had from this week were about their style of handling their livestock. They say that they practice low stress livestock handling, which in some respects they do, but also there are other times where that idea is not enforced. So, my question is, when and why do they implement it when they do and not all the time?

Something I plan on doing is learning more about low stress livestock handling so that I can understand where they are coming from and why they choose to do it at certain times. Something else I plan on doing is practicing more on my sorting on horseback so I can be more efficient.