The cow thread

911 said:
I worked with a Trooper while I was in the Investigation Department. He would always claim that when he retired he was going to buy a farm. He retired just before COVID hit and in 2020, he bought a small farm. I think he said he has around 40 acres. He raises Black Angus steers that he buys at auction, which he feeds in the pasture. The remaining land is used to grow hay and corn to feed the steers.

The plan is to buy the young steers at auction, keep them for 2 or so years and sell them to customers after they have been butchered, which is about 2 or so years after he buys them. He has no problem selling the meat. Some of the customers have become repeat and buy a quarter or a half a steer during each late fall. They reserve their share from year to year. He has been considering enlarging the herd.

He had heard me telling farm stories when we were on the force together, so he called me on the phone about a year after he started the farm and asked if I would work part time. I thought about it and agreed to try it. I am still on the job and am enjoying the 3-5 hours that I work each day Monday through Friday. So far, so good.
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That's great, 911. Just enough hours to enjoy yourself.
 

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I was reminded of a new cow story. I hope that I didn't already tell this one in another thread. This is going to be a very long story, so I hope it keeps you interested enough not to bore you. If you have been raised on a farm, I am sure it will sound all too familiar.

Man, it's been so long now since those days back on the farm that I have forgotten so much of everything. I did tell you that the owner bought the farm next to his so then we had two farms with I forget how many thousands of acres and how many cattle we had. There were two herds of cattle; one beef herd and one dairy herd. I worked mainly with the dairy heard, mostly because they were the more gentle. My first job after I arrived at the farm was to clean the milking parlors, which milking began at 5 a.m. We had all automatic milking machines. After milking was over, they would open the doors and the cows would usually wander out to the pasture on their own. We kept the heifers separate from the cows.

The one spring, we had 7 cows give birth all within a 2-week period. We went crazy trying to keep up with all there is to do with newly born calves and the Mommies tending to them. The cows that had just given birth were treated better (meaning different) than the other cows. They were kept in cleaner stalls and we would clean those stalls maybe 2-3 times a day. The newly born calf may only stay with Mom for maybe 2- 3 days. We also washed the new mommy's teats maybe once or twice daily so that the calves do not suckle on a dirty teat. The new Mommy's first milk is called "colostrum." It contains the antibodies the new calf needs to ward off any diseases or infections. It's most important that the new calves drink this colostrum. This is where the cows placenta is different from the human placenta. The human placenta gives the baby its antibodies. The calf gets its antibodies from Mom's first milk after birth.

After the cow has allowed the new calf to suckle for 2-3 days, we remove the calves and put them in their own area. Some farmers remove the calf right after birth. It depends on how the farmer manages his herd. This is done for the safety of the calf. Moms don't care where they step and have been known to step on their calf and break a calf's leg. After the calf has been removed, they are hand fed with huge bottles for maybe 2-4 weeks and then we start to wean them off of milk by introducing them to grass in the pasture, along with hay. We put them in their own pasture and allow them to eat grass and also feed on milk. After roughly 4 weeks, most calves are ready and are OK to just eat grass, hay and start to eat some grain, mostly corn. By 6 weeks or no longer than 8 weeks, the new calves are strictly on grass and grain, maybe even silage.

I told this story to my wife and she asked, doesn't the cow miss her calf. The short answer is that a few do. A few may even cry for their calf, but after a day or two, they give up and go back to their herd mentality or as we call it "their happy place." Cows want to be with their own kind, other cows.

When my wife asked me that question, it brought another story to mind. We knew this one Guernsey cow was ready to deliver, so we took her out of the herd and put her in the birthing stall. Cows in the birthing stall have it made. They even get music played to them. The boss of us hands, Randy, told me that cows like music.. It keeps them calm, quiet and relaxed before giving birth. So they get to listen to Mozart. We had 4 beautiful 100% full bred Guernsey cows and the one was going to give birth. The owner has a friend with a Guernsey bull who breeds the females. (If you have never had Guernsey milk, you are missing out on a sweet treat.)

After she gave birth, she would not get up for the calf to suckle, so we went into emergency mode by hand-milking the cow, which isn't easy. The Vet was on his way, but in the meantime, time was of the essence, so I got a bucket and started hand-milking. Once I had the first quart, we poured it into a bottle and started feeding the calf. That was colostrum and needed for the calf's health. By the time the calf had finished drinking the milk, the Vet showed up. She gave our cow what looked like a quart or more of Calcium. That took quite awhile to get it into the cow through an IV of sorts and 15 minutes after the cow finished taking the Calcium, she stood up and all was fine. She licked her calf, even though by that time we had hand-dried it and cleaned up the calf. It was good to see her lick her calf. It meant that she accepted it and would be taking care of it.

The End!
 
911 said:
I was reminded of a new cow story. I hope that I didn't already tell this one in another thread. This is going to be a very long story, so I hope it keeps you interested enough not to bore you. If you have been raised on a farm, I am sure it will sound all too familiar.

Man, it's been so long now since those days back on the farm that I have forgotten so much of everything. I did tell you that the owner bought the farm next to his so then we had two farms with I forget how many thousands of acres and how many cattle we had. There were two herds of cattle; one beef herd and one dairy herd. I worked mainly with the dairy heard, mostly because they were the more gentle. My first job after I arrived at the farm was to clean the milking parlors, which milking began at 5 a.m. We had all automatic milking machines. After milking was over, they would open the doors and the cows would usually wander out to the pasture on their own. We kept the heifers separate from the cows.

The one spring, we had 7 cows give birth all within a 2-week period. We went crazy trying to keep up with all there is to do with newly born calves and the Mommies tending to them. The cows that had just given birth were treated better (meaning different) than the other cows. They were kept in cleaner stalls and we would clean those stalls maybe 2-3 times a day. The newly born calf may only stay with Mom for maybe 2- 3 days. We also washed the new mommy's teats maybe once or twice daily so that the calves do not suckle on a dirty teat. The new Mommy's first milk is called "colostrum." It contains the antibodies the new calf needs to ward off any diseases or infections. It's most important that the new calves drink this colostrum. This is where the cows placenta is different from the human placenta. The human placenta gives the baby its antibodies. The calf gets its antibodies from Mom's first milk after birth.

After the cow has allowed the new calf to suckle for 2-3 days, we remove the calves and put them in their own area. Some farmers remove the calf right after birth. It depends on how the farmer manages his herd. This is done for the safety of the calf. Moms don't care where they step and have been known to step on their calf and break a calf's leg. After the calf has been removed, they are hand fed with huge bottles for maybe 2-4 weeks and then we start to wean them off of milk by introducing them to grass in the pasture, along with hay. We put them in their own pasture and allow them to eat grass and also feed on milk. After roughly 4 weeks, most calves are ready and are OK to just eat grass, hay and start to eat some grain, mostly corn. By 6 weeks or no longer than 8 weeks, the new calves are strictly on grass and grain, maybe even silage.

I told this story to my wife and she asked, doesn't the cow miss her calf. The short answer is that a few do. A few may even cry for their calf, but after a day or two, they give up and go back to their herd mentality or as we call it "their happy place." Cows want to be with their own kind, other cows.

When my wife asked me that question, it brought another story to mind. We knew this one Guernsey cow was ready to deliver, so we took her out of the herd and put her in the birthing stall. Cows in the birthing stall have it made. They even get music played to them. The boss of us hands, Randy, told me that cows like music.. It keeps them calm, quiet and relaxed before giving birth. So they get to listen to Mozart. We had 4 beautiful 100% full bred Guernsey cows and the one was going to give birth. The owner has a friend with a Guernsey bull who breeds the females. (If you have never had Guernsey milk, you are missing out on a sweet treat.)

After she gave birth, she would not get up for the calf to suckle, so we went into emergency mode by hand-milking the cow, which isn't easy. The Vet was on his way, but in the meantime, time was of the essence, so I got a bucket and started hand-milking. Once I had the first quart, we poured it into a bottle and started feeding the calf. That was colostrum and needed for the calf's health. By the time the calf had finished drinking the milk, the Vet showed up. She gave our cow what looked like a quart or more of Calcium. That took quite awhile to get it into the cow through an IV of sorts and 15 minutes after the cow finished taking the Calcium, she stood up and all was fine. She licked her calf, even though by that time we had hand-dried it and cleaned up the calf. It was good to see her lick her calf. It meant that she accepted it and would be taking care of it.

The End!
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Thank you 911! I always enjoy learning about cows from you.
🐮
 
911 said:
I was reminded of a new cow story. I hope that I didn't already tell this one in another thread. This is going to be a very long story, so I hope it keeps you interested enough not to bore you. If you have been raised on a farm, I am sure it will sound all too familiar.

Man, it's been so long now since those days back on the farm that I have forgotten so much of everything. I did tell you that the owner bought the farm next to his so then we had two farms with I forget how many thousands of acres and how many cattle we had. There were two herds of cattle; one beef herd and one dairy herd. I worked mainly with the dairy heard, mostly because they were the more gentle. My first job after I arrived at the farm was to clean the milking parlors, which milking began at 5 a.m. We had all automatic milking machines. After milking was over, they would open the doors and the cows would usually wander out to the pasture on their own. We kept the heifers separate from the cows.

The one spring, we had 7 cows give birth all within a 2-week period. We went crazy trying to keep up with all there is to do with newly born calves and the Mommies tending to them. The cows that had just given birth were treated better (meaning different) than the other cows. They were kept in cleaner stalls and we would clean those stalls maybe 2-3 times a day. The newly born calf may only stay with Mom for maybe 2- 3 days. We also washed the new mommy's teats maybe once or twice daily so that the calves do not suckle on a dirty teat. The new Mommy's first milk is called "colostrum." It contains the antibodies the new calf needs to ward off any diseases or infections. It's most important that the new calves drink this colostrum. This is where the cows placenta is different from the human placenta. The human placenta gives the baby its antibodies. The calf gets its antibodies from Mom's first milk after birth.

After the cow has allowed the new calf to suckle for 2-3 days, we remove the calves and put them in their own area. Some farmers remove the calf right after birth. It depends on how the farmer manages his herd. This is done for the safety of the calf. Moms don't care where they step and have been known to step on their calf and break a calf's leg. After the calf has been removed, they are hand fed with huge bottles for maybe 2-4 weeks and then we start to wean them off of milk by introducing them to grass in the pasture, along with hay. We put them in their own pasture and allow them to eat grass and also feed on milk. After roughly 4 weeks, most calves are ready and are OK to just eat grass, hay and start to eat some grain, mostly corn. By 6 weeks or no longer than 8 weeks, the new calves are strictly on grass and grain, maybe even silage.

I told this story to my wife and she asked, doesn't the cow miss her calf. The short answer is that a few do. A few may even cry for their calf, but after a day or two, they give up and go back to their herd mentality or as we call it "their happy place." Cows want to be with their own kind, other cows.

When my wife asked me that question, it brought another story to mind. We knew this one Guernsey cow was ready to deliver, so we took her out of the herd and put her in the birthing stall. Cows in the birthing stall have it made. They even get music played to them. The boss of us hands, Randy, told me that cows like music.. It keeps them calm, quiet and relaxed before giving birth. So they get to listen to Mozart. We had 4 beautiful 100% full bred Guernsey cows and the one was going to give birth. The owner has a friend with a Guernsey bull who breeds the females. (If you have never had Guernsey milk, you are missing out on a sweet treat.)

After she gave birth, she would not get up for the calf to suckle, so we went into emergency mode by hand-milking the cow, which isn't easy. The Vet was on his way, but in the meantime, time was of the essence, so I got a bucket and started hand-milking. Once I had the first quart, we poured it into a bottle and started feeding the calf. That was colostrum and needed for the calf's health. By the time the calf had finished drinking the milk, the Vet showed up. She gave our cow what looked like a quart or more of Calcium. That took quite awhile to get it into the cow through an IV of sorts and 15 minutes after the cow finished taking the Calcium, she stood up and all was fine. She licked her calf, even though by that time we had hand-dried it and cleaned up the calf. It was good to see her lick her calf. It meant that she accepted it and would be taking care of it.

The End!
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Great story. Do you have more somewhere on this forum? I used to own just a small farm, so I do understand what you were talking about.
 
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Moon Rat said:
Great story. Do you have more somewhere on this forum? I used to own just a small farm, so I do understand what you were talking about.
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Yes, I have posted several farm stories on this forum, but I don’t remember what I posted them under. If I locate them, I will let you know.
 
Yesterday, I posted a story about cows. I thought maybe I should post a story about bulls, but it took me awhile until I remembered one. Here goes.

The year that we had 7 cows give birth, 4 of those calf’s were bulls. The owner already had 2 really good breeding bulls and didn’t want to raise any at that time, even though the one bull was getting up in age. We had a real mean, nasty bull that I named Satan. I even put a sign above his stall that I burned his name into a piece of wood and nailed it above his stall. I feared that bull. He was about 1500 or more pounds and was a black Angus. He was used to breed the cows that belonged to the beef herd. This story is not about him.

The 4 bulls were from cows of the milking herd. Usually, we had been keeping them for about 4-6 weeks and then Randy, who was our boss and another hand would take them to auction and sold as bulls. The owner and Randy decided that the market was buying more steers this time, so they decided to have these 4 bulls castrated and turned into steers.

I remembered when I first started working at the farm, we had a bull that was going to be castrated. At that time, the boss brought the young, 2 week old bull into the new barn and two of us held him so he couldn’t jump or take-off while Randy, the boss, put big elastic bands around the top of his scrotum. If I remember correctly, it took at least 4 weeks, maybe 5 weeks until his testicles fell off.

This time because there were 4 bulls that needed done and were already at least 4 weeks old, the owner decided to call the Vet and have him perform the castrations. Being the nosey type, I made sure to watch and see how it was done. The Vet first cleaned the scrotum with some type of sterile solution. After that, he took this instrument called an emasculator, which crushes the spermatic cord and then cuts off the testicles with none to very little blood. Supposedly, the bull feels very little pain, but I digress on that. The first bull let out a bellow that told me he didn’t like what just happened and it hurt. I went outside after that. I wasn’t going to watch anymore castrations. I bet some of you guys that read this have put your legs together. Here is an emasculator.

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Paco Dennis said:
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After the owner bought the second farm, he first built a new barn. They (carpenters) can build a barn with roof, electric and water complete in 2 weeks. Now we had 4 barns. Two was already owned on the original farm, the farm he bought had 1 barn and then the owner built barn #4, which was another half the size larger than our largest barn.

I want to say we had about 300 milk cows, but wouldn’t swear to it. It’s been 55 years, so not everything in my memory is working as well as I wished it would with memory. I remember we used pasteurizers and homogenizers before sending it to the packers or whoever picked it up. If you have never tasted whole milk, you’re missing a treat, but it’s very fattening and not heart healthy.

Our milking parlor did not look like this because we used 2 separate milking parlors. One for the dairy hers and one for the beef herd.
 
I never knew, nor even thought about the difference between a bull and a steer. Now I do, but my question is why? And why can't pain killers be given to those poor animals?

Also, I thought we didn't eat cows. They are also called beef? What differences are there? Does the supermarket label the beef as being cow or steer? I never thought to look.

It's true, I know nothing about animal husbandry, but I did chaperone my little boy's class on a school visit to the UCONN dairy farm. The ice cream was the best I ever had!
 
RadishRose said:
I never knew, nor even thought about the difference between a bull and a steer. Now I do, but my question is why? And why can't pain killers be given to those poor animals?

Also, I thought we didn't eat cows. They are also called beef? What differences are there? Does the supermarket label the beef as being cow or steer? I never thought to look.

It's true, I know nothing about animal husbandry, but I did chaperone my little boy's class on a school visit to the UCONN dairy farm. The ice cream was the best I ever had!
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I’m glad I took a peek to see if anyone read my story. Maybe I can help answer your questions.

A bull is a bull until it is castrated and then it becomes a steer. The reason they castrate is to hopefully give the meat a better taste because without the testicles, the steer losses it’s testosterone in about 2-4 weeks. Castration also supposedly calms the animal and in most cases, it does.

Best of my knowledge, super markets don’t label whether it’s a bull or steer. Cows (females) stop producing quality milk after about 6 or so years. Then, they also go to the butcher shop. Many types of lunch meats are made from cows, but also some shoulders make good roasts. Cows are also used to make beef hotdogs. Very little goes to waste. If you get a tough piece of meat, it may have come from an old bull.

Here’s another bit of news. When butchers trim fat, that is sent to a plant to be rended. And some of that is used for pet food. I could go on and on, but you can check it out for yourself.
 

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