Moooovelous
Moments
Breed or Feed
?
We just could not wait for a bigger place to get started on the absolutely mooovelous project of “growing” our own beef. We have already added pig, goat, chicken, deer, rabbit, goose, turkey, duck & squirrel to our “home freezer” of meat that we eat. But many members of our family still favor the ole cow!
We have been splitting cows with a friend of ours for some time. We have split 3 in the past year. This last one we killed was the toughest to butcher of all three we have done so far.
Just over four weeks ago we got a Holstein calf that was just 8 days old. We are preparing to wean him at this time. His name is Flank. He weighs about 150 pounds. He will most likely be dinner or sold at auction at some point. Soon after we got him we put him on one and one-half bottles (each holding two quarts) of calf formula twice a day. Then we changed to two bottles twice a day. More recently we have changed to a one bottle ration split more or less evenly over two bottles twice a day. Now we are giving a single formula ration in one bottle twice a day. We are planning to reduce his feedings to a single feeding with one bottle prior to weaning. It has been neat to bottle feed Flank as I have never bottle fed an animal before. Not to mention how he follows me around and moos for his “momma” (me). He is real cute. I will have to be careful that he does not “steal” my heart!
We got a new Black Angus heifer Monday. She weighs around five hundred pounds and is named Bossy because she bossed around Flank. I think they are going to get along fine. Several of us have hand fed her. She will be breeding stock most likely.
I think that this will be an interesting project. Although I like doing cows, I must remember that they all belong to God.
Written by: Samuel
Moments
Breed or Feed
?
We just could not wait for a bigger place to get started on the absolutely mooovelous project of “growing” our own beef. We have already added pig, goat, chicken, deer, rabbit, goose, turkey, duck & squirrel to our “home freezer” of meat that we eat. But many members of our family still favor the ole cow!
We have been splitting cows with a friend of ours for some time. We have split 3 in the past year. This last one we killed was the toughest to butcher of all three we have done so far.
Just over four weeks ago we got a Holstein calf that was just 8 days old. We are preparing to wean him at this time. His name is Flank. He weighs about 150 pounds. He will most likely be dinner or sold at auction at some point. Soon after we got him we put him on one and one-half bottles (each holding two quarts) of calf formula twice a day. Then we changed to two bottles twice a day. More recently we have changed to a one bottle ration split more or less evenly over two bottles twice a day. Now we are giving a single formula ration in one bottle twice a day. We are planning to reduce his feedings to a single feeding with one bottle prior to weaning. It has been neat to bottle feed Flank as I have never bottle fed an animal before. Not to mention how he follows me around and moos for his “momma” (me). He is real cute. I will have to be careful that he does not “steal” my heart!
We got a new Black Angus heifer Monday. She weighs around five hundred pounds and is named Bossy because she bossed around Flank. I think they are going to get along fine. Several of us have hand fed her. She will be breeding stock most likely.
I think that this will be an interesting project. Although I like doing cows, I must remember that they all belong to God.
Written by: Samuel
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