In the last two weeks I was invited to “give my opinion” on the Soil, plant animal and human health.
The first link (found here) is with Robin Clair of tributaries radio. She made me sound more intelligent than I am. Bless her heart!
Jared Sorensen invited me to do a webinar (found here) on the same subject. I hope you enjoy/get something out one or both of these.
Recently I was talking to a group of land stewards that were touring the ranch in Australia where I was a guest. The end of the tour found the group across the fence from a herd of two thousand cows with calves. The landowners asked me if I would spend a few minutes going over a few of the concepts that we had been talking about the previous two days.
I did not have much time; however, I wanted to touch on phenotype and hormonal activity and how they positively or negatively impacted fertility in the herd.
Starting off with phenotype (or shape) was easy with so many examples just across the fence. A “wedge” shape cow is the most fertile for many reasons. Starting with the shoulders (small part of the wedge), she should be shorter here on the topside than at the hook bones. Hmmm? Sex hormones shut off long-bone growth. The earlier in life and the more estrogen a heifer calf is producing, the more she should look like she is walking downhill while traveling on level ground. From the side view this would create the top part of the wedge.
On the bottom side, the heart girth (taken around the smallest circumference behind the front leg) should be equal to the topline (measured from pin bone to poll). To give the cow (or heifer) a wedge look, her flank circumference needs to be larger than the girth measurement by a minimum of two inches, but a plus four-inch, six-inch, or eight-inch flank is even better. Kenneth Redman of Sydney, Montana (406-480-2312) found in his analysis that old cows typically had larger flanks than the herd average, meaning that they could “digest enough for three” even during the poor, dry years. This larger flank gives the look of an ever-increasing wedge towards the rear of the cow from a side view.
Moving to the rump of the cow, she needs to have a rump at least two and a half inches wider than it is long. The length is measured from the back of the pin bones to the front of the hook bones. The width is measured at the widest part of the rump area (usually the stifle muscle on each side). Michael McDonald of Nebraska (God rest his soul) found that the best indicator of fertility in a cow or heifer was how much wider the rump was than its length. Kenneth Redman found that those old cows that had given us ten calves in a row had a wider rump than the average cow in the herd. With this wide rump, a view from the top of the cow is going to also give us a wedge-shaped look.
At that point the group had an idea of the shape of a replacement heifer that is in the ballpark with her phenotype. Next, my explanation turned to hormonal activity and butterfat. That short leg up front was created by high production of estrogen. Two other places we would see early estrogen expression is in hairs standing up in the adrenal whorl and the stifle muscle developing early. In most cases, higher hormonal activity is expressed in an early-shedding animal with a uniform haircoat. If your heifers all shed late and have hair sticking every which direction, it is time to take a serious look at the feed and mineral quality provided to your animals.
The bare backs I alluded to in the title is a reference to early shedding. Dr. Jan Bonsma said that if he could use only one of all of the indicators he knew for selecting which animal he would eat that year, it would be the one that shed its winter haircoat the earliest. That animal had the best glandular function in her environment and would be the most healthful for him to eat. We can use this to our advantage IF we start observing what we look at. That early-shedding heifer will typically have fewer flies than her herdmates. She will maintain body condition easier/better. One of the big keys to heifers and cows getting pregnant is the ability to gain weight between calving and breeding. That bred replacement heifer must be able to eat enough for two. Late shedding first calf heifers typically are the ones who breed back late or come up open in the fall. Part of this is glandular function, but in a number of cases it is related to a phenotype that hinders the heifers ability to gain weight during lactation before joining her with the bull.
Butterfat in the heifer can be observed in a number of ways the day she is born (These are not listed in order of importance): 1) an adrenal hair whorl located in the shoulder blade area or further forward, 2) extra teats, 3) an area around the teats that has shorter, nappy, lighter hair color than the rest of her body, a precursor to a bald udder later in life, 4) the correct outline of her escutcheon showing high butterfat when she is milking, 5) the presence of vertical folds in the hide, and 6) a small diameter cannon bone and a pointed poll. In the mature cow, a bald udder is the number one indicator of butterfat. The more of the previously enumerated characteristics we see, the more likely we are to have a high butterfat-producing cow.
I summarized my talk by saying, “you need a cow with a big belly, a wide butt, a bald udder and a bare back.”
Any one animal might “prove” these comments incorrect. However, one hundred cows with all of these traits will give you more and better-quality calves than one hundred cows that have few or none of these traits. If you have questions or comments, please contact me at 208-315-4726 or by email at trianglec3@gmail.com
“On my outfit (Frank Eathorne of Douglas Wyoming) I run beef cattle. But I also raise Corrientes and keep a set of roping steers year ‘round. Summertime and green grass pasture grazing make the stock contracting business easy. To the contrary winter time is a bit more challenging. I’ve tried to pasture steers in the winter and supplement with alfalfa hay and lick tubs with marginal success. Energy is the common missing component.
The winter of 2000 1819 brought more challenges to the equation as winter roping‘s have been extremely popular, greatly increasing the number of runs for these cattle during a weekend. The cattle were becoming undeniably fatigued. From cold pastures and lots, to three hour hauls and then unloaded into warm, humid barns and ran 6-8 times every two to three weeks on average; the work load was heavy.
A solution was needed as this set of roping steers had a steady schedule ahead of them. There are no replacements until fresh cattle are weaned and trained to rope and that is not ordinary until March/April at the soonest.
I recall talking with Steve Campbell of Tailor Made Cattle not only about ACV, but remember him mentioning something about apple juice. Picked up the phone and called Steve and he described a product he has and called it Apple Jack, the heavy leftovers from processing the clear fermented apple juice. Steve added that the Apple Jack contained both the liquids from the Organic apples and the solids where the protein, enzymes and vitamins are more concentrated.
Sounded like it be worth a try so I bought a tote of the applejack. Five days before the next roping I kept the cattle in and provided an average of 8 ounces per head poured on top the hay.
The results have been nothing short of dramatic. Energy levels were noticeably increased. The cattle acted and performed with much more enthusiasm. The individuals that were acting very close to quitting picked up a gear and sometimes two. The medium and faster cattle also picked up speed, nearly 25% were running as fresh and hard as they ran seven months prior. I will continue to supplement these cattle with Apple Jack and add apple cider vinegar as needed. I am convinced of the results of these supplements and would recommend them to anyone.”
W Frank Eathorne
Yesterday I finally put out my lick wheel tub with approximately 90 gallons of Heavy Apple Cider Juice and 100 pounds of sea salt. See video link below....
I get the Heavy juice from Golden Valley Vinegar in 275 gallon totes. It is the heavy remains from the bottom of the 50,000 gallon organic apple juice tanks. Once the ALCOHOL content has reached 6% GVV takes the thin portion and runs it through the acetator and converts the alcohol to Acetic Acid (apple cider vinegar). In the alcohol state this product has quite a bit of energy and some protein, plus its natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
I took the grass fats about 30-45 minutes to find it.
In Texas, a friend did this and over the course of three weeks his cows went from eating 4 round bales of hay a day, loosing weight and manure piling up ... down to ... 2.5 bales of hay per day, with his cows now gaining weight and manure back to nice patties. We "fat thumbed" the math and they were consuming approximately 18 ounces per cow per day. His reduction in hay cost was approximately 3 times the cost of the juice he fed...and they started gaining weight again.
Call or email if you would like to know more about this product
Steve Campbell 208-315-4726
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