Pondering Cattle
4/03/08 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Well, we really need rain, but you gotta be a bit nervous in Texas when the prognosticators are calling for "damaging wind and hail". Hopefully we'll have none of that. We could use the moisture though.
Yesterday was our monthly First Wednesday community work day. Elder David and Logan Ante built a goat shed over at David's land, and the rest of us (Chris, Joseph, Kelly, and I) were over at Kelly's land putting up a fence for a goat pen. The ladies worked over on another section of land getting it cleaned up. We were working in the large pasture which encompasses most of the Ante's and the Sustaire's land, which is the pasture our Longhorn cattle are in right now. It was an inspiring thing to see our herd, which has grown so much, leisurely grazing in the pasture. I remember when we had our first 2 cows, and being giddy when we doubled our herd the first year. Here is my current stock:
Maria (1/2 Watusi Cow - Pregnant) - We will be getting rid of Maria this year. She will calf sometime this summer, but we hope to sell her before then. If she calves here and she does not sell, then she will go to the butcher in early fall.
Pita (1/4 Watusi Heifer - Pregnant) - Pita is being trained to pull and to ride. She was our first calf born here, and she will be 19 months old towards the end of this month. Her calf will eventually be sold, or will go to market, or will be raised just for meat.
Mariana (1/4 Watusi Heifer) - Mariana is about 9 months old, and she will eventually be sold, taken to market, or butchered.
Pedro (Pure Longhorn Steer) - Pedro was born quite prematurely, and we had to start him on a bottle. He is now close to 18 months old and he is still pretty small. He will eventually go to the butcher, but it will depend on if Maria sells or if she is the one that goes to the butcher this fall.
Chico (Pure Longhorn Bull) - Chico will most likely be traded with another rancher so that we will have a pure Longhorn bull that is not related genetically to our herd. Chico is a good looking bull who is currently about 9 months old. He is almost as big as Pedro already. Hopefully Chico will be traded for an older bull, one that is already a year or so old, and who will be ready to do his duty in late summer or early fall this coming year.
Lucia (Pure Longhorn Cow - Pregnant) - Lucia is a very productive young cow. Her first and second calves (Bonita and Cholula) are with us, and she is currently pregnant with her third. She is probably getting close to four years old. Hopefully she will keep up the pattern of having heifers, and we will have a third calf from her this summer.
Bonita (Pure Longhorn Heifer - Pregnant) - Bonita is a beautiful 1 1/2 year old red heifer who should drop her first calf this summer.
Cholula (Pure Longhorn Heifer) - Cholula is another reddish brown heifer who came out of Lucia. She is currently about 8 months old.
So out of my 8 cattle right now, we should have either 3 or 4 new calves this summer depending on if Maria sells before then or not. 2 of them (if the Lord blesses and wills) will be pure Longhorn cattle. If I get rid of Maria, Pedro, and Mariana - then I will have a net increase of 0 or 1 cattle (2 if you count my milk cow which should be delivered today or tomorrow). That is not much of an increase in a year, but we should have at least one beef to go to the butcher, and we will have shed ourselves of at least two animals that are not Pure Longhorns. If I were to guess, I would estimate that we will have 10 animals on the ground by this time next year, but 6 of them will be Pure Longhorns and at least 5 of those should be pregnant females, so our big surge in pure Longhorn production will be in the late summer of 2009 if the Lord blesses our endeavors. Of my four remaining cattle, one will be a milking Holstein, one will be a working cow (Pita), and the other two we will raise for meat.
Ok, so David currently has 7 Pure Longhorn cows or heifers, 5 of which should be pregnant and dropping calves this summer. The Ante's have Holga who should be pregnant as well. So we should have either 9 or 10 new calves total later this summer, which will make our herd somewhere between 24 and 26 by the end of the summer. That should drop by 2 or 3 before summer 2009 with my butchering and/or selling plans, and then our big surge (if the Lord wills) would happen in the summer of 2009 which would put our herd up near 35 head, which we figure is probably our maximum herd size on this land. The Lord has certainly blessed us so far, and we pray that He will continue to do so. We definitely should be looking for some kind of leased grazing land sometime this fall or next spring.
I'm looking forward to the day when we will be able (by the Lord's grace) to butcher several cattle a year.
Talking about it makes me hungry.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
Yesterday was our monthly First Wednesday community work day. Elder David and Logan Ante built a goat shed over at David's land, and the rest of us (Chris, Joseph, Kelly, and I) were over at Kelly's land putting up a fence for a goat pen. The ladies worked over on another section of land getting it cleaned up. We were working in the large pasture which encompasses most of the Ante's and the Sustaire's land, which is the pasture our Longhorn cattle are in right now. It was an inspiring thing to see our herd, which has grown so much, leisurely grazing in the pasture. I remember when we had our first 2 cows, and being giddy when we doubled our herd the first year. Here is my current stock:
Maria (1/2 Watusi Cow - Pregnant) - We will be getting rid of Maria this year. She will calf sometime this summer, but we hope to sell her before then. If she calves here and she does not sell, then she will go to the butcher in early fall.
Pita (1/4 Watusi Heifer - Pregnant) - Pita is being trained to pull and to ride. She was our first calf born here, and she will be 19 months old towards the end of this month. Her calf will eventually be sold, or will go to market, or will be raised just for meat.
Mariana (1/4 Watusi Heifer) - Mariana is about 9 months old, and she will eventually be sold, taken to market, or butchered.
Pedro (Pure Longhorn Steer) - Pedro was born quite prematurely, and we had to start him on a bottle. He is now close to 18 months old and he is still pretty small. He will eventually go to the butcher, but it will depend on if Maria sells or if she is the one that goes to the butcher this fall.
Chico (Pure Longhorn Bull) - Chico will most likely be traded with another rancher so that we will have a pure Longhorn bull that is not related genetically to our herd. Chico is a good looking bull who is currently about 9 months old. He is almost as big as Pedro already. Hopefully Chico will be traded for an older bull, one that is already a year or so old, and who will be ready to do his duty in late summer or early fall this coming year.
Lucia (Pure Longhorn Cow - Pregnant) - Lucia is a very productive young cow. Her first and second calves (Bonita and Cholula) are with us, and she is currently pregnant with her third. She is probably getting close to four years old. Hopefully she will keep up the pattern of having heifers, and we will have a third calf from her this summer.
Bonita (Pure Longhorn Heifer - Pregnant) - Bonita is a beautiful 1 1/2 year old red heifer who should drop her first calf this summer.
Cholula (Pure Longhorn Heifer) - Cholula is another reddish brown heifer who came out of Lucia. She is currently about 8 months old.
So out of my 8 cattle right now, we should have either 3 or 4 new calves this summer depending on if Maria sells before then or not. 2 of them (if the Lord blesses and wills) will be pure Longhorn cattle. If I get rid of Maria, Pedro, and Mariana - then I will have a net increase of 0 or 1 cattle (2 if you count my milk cow which should be delivered today or tomorrow). That is not much of an increase in a year, but we should have at least one beef to go to the butcher, and we will have shed ourselves of at least two animals that are not Pure Longhorns. If I were to guess, I would estimate that we will have 10 animals on the ground by this time next year, but 6 of them will be Pure Longhorns and at least 5 of those should be pregnant females, so our big surge in pure Longhorn production will be in the late summer of 2009 if the Lord blesses our endeavors. Of my four remaining cattle, one will be a milking Holstein, one will be a working cow (Pita), and the other two we will raise for meat.
Ok, so David currently has 7 Pure Longhorn cows or heifers, 5 of which should be pregnant and dropping calves this summer. The Ante's have Holga who should be pregnant as well. So we should have either 9 or 10 new calves total later this summer, which will make our herd somewhere between 24 and 26 by the end of the summer. That should drop by 2 or 3 before summer 2009 with my butchering and/or selling plans, and then our big surge (if the Lord wills) would happen in the summer of 2009 which would put our herd up near 35 head, which we figure is probably our maximum herd size on this land. The Lord has certainly blessed us so far, and we pray that He will continue to do so. We definitely should be looking for some kind of leased grazing land sometime this fall or next spring.
I'm looking forward to the day when we will be able (by the Lord's grace) to butcher several cattle a year.
Talking about it makes me hungry.
Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Michael Bunker
posted by Michael Bunker at 4/03/2008 09:21:00 AM
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