Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Bull or No Bull

The calving season at our farm is in full swing with new calves being born nearly every day. A few years ago we had no herd bull for a few months. When we got the new bull he had a quite a back log of work to accomplish. This in effect put nearly all of our cows on the same schedule and since that time we have a caving season where most of our cows deliver within a few weeks.



This evening I caught up with my work of castrating the new bull calves. This must be done as steers typically bring a better price at market than bulls. We use the painless elastrator which uses a strong rubber band to cut off circulation to the unwanted part. The little guys show no ill effects from the procedure and are back to playing or sucking their mothers within a matter of seconds.






This is the contented Father checking out Dad on the Gator. He doesn’t seem to pay any attention to his new offspring and is more interested in whether Dad has a treat for him in the little white bucket!



He will have one more year on the farm before a new bull takes his place

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I love cows and calves and friendly bulls and dads so these are great shots for me :)

I haven't had as much time to comment lately either. After Christmas things should quiet down a bit.

photowannabe said...

I know nothing about farm life. Thanks so much for all the great information which gives me a feel for a different life. I love the pictures of the calves, bull and your Dad. The one of your Dad and bull is a winner.

Bill said...

Glad I am not a bull :)

Lucy said...

Merry Christmas, Salty. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

Great picture of Carl. He has no idea of the technology that his image and images of his cows are now a part of!