The vast Zapata Ranch, located in South Central Colorado has more than 100,000 acres of horses, cattle, bison, and intensive conservation efforts to preserve it.
You can get more information at their website by clicking HERE.
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As we wrap up 2010 and prepare for 2011 the beef cattle industry faces a wide variety of challenges. These find form in economic issues, regulatory, animal rights and a long subsequent list. But at the end of the day, for those committed to the beef cattle industry the day to day basics are still the most important. One of these basics is the ongoing need to maintain a solid yet constantly improving cow herd. A cow herd that will produce a high quality product (i.e. high quality, calves which produce beef that the consumer desires) as efficiently as possible. At the core of this is the heifer program. Maintenance of a quality cow herd requires a constant input of new breeding females. With cattle prices at the levels they currently hold, many producers are electing to hold off retaining females in order to market more head and take advantage of the profit opportunities. Nonetheless, while many ranches will buy many of the replacement cows and heifers they need they need, a sound on-farm, heifer selection and development program is very important to ongoing ranch management and operation. It is estimated that about 30 percent of the heifer calves produced in the U. S. are retained and developed for cow herd replacements. Costs associated with heifer development represent a significant up-front investment. Additionally, management of the heifer during the development period can significantly affect her lifetime productivity and must be carefully planned.
Research has shown us that heifers that calve early in their first calving season continue to calve early in subsequent calving seasons and wean heavier calves throughout their lifetime compared to heifers that calve later in their first calving season. This means that properly developed and managed heifers will ultimately produce more beef over the course of their lifetime. Therefore, it is very important that heifers are managed to enhance productivity and control costs.
The period from the time the heifer calf is weaned to the time she is bred is critically important in replacement heifer development. As a producer, your goals should include getting heifers bred early, minimizing calving difficulties, weaning acceptable calves, and having the heifer stay in the herd for a long, productive life.
Preweaning Management
As with any growing calf, prior to weaning, the replacement heifer is largely dependent on the dam to provide nourishment and care. However, there are some management practices which can impact the future productivity of heifers during this period. If possible, heifers should be individually identified to allow producers to base selection upon actual records of birth weight and weaning weight. Other considerations include:
1) Creep feeding. Data regarding creep feeding replacement heifers is controversial. In some instances, creep feeding replacement heifers can result in reduced performance when those heifers enter the cow herd. The problem is more prevalent when the cows are good milkers and creep feed is consumed at a rate of 3 to 6 pounds per day. Apparently, excess fat can be deposited in the mammary tissue, resulting in lower milk production potential and lower productivity when heifers enter the cow herd.
In contrast, an extensive survey conducted by the American Simmental Association and Montana State University indicated no reduction in subsequent performance when creep fed heifers were compared to non-creep fed heifers.
2) Selection. Traditionally, the biggest heifers at weaning have been retained for replacements. This method is simple and straightforward. This selection method is not necessarily bad, since older heifers from earlier calving, heavier milking dams with good growth potential would be selected. However, care must be taken to avoid selecting heifers which may be overly fat. This can lead to reduced milk production, or may have some endocrine imbalance leading to reduced fertility. This method may also result in the gradual increase in mature cow size, which at some point leads to herd production inefficiencies.
A strict selection process should be developed to select replacement heifers. This process should use available weight and performance records as well as visual appraisal. Select heifers from sires that transmit desired milk production and mature size and have demonstrated early sexual maturity. From this pool keep those heifers of desired body type and frame size which are most likely to breed early, calve without difficulty, and remain sound with minimal inputs.
Age at Puberty
In order for a heifer to calve at 22 to 24 months of age, she must reach puberty by 12 to 14 months of age. Table 1 shows the breed group averages for age and weight at puberty based on data from the US Meat Animal Research Center.
Breeds and breed types vary with respect to age at puberty. In addition, sire selection within a breed also plays a role in determining age and weight at puberty. Age and weight at puberty are moderately to highly heritable traits. This means that producers can use selection to improve these traits within a given herd.
An easy method of selection for age at puberty in replacement heifers is to select daughters of bulls with large scrotal circumference. An interesting correlation, in general, bulls with larger scrotal circumferences have daughters that reach puberty earlier.
Another related study at the University of Nebraska indicates that exposing heifers (from weaning to breeding) to surgically altered (teaser) bulls can reduce age at puberty by 40 days and increase the number of heifers bred during the first 21 days of the breeding season.
Target Breeding Weights
Heifers that breed and calve early their first year have been shown to have an advantage in lifetime production. This is in addition to a reduction in overall production costs to the initial calving. For early breeding to occur, heifers must be cycling at the start of the breeding season. Furthermore, conception is greatly improved by breeding after several heat cycles compared to the first estrus. Therefore, heifers should be cycling 60 days prior to breeding or by about 12 months of age.
The level of nutrition the heifer receives the first winter following weaning will influence her rate of development, weight gain, and the age and weight at which she reaches puberty. Heifers fed for a higher rate of gain will be heavier and younger at puberty. Low rates of gain will delay puberty, but heifers will reach puberty at a lower weight. The fact that weight has such an important impact on sexual development allows use of a simple nutritional management concept known as target weight. A heifer’s target weight is the minimum weight she should achieve by the time she is exposed for breeding.
Current target weight recommendations call for heifers to weigh 65 percent of their estimated mature weight at the time of breeding. Mature weight of heifers can be estimated from frame scores determined by measuring height at the hip or from weights of similar cows in the herd.
Feeding management is especially important at this time. In addition to greater feed costs, overfeeding heifers may also contribute to decreased productivity. The period from about three to nine months of age is critical to mammary growth in heifers. Both inadequate nutrition and overfeeding in this period have been shown to result in reduced milk production.
Target gains will vary depending on weaning weights, frame size, breed type, and length of the backgrounding feeding period. Typical gain targets from weaning to breeding are 1.25 to 1.5 lbs per day for British breed type heifers and 1.5 to 1.75 lbs per day for Continental breed types. Research suggests that the rate of gain in the development period does not need to be constant as long as the target weight is reached. In fact, some research identifies advantages to developing heifers in stages of reduced energy and gain followed by periods of compensatory growth. A slight reduction in feed expenses has been shown for heifers developed at fairly slow rates of gain early followed by a period of accelerated growth just prior to breeding.
Feeding and Nutrition
It is relatively easy to feed heifers from weaning to breeding to accomplish targeted moderate rates of gain with fairly simple rations. Replacement heifers have nutrient requirements which differ from the rest of the cow herd; consequently, they should be fed and managed separately.
Heifers are commonly developed most economically on high forage rations supplemented with grains and grain by-products, protein concentrates, and minerals as needed to meet their needs and gain target. Modest levels of gain can be achieved solely on high quality roughage fed on a free-choice basis.
In addition, it is important to understand the composition and quality of feeds to be fed. Forages, in particular, vary considerably in level of protein and energy and should be analyzed in order to accurately balance rations. High quality hays are those with over 12 percent crude protein and 58 percent TDN. Hays with crude protein values between 8 and 11 percent and TDN in the mid 50s would be considered average quality hays. Hay with less than 8 percent crude protein and 52 percent TDN would be considered low quality forage.
Insufficient energy intake which results in poor growth can have negative effects on breeding performance of heifers as yearlings and on their subsequent performance in the cowherd. If large groups of heifers will be developed, producers should consider splitting the heifers into two or more feeding groups (based on weight). This will allow more precise feeding of each group based on necessary target breeding weights and daily gains.
Proper feeding and nutrition of developing heifers is very important. What are the costs of nutritional mismanagement? Here are a few of the implications:
1) Increased age at puberty
2) Lower conception rates
3) Greater degree of calving difficulty
4) Increased calf morbidity and mortality
5) Calves born later in the calving season
6) Lighter weaning weights
7) First calf heifers with poor reproductive performance during rebreeding
Later rebreeding of first calf heifers
9) Reductions in lifetime productivity
10) Increased rate of culling
Conclusions
Building a quality cow herd requires significant investments of time, money and above all, dedication. It is up to the producer to determine which methods he wishes to follow and implement the appropriate strategies to achieve the desire goals which is a cow herd that is profitable today and tomorrow.
Finally, as we draw 2010 to a close, I want to thank everyone for the emails and calls. Your questions and comments have been interesting, challenging and provided a great deal of insight. I appreciate more than I can tell you, all your support over this year and through many years past. From everyone in the Blezinger household we wish you the most Blessed of Christmases and your most prosperous New Year ever!
Dr. Steve Blezinger is a nutritional and management consultant with an office in Sulphur Springs, TX.
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He focuses first on the horse – without horse control it much much harder to hit your roping target.
From his webpage:
“Tyler Magnus is well known as one of the world’s best horsemen. His unique style and patience has made many great PRCA, AQHA and APHA performance horses. His ability to communicate with a horse is unparalleled.
“Tyler Magnus is a 9-time competitor at the National Finals Rodeo and was the NFR winner in 1995. He has also won the PRCA Texas Circuit Championship and the George Strait Team Roping Classic. Tyler is a unique cowboy because he is equally competitive as a header or heeler. Tyler’s horse training skills have brought him as much acclaim as his awards in the roping arena. His training schools are highly sought after for classes on horsemanship and team roping.”
You can get more information at his website by clicking HERE.
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Jim Cornelius has a very interesting blog called “Frontier Partisans – The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought The Battles Of The Empire”.
Born in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Jim Cornelius grew up dreaming of distant frontiers, of mountain men, long hunters, African explorers.
His older brother gave him a tattered copy of Allan W. Eckert’s The Frontiersmen, a biography of Simon Kenton, and the twig was bent.
Graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Jim received honors in History even though he primarily focused on a self-directed course in woods running.
He now resides on the high desert of Central Oregon, where he makes his living with his pen. A musician and a songwriter, he also remains a woods runner dreaming of distant frontiers.
You can get more information at his blog by clicking HERE.
First appeared on the Discover Magazine blog
“Magnetic Cows Are Visible From Space” is a memorable headline, and writers had occasion to use it several years ago, when, after poring over satellite pictures from Google Earth, a German research team reported that cows in the images reliably lined up along the magnetic field lines that run across the Earth. The magnetic field may be invisible to us without a compass (although we have sensors in our eyes that are theoretically capable of detecting it), but various animals, including sharks and turtles, are able to sense it, and one explanation for how birds manage to navigate on cross-continent migrations is that they are steering by the magnetic field. Are cows, too, endowed with magnetic field-sensing equipment?
That first paper, in 2008, and a follow-up in 2009, which showed that cows didn’t line up when they were near high-voltage powerlines (known to distort magnetic fields), seemed to indicate that they are. But an analysis of Google Earth images by another team finds no such lining up. In a back-and-forth over the last year in scientific journals, the first team reanalyzed the second’s data and said that half of the images were useless, since they were near high-voltage power lines or contained hay bales or sheep instead of cows. Plus, the first team points out that the second team looked at single cows within herds instead of herds as a whole, and it’s pretty clear at this point that animals in herds and flocks aren’t operating as independent entities. The second team retorts that their images were too okay to use, and the first team may have been looking at the wrong pictures.
So can cows sense magnetic fields? An outside researcher interviewed by Nature News says that in his opinion, taking into account the second group’s findings, the original results, “while mysterious, still stand.” And there are certainly other factors known to contribute to how cows line up, including the wind and the sun (they’ll turn into the wind and against the sun, to minimize the heat lost to wind and maximize the amount of warmth they get), although the first study did attempt to address this by using images that were from a variety of places and days.
Me, I’m holding out for the discovery of magnetism-sensing organs in cows. Ever since I read about the tiny tubes of electromagneto-sensing jelly sharks have running through their heads, I’ve wanted them for myself.
Preview for the documentry of a real american cowboys’ story from the past three years.
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This is a never seen before video of Roy Rogers Showing how he makes or blocks his own hats. Made around 1990. Bill Mann found this on the internet.
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Josh Lyons, John Lyons son, on trailer loading.
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STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) – A couple of people went on a crazy ride in Steamboat Springs over the weekend. The three people took their horses to several bars, a Starbucks and a grocery store.
All three galloped into a Safeway grocery at about 10:30 p.m. on Sunday. The riders scared shoppers and clerks.
The Steamboat Pilot reported that police used a stun gun and arrested Michael Joseph Miller because he allegedly ignored police orders.
According to the Steamboat Pilot, the ride began more than 10 hours earlier atop Emerald Mountain.
“I had a great ride right up until the very end,” Miller, 44, told the Steamboat Pilot an hour and a half after he was released on a $750 bond from the Routt County Jail.
Miller faces charges including suspicion of harassment, disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer and resisting arrest. Police said Miller was involved in a fight at a pub around 9:30 p.m.
Kenneth Recker and Roxanne Lange, of Clark, were the other riders, but they were not arrested. According to the Steamboat Pilot the three had visited several bars before going to Starbucks and Safeway for a snack.
“I came out and saw three huge horses standing in front of our Starbucks counter, and one of the riders was trying to buy a bag of chips,” Jackson told the Pilot. “These were three huge horses, not small horses. I looked at the riders and I told them ‘You have got to go. This violates every policy we have.’ ”
It’s not clear yet on what inspired them to take their horses through town.
Thanks to my brother-in-law Mike Donnelly for finding this.
The Southwest Reined Cow Horse Association.
Music “Nothing But A Good Ride” Written and Performed by Lyle Lovett.
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Shag-Ra The singing talking horse appears on CBC TV show On the Road .
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This is Lyle Lovett riding Smart and Shiney in 2009 NRHA Futurity in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This class raised funds for the Make A Wish Foundation.
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By Jennifer Viegas
First appeared on Discovery.com.
Human friends may come and go, but a horse could be one of your most loyal, long-term buddies if you treat it right, suggests a new study.
Horses also understand words better than expected, according to the research, and possess “excellent memories,” allowing horses to not only recall their human friends after periods of separation, but also to remember complex, problem-solving strategies for ten years or more.
The bond with humans likely is an extension of horse behavior in the wild, since horses value their own horse relatives and friends, and are also open to new, non-threatening acquaintances.
“Horses maintain long-term bonds with several members of their family group, but they also interact temporarily with members of other groups when forming herds,” explained Carol Sankey, who led the research, and her team.
“Equid social relationships are long-lasting and, in some cases, lifelong,” added the scientists, whose paper has been accepted for publication in the journal Animal Behavior.
Ethologist Sankey of the University of Rennes and her colleagues studied 20 Anglo-Arabian and three French Saddlebred horses stabled in Chamberet, France. The scientists tested how well the horses remembered a female trainer and her instructions after she and the horses had been separated up to eight months.
The training program for the horses consisted of 41 steps associated with basic grooming and medical care. For example, the horses had to remain immobile in response to the verbal command “reste!” which is French for “stay.” The horses also had to lift their feet, tolerate a thermometer inserted into the rectum and more. When a horse did as it was instructed, the trainer rewarded it with food pellets.
With tasty rewards, the horses “displayed more ‘positive’ behaviors toward the experimenter, such as sniffing and licking,” the researchers wrote. Horses do this as a sign of affiliation with each other, so they weren’t necessarily just seeking more food.
life logo.
The scientists added, “Horses trained without reinforcement expressed four to six times more ‘negative’ behaviors, such as biting, kicking and ‘falling down’ on the experimenter.”
Nevertheless, after the eight months of separation, the horses trained with food rewards gravitated towards the same experimenter. The horses also seemed to accept new people more readily, indicating they had developed a “positive memory of humans” in general.
“From our results, it appears that horses are no different than humans (in terms of positive reinforcement teachings),” according to the researchers. “They behave, learn and memorize better when learning is associated with a positive situation.”
While people often train dogs in this way, also using verbal commands, Sankey and her team point out that “the majority of horse-riding training is based on tactile sensations — pressure from bits, movements of riders’ legs, weight change in the saddle.”
Since “horses are able to learn and memorize human words” and can hear the human voice better than even dogs can, due to their particular range of hearing, the scientists predict trainers could have success if they incorporate more vocal commands into their horse training programs.
Jill Starr is president and founder of Lifesavers Wild Horse Rescue, a non-profit that provides refuge, training and adoption placement for otherwise slaughter-bound wild mustangs and domestic horses.
Starr told Discovery News that she’s observed horses responding well to verbal commands, such as “trot,” but she still feels “horses and people get along better if the person doesn’t chatter, since this causes the individual to have greater awareness of body language that is more familiar to horses.”
She, however, agrees that horses are loyal, intelligent and have very long-lasting memories — of both good and bad experiences.
Starr said, “Horses can be very forgiving, but they never forget.”
In this I Am Angus segment, cowhand Boots O’Neal talks about his life as a cowboy and his commitment to producing top-quality beef for America’s consumers.
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Richard Caldwell shows you a quick and simple way to attach a mecate to a bosal. Two parts.
Richard has had health problems this year so any support you can give him is appreciated. His website is HERE
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Ian and Sylvia Tyson sing a famous song about Alberta, Canada.
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Today’s horses come in a variety of colors and sizes, but don’t credit humans. According to a new study, most of these traits existed long before we domesticated them. As researchers report online this month in BMC Evolutionary Biology, they analyzed the complete mitochondrial genome—the DNA found within cell’s energy powerhouses—of 45 diverse horse breeds, looking for clues to the timing of horse domestication. They found that modern horses arose nearly 7000 years ago, a result that agrees with previous studies. The data also show that the ancestor of all domestic horses—which some scientists believed lived as long as 1 million years ago—roamed much more recently, between 38,000 and 93,000 years ago. In addition, more than 70% of today’s horse lineages already existed before domestication, suggesting that a large number of wild founder mothers were used to build up the modern horse population.
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This song is by Dan Reeder from the Sweetheart CD on OhBoy records.
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Horses are well adapted to cold weather. As long as they have shelter from wind and wet, horses can stay comfortable when the temperatures plunge. A south-facing three-sided shelter with straw bedding will see a well-fed horse through the roughest winter weather. However, make sure the shelter is wide rather than deep or you’ll find horses low on the pecking order afraid to go in.
Blanketing
Stabled horses need blanketing when they’re turned out during the day, but the best blanket for an outside horse is his own full winter coat. If you do blanket your horse, make sure you take it off and brush him often. Also, realize that a blanket that is not warm enough is worse than no blanket at all. In cold weather, the hair coat stands up to trap additional warm air close to the body. A blanket keeps the coat flat.
Feeding
When temperatures dip, the best heat source for your horse is extra hay. The first step to winterizing, which you’ve already taken care of, is to get in enough good hay to last through until next year’s hay crop. To calculate how much you need, figure on half a square bale per horse per day then add some to cover for the occasional moldy bale or extra cold weather. It’s a good feeling to look at that stack of green, sweet smelling hay safely under a tarp and know that the horses won’t go hungry.
For most of us, winter means feeding in the dark before going to work and after dark again when we get home in the evening. To guard against accidentally feeding a moldy flake which you didn’t see in the dark, put aside any hay that doesn’t smell nice until you can inspect it in daylight. It’s also a good idea to shake out the flakes in case there’s any dust in them.
To make sure all your horses get their fair share of hay, spread out one more pile than the number of horses. That way, when the boss horse keeps thinking another pile looks better than the one she’s presently eating from, the other horses can move to new piles too.
A horse shouldn’t lose weight in the winter. In fact, a little extra layer of fat to fend off the cold won’t hurt. A thick winter coat can easily hide weight loss so it’s important to use hands as well as eyes to monitor winter weight. By the time you see that the horse is getting thinner, it’s too late.
Water
Watering horses in winter is a little more difficult than in summer. In winter, I move my water trough up to the front of the field so the hose, which I keep inside, will reach from the house. When it’s time to refill the trough, I use a hairdryer to melt the outside tap, bring out the hose and fill the trough. A stock tank heater keeps the water above freezing.
Some people believe horses can get by on snow. “Get by” they might, but so could we. Horses require a lot of water to digest dry feed. How much snow would they have to eat to provide the 5 to 10 gallons of water they need? If you’re not convinced, ask your vet about the greater risk for impaction colic.
Winter Riding
Riding outside in winter presents some additional challenges. Dressing warmly can take care of the weather, but there’s not much you can do about the footing. Stay off icy patches, and remember that frozen ground, even if it’s not icy, can be as hard as concrete. Don’t go any faster than a walk unless there’s a good cushion of snow on top and you know for sure there’s no ice underneath.
Just as we need proper footwear to walk safely on winter ground, so our horses need special provisions. If your horse is shod, talk to your farrier about pads and caulks. If he’s barefoot, spraying the sole with a nonstick cooking product, or even coating it with old fashioned vaseline, can help prevent the snow from balling up. In any case, don’t expect your horse to walk on high heels. Carry a hoofpick with you and be prepared to stop periodically and pick out the icy build up.
Be careful bringing your horse into the barn after being outside. Snow ball feet are very slippery. Preferably, dig out the snow at the barn door. If you can get the hoofpick under the snow pack at the back of the foot, you can often pry it all out at once, especially if you coated the sole as suggested above. Be careful you don’t dig into the frog, though. If you can’t budge it, chip off the snow until it’s even with the hoof wall and then wait for the hooves to warm up before removing the rest.
Horse News
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