Vet came over this morning and the two of us did the spring workup of calves and cows. Things went well. Calves got weighed, rfid eartags, wormed and vaccinations with the bull calves getting cut. A couple registered heifer calves also got their ear tatoos.  We used the injectable Ivermectrin rather than the pour on today on these thick hided Herefords.

I had moved calving up 2 weeks this spring as a way of having the steers a bit heavier of off grazing corn next April 20th or thereabouts when they go to the processors. I was pleased that most of the calves from my base commercial cows were in the 240-260 lb range with a 4.2-4.6 WDA and about a 3.4 ADG at about 55-60 days old even though the grass just started growing recently.

That weight range seems to be no-man's land for automatic headgates so I was the designated tail holder inside the chute with the calves. I'm glad I had my steel toed boots on but needed some hockey shin guards too.

Overall things went well. Put them all back out on fresh grass so the now steers can heal up quick and clean.  Looks like I got the right eartags on the right calves for a change.  Didn't take too long at all.

A day like today makes you really appreciate a good, large animal vet and a good handling facility.

Jim at Dawn