Hi I'm Mike, every year on the ranch, each and every cow gets a physical, they get their
shots, we check their teeth, their hooves, and we clean the drain.
It's time to preg check and cull cows on our Wyoming life.
Every thing on the ranch has a job, from the equipment, like the tractor used to feed,
to the fences and corrals that help us keep animals safe and help us work with them, to
the animals themselves.
The chickens who produce eggs, the pigs that will eventually be sold as packaged pork to
the cows who produce calves that we sell in October.
If even one of those things fails to do its job, something has to be done about it.
Tractors can be fixed along with fences and corrals, but when it comes to animals, for
example if a chicken stops laying eggs for some reason, then they become a drag on the
ranch and its finances.
A chicken that doesn't produce eggs costs us money in feed and in the same way a cow
that doesn't produce a calf costs the ranch money in feed, time and veterinary bills.
To keep the ranch productive, we take very good care of our cows, they are fed exactly
what they need, and at the same time they receive vitamins, minerals and medications
to keep them healthy.
Once a year we get a chance to bring in all the cows and give each one a through going
over, at the same time we check to see who is pregnant and who is going to produce a
calf for us next year.
Each cow costs the ranch an average of 800$ per year and if that cow doesn't produce
a calf then there is no product from that cow to sell and justify the expense.
But maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
Today we brought in all the cows, ran them through the squeeze chute.
Our vet, Kyle, gave each one a good looking at, inside and out but the day started this
morning at sun up, when I had to bring all the cows into the corrals.
To get there, we have to rewind.
When it comes down to the nitty gritty, raising cattle is a numbers game.
How many cows can you support on how many acres, how much hay can you make to feed cows
through the winter, or more realistically, at least this year when hay production was
way down, how much hay can you afford to buy and how many cows will that hay feed.
In addition, you need to have productive and healthy cows.
The days of letting cows range the countryside with little or no human interference is pretty
much gone.
In days gone by, many ranchers would just let their cows roam, letting them live and
die, some by natural causes, some by predators.
Then occasionally they would go out and gather calves and bring them back to feedlots of
their own or sell them to other producers or keep to replenish their herd.
Things have changed, now raising cattle is a totally hands on process, constant monitoring
is required.
Each cow is an investment in the future of the ranch, not only that but ranchers have
realized that healthier and better taken care of cows produce more and better calves.
As we bring the cows into the corrals to get things started, I can tell you a bit about
our plan for the day.
Over the past few months we have been looking at cows, taking note of older cows that are
starting to have trouble getting around, just like people cows suffer from bad hips, sore
joints and arthritis as they get older.
In fact, cows age much like dogs, a one-year old cow would have aged 14 in human years,
and cows age 4 human years in each year of their life.
By the time they are 2 and have their first calf they are 18 and they reach 30 in human
years after 5 years of life and 50 in 10.
Our cows will average about 9 calves over their lifetime, the record for a cow, by the
way is 39 calves, I'm betting she was one tired cow.
Its easy to spot the oldest cows in the herd, even without my paperwork where I keep track
of all the cows ages and every thing that has happened to them from the moment they
arrived on the ranch.
They tend to hang back, they don't move as fast as the other cows, probably due to
those sore joints and arthritis.
Unfortunately for these cows, they are probably nearing the end of their time on the ranch.
After the cows are in, then we can let them rest for a few while we get ready to start
bringing them in for the physicals.
First Kyle arrives with his chute, a fancy hydraulic chute that will make the entire
process much easier and faster.
We do have our own chute but it's an older manual chute.
Its loud and often will intimidate or scare cattle, his is silent due to the hydraulics,
even though there is a hydraulic pump running in the background.
After we get it set up and a few neighbors have arrived to help its time to get to work.
That's one of the things I love about being out here ranching, the community always comes
together to help and help is usually just a phone call away.
Today we have 3 neighbors helping move cows as well as Kyle, the vet, Erin keeping records
and helping at the chute and myself.
As cows start moving up into the corrals and closer to the squeeze chute, they pass through
smaller and smaller enclosures, into a crowd tub, which guides them down an alley just
wide enough for them to fit into and to the chute.
There Kyle uses the control levers of the hydraulic squeeze chute to first close the
door behind the cow, then he opens the front door of the chute wide enough for the cow
to stick her head through, then he applies the squeeze of the chute, applying light pressure
to the sides of the cow and calming her down.
While she is in the chute, Kyle gets to work at one end while Erin works on the other.
First, she notes the cows tag number.
Kyle lets her know if the cow is pregnant or not, using an ultrasound probe that is
inserted rectally into the cow and giving him a view of the calf and the status of the
amniotic fluid.
If the fluid is clear and he can see a calf with a heartbeat then the cow is determined
to be pregnant.
If the fluid is milky then she more than likely aborted her calf, and further checking for
a heartbeat will determine that there is no calf.
If a cow is pregnant, that's good news, Kyle will tell us how far along she is, which
will help determine a due date and she will then receive a vaccination called Virashield
6, which will protect her from a number of diseases and illnesses including respiratory
diseases, and a viral diarrhea and bacterial diseases that can cause infertility, abortion
or illness.
Erin then applies Ivermectin, which is a pour on medication that kills a number of parasites,
including roundworms, grubs, mites and lice.
Once Erin is done and we take a quick look at the cow to make sure she is healthy and
let her out, where she heads back to pasture.
When a cow comes into the chute that has a problem she needs a little more attention.
Lump jaws are rare but not uncommon in this part of Wyoming.
This cow has suffered an abscess of the tooth and often we are not aware of it until the
cow starts to grow this lump on her jaw from the fluid backing up around the abscess.
They are constantly breaking open and draining, and once a cow gets to the point where the
abscess is visible there isn't much we can do for her.
The abscess is usually caused by a piece of food, most commonly grain or something like
it getting caught in the cow's gum line and causing infection.
Soon the infection enters the bone of the animal and causes a thickening of the lower
edge of the jawbone.
It can be treated, with antibiotics, although the lump will still be there and may affect
her ability to eat.
The infection can also cause abortions which is what may have happened to this cow as she
does not have a calf.
Older cows also tend to wear down their teeth to the nubs, these cows are called gummers
and are not able to ingest the required nutrients from the hay that we feed.
Nature works in mysterious ways though, as most of the cows that we have these issues
with, don't get pregnant anyway and will be sold from the ranch.
Cows that aren't pregnant, or are going to be sold for another reason will be not
be allowed to go back out to pasture and will be pushed back into a corral where they will
be kept until its time to take them to auction.
This process continues for over 150 cows, and lasts almost 5 hours.
Bringing a cow in, checking her for pregnancy, giving her vaccinations and out the door.
After they leave the chute, some cows, especially the younger ones that haven't been through
this before tend to get a bit squirrely….
Eventually though, they always go where they are supposed to.
After being cooped up for hours you can only imagine how impatient the cows are getting
at the back of the line.
They start to get riled up and working with them becomes a lot more difficult and dangerous.
No one has gotten hurt today but a few of the cows did decide they were done with this
BS and decided they wanted to leave.
When a 1500 lb. cow really wants to do something, there's really no stopping her as this cow
proves.
Attempting to jump the gate she has managed to get herself high centered, which doesn't
last for too long, but as I attempt to move behind her and right when I put away the camera.
She goes through the corral fence and back out onto pasture herself.
She's is a problem for another day, she's earned her freedom because we don't have
the manpower or the time to run after her right now.
Only a few cows left to go in and get checked out by the doc and we are done.
Silence falls quickly as the cows vacate the premises and move back to pasture.
Then its time to pack up, get Kyles chute loaded and call it a day.
Erin: I am so glad that preg checking is over.
It is my least favorite job that we have to do on the ranch with the cows.
Its always done at the end of October or the end of November, the weather is never good.
We can have 50 degrees and sunshine the day before and when its time to preg check, the
wind is going to blow 30 and it's going to snow.
You'll notice in some of the videos there's a 4-wheeler holding up panels, the wind was
literally pushing the panels over.
I couldn't get a tripod to stand up, my paperwork kept blowing away.
By the end of it I was a frozen popsicle.
Kyle had one warm arm and one cold arm.
It was a rough day for us.
Culling cows is the process of removing breeding stock from the herd, and as you saw it can
be for a number of reasons.
A cow that isn't pregnant just costs us money and a cow with a medical issue or in
old age becomes very high maintenance.
But what happens to these cows that are going to be removed from the ranch?
All of them will be taken to auction where they will be sold.
Buyers come to buy cull cows for a number of reasons.
Some of these cows may go on to have more calves as smaller operations may have more
time to deal with the older and high maintenance cows.
Some however will be sold for slaughter and sometimes that's just the way it is.
Today we had bad news for a few of our oldest friends, both of our white cows will be leaving
the herd, along with a cow that we always called butt stain, due to her birthmark.
According to most vets, culling your herd is one of the most important steps you can
take toward herd health.
When you remove cows that have issues, whether it being the fact that they didn't get pregnant,
or they have a bad hoof, or sore joints you are cleaning up the genetic qualities of herd.
In addition, you are controlling the spending on the ranch, saving money by not feeding
and caring for an animal that isn't going to produce.
Everything on the ranch has a job, including me and Erin, and when you can't do it, you
get replaced by those who can after all its just like any other business.
Thanks for hanging out with us today as we perform a vital chore of the ranch.
Make sure you subscribe and watch out for more videos.
Of course, our Sunday ranch video every Sunday morning, Tuesdays we have our project board
video, where you get to head out and help with chores and every Thursday you can look
forward to a video either from our livestream or Erin in the garden or kitchen.
Remember, through hard work, great things happen.
Have a great week, and thanks for joining us in Our Wyoming Life.
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