Moving Herds and Runaway Bulls
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This week we moved cows every day from multiple pastures. There was a group closer to the house that we moved out, as they will not be receiving their booster shots for another month. We then moved the first group of cows we branded closer to the house to give them booster shots for their vaccinations. I was able to give all the booster shots to the calves this week when we brought the pairs to the homestead. In addition to that calf group, heifers were moved closer as well. This is so we can separate them into the two herds when we put the bulls out.
We also had to put back bulls that previously broke out of their pasture. When the bulls broke out of the pasture, other parts of the ranch currently leased out to another operator. Other bulls went into different pastures and almost got into the cow calf pairs.
Something from this week that I would challenge is how we moved the cows. Personally, I think that instead of moving them one pasture a day we should have kept them moving to the pasture that they were supposed to be in for the week. To me it seems that moving them every day would place more stress on them than making the full trip in one day. In addition, when moving them to administer vaccinations or pour on, less stress is better. This leads me into my question this week: why we moved them every day instead of the whole five to six miles in one day. Asking my boss the “why” to doing certain things allows me to learn and gain perspective about different ranching approaches to use and understand in my future work.
Submitted by: Mckenna McGraw
Edited by: GrowinG Internship Team
