Thursday, February 28, 2013

Old farmer's advise and pink tractor





I came across the following on facebook and felt the advise was too good not to share here.

Old Farmer's Advice:

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.

Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.

Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.

A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.

Words that soak into your ears are whispered... not yelled.

Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.

Forgive your enemies; it messes up their heads.

Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.

It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.

You cannot unsay a cruel word.

Every path has a few puddles.

When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.

The best sermons are lived, not preached.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.

Don't judge folks by their relatives.

Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

Live a good, honorable life... Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.

Don 't interfere with somethin' that ain't bothering you none.

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.

If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.

Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.

The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.

Always drink upstream from the herd.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad judgment.

Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.

If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Feeding Baby Calves

I know it has been a long time since I updated a post for feeding baby calves and I have been trying to get a post in but just have not had the time. This year has just zoomed by and it must have seemed like I gave up on feeding baby calves all together.

Well not so. This year has been a little slower than those in the past for bottle feeding calves, but there was still a good number of calves raised on the bottle.

Just last month ten Holstein steer calves was weaned from the bottle and right now there is one Angus heifer calf on bottle. Four Holstein steers have just arrived from the dairy farm.

These four came from the same dairy the other ten did. This has been a new dairy farm that we started to get our calves from. The previous dairy we used went out of business. It didn't surprise me. The price of milk has not been good for the dairy farmers last year. The owners operating the old dairy really  made their living by selling real estate.

The good news is this new dairy is a little bigger and can supply a few more calves. We should have no problem with raising full groups of Holstein calves this upcoming year. 

Just weaned Holstein Steers



Trudy getting some bottle


Trudy still after the bottle 


The four new guys

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Body temperature of a calf

Posted group question:

"I've got a 5 week old bottle calf that has been strong, hungry and good. Tonight I checked her temperature and it read 104.5 (this morning it was 101.5) Her breathing is just a little labored and she coughs once in a while. Her temp has fluctuated a bit in the past couple weeks but never quite this high. She is bright eyed, her appetite is still good, manure is solid, she is on two feedings of milk replacer a day and I gave her a bottle of electrolytes tonight. We gave her two Sulfa boluses and 1 cc of banamine, plus some Probios. Do you have any other suggestions for me? I've lost several calves and would like to do WHATEVER I can to save this one. I read so many different things about the right medication and what to do... can anyone help me here?"


Best response

"I always use Draxxin one shot and things usually clear right up. I would wait a couple of days to see if the sulfur pills do the job but if things start going down hill go ahead and try something different. Holstein calves can go down hill fast with pneumonia. La 200 is another good antibiotic which will stay in the calf's system for 72 hours. Keep giving probios to restore the good bacteria from the antibiotics your using."

Normal range of body temperature of a calf is 101 to 102.5

For more information about the variation of body temperature of a calf you can use the following link: Calf Notes Body Temperature of a Calf