Hi I’m Mike.
This week we went through the entire cow herd, we found who was pregnant and which cows were
going to leave the ranch, and who gets to stay.
Like most things, that raised even more questions and today, we try to put some of those to
rest as we look at why cows don’t get pregnant and the fate of some of our friends here on
Our Wyoming Life.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
The cows are my friends, they are my co workers, some I get along with and some I don’t.
Some I can live without and others, if and when they depart, leave a hole in our lives.
Those of you that have been watching will remember from of our last video that blonde
cow, one of our favorites here on the ranch, is not pregnant this year.
A cow that isn’t pregnant, is a drain on the finances of the ranch.
It’s like having a roommate, who doesn’t do the dishes and never pays rent.
It may be your best friend but eventually, you have to make a decision about the fate
of your living arrangements.
Blonde cow was on the ranch when we got here, back in 2008.
She lived on Gilberts north ranch back then and although I noticed her, she was just another
cow.
I don’t know when her birthday is, best guess is that she was born in the spring of
2006.
The oldest cow to ever live was named big bertha she was a droimeaan breed of cow from
Ireland.
She passed away in 1993 at the age of 49 after having produced 39 calves.
Blonde cow, is almost 14 years old, but for the first time, after producing 12 calves
herself, this year she is not pregnant.
Blonde cow didn’t become one of my coworkers until 2012, after Gilbert passed away.
It was then that we moved the 50 or so cows from the north ranch, out to the ranch we
are on now.
Still she was just another cow, and it wasn’t until 5 years later, with the launch of our
Wyoming Life, that Blonde cow found her place on the ranch, but she found it in a way that
every few cows do.
We have a lot of black cows on the ranch, those are the purer black angus cows, in fact
about 45 of them are registered black angus.
Other cows on the ranch have a mix of Hereford in them, that gives them the white on their
face, and others are red angus cows.
Of course we have a few mutts as well, those that we don’t quite know their lineage.
Blonde cow is one of those and its her coloring that gave her a leg up among the masses.
She always has been pretty friendly, and when the cameras started coming out on the ranch,
and as Our Wyoming Life became more popular, obviously cows were included in more and more
videos and on social media.
The problem was, that black cows are hard to photograph or video, and even when you
did, there was always a few cows that stood out, for one reason or another.
Bambi, one of our resident bottle calves, that grew to be a productive part of the herd,
pushed her way into many videos but it was blonde cow that slowly snuck in, until she
was as recognizable as anyone.
Earning her a spot on our banner for this years ranch roundup, and a place welcoming
visitors to the ranch.
But this is a business, decisions have to be made, and sometimes those decisions are
not easy, and unfortunately a decision has to be made about blonde cow and her future
on the ranch.
The first question that we have to ask is why she didn’t get pregnant.
We actually checked her twice, about a month ago, Jamie from IMV imaging stopped by to
show us the ultrasound equipment his company has released and we had 3 cows ready to check.
Bambi, who is pregnant with a little girl due on May 10th, number 2, a boy on the way
on due April 27th, and Blonde cow, who we weren’t quite sure about.
Although it looked like she may not be pregnant, older cows will sometimes have the calf slip
into an area where you can’t see them on ultrasound and we decided to check her again,
when we pregchecked the rest of the herd.
That day came and went, and the results were still the same, shes not pregnant.
She is an older cow, most cows in breeding herds, are lucky to continue to be productive
past ten years old.
In fact, according to beef magazine, the average age of most beef herds in the US are between
the ages of 6-8 years old, with the average cull age, or the age when they are removed
from the herd being between 8 and 12 years of age.
With the continuing decline of cattle prices in the US, and the high cost of replacing
stock in beef cattle herds, many producers, such as ourselves use pregnancy as a deciding
factor in the decision to keep or cull a cow.
Of course there are other factors, including the health of the cow herself, if shes lame,
or not holding her weight, that might be an indication of a deeper or more involved problem.
While we look at cows to make sure they can get pregnant this year, another thing to look
at is if they had a calf last year.
As you may know, we didn’t get a chance to preg check last year, but as we look at
who isn’t pregnant this year, its not surprising to find out that over 75% of them, didn’t
have a calf this year, or didn’t carry their calf to full term.
Blonde cow however, did have a calf this year, almost a clone of herself, who still lives
on the ranch, only a few feet away.
The other factor of course in breeding can be blamed on the side of the equation, the
bull.
Luckily a majority of our bull herd is young at this point.
3 out of the 4 that finished the season, are 4 year old bulls.
The other is 6 and they are still all doing their jobs.
When we buy bulls at 2 years old, we have them semen tested before we buy them and although
we don’t test them yearly, we only keep those we know are working, and trust me, we
do a lot of checking to make sure they are doing their job.
The number of bulls to cows also makes a difference, and the traditional rule of thumb is 25-30
cows per bull for a normal 60 day breeding season.
We have a bit longer breeding season, at about 90 days, so in our herd, we started with 5
bulls, each bull, only had to impregnate 1 cow every 3 days.
That’s not a bad job is it?
The other question that comes up when we ask why a cow isn’t pregnant is why don’t
we use artificial insemination.
I’m not against, we just haven’t done it yet, and it may in our future.
Just because we don’t use Artificial insemination doesn’t mean that we are missing out.
According to the Canadian beef cattle research council, the average open rate in cows that
are naturally serviced by a bulls is about 9%..
When we look at artificial insemination, that rate rises to about 13%, and that’s after
3 inseminations.
Most that AI, or artificially inseminate, still have to keep a bull around to service
that 13%.
Cost wise, the canandian beef cattle research council puts the cost of natural service at
about 60$ per pregnancy, where as AI is likely to cost between 20 – 60 dollars per cow,
and can be expected to be a bit more labor intestive.
Right now in our operation, the way it is set up and our labor force ( me ) I am happy
to let the bulls do their job, as long as they are doing it.
I am stuck doing my job, which at times, really sucks.
These 16 cows will be leaving the ranch, those that have been open, or not pregnant for the
second year in a row, those that have other medical issues or are just too old to put
their bodies through another calf.
Blonde cow is in this group, but, and I haven’t talked to anybody about this, I’m going
to give her another chance.
Last year she had a calf, but she did have that calf late in the season.
Because she is getting older, she might not have cycled in time for the bulls to get to
her, or worst case scenario, she isn’t able to get pregnant again.
Time will tell.
Keeping her on the ranch, maybe good or it may be bad.
She may get pregnant again this summer, and bring more life to the ranch, or she may be
getting too old, she could hurt herself, she could have a number of other medical issues,
including a stroke or seizures.
But in the long run, I can’t let her go yet.
Not only is she lucky enough to be photogenic, she also reminds me everyday that being the
odd one of the group isn’t a bad thing, sometimes it’s the thing that makes you
special.
Like they say, you have to odd, to be number 1
Maybe keeping her is a bad move, from a business stand point.
It costs money to keep her, to feed her and keep her healthy, but I like looking out there
and seeing her doing her thing, I just hope I am making the right decision and not one
that will end up hurting us or her in the long run.
Thanks for coming along today, one question I forgot to answer, was if we saw any twins,
while preg checking.
And I did not but I barely knew what I was looking for in the first place.
So who knows, have a great week and thanks for joining us in our Wyoming life.