Grass and other disappearances

May 17, 2011

Hey fellow seekers,

There are disappearances, and then there are things that never were. In the latter category, I think of the grass I expected to see by now.

We like it when things are “normal,” but realize our average climate is the result of a wide range from year to year.  If you look up my county on the Palmer Drought Index or any other monitoring site, and you live in the truly drought-stricken South, you would roll your eyes in disgust at the mere “abnormally dry” classification. I am not worthy to complain, compared to the many thousands of producers who have it worse, but we are looking at an estimated 20% of normal hay crop in our cool-season combination hay/graze program. Maybe a rain tomorrow will boost that to 30%. It is something to hope for.

As for livestock, the term usually refers to an obscure category in the USDA Cattle on Feed Report,but “other disappearances” are common on the ranch as well.

We don’t like to think about them, much less blog about them, but they happen just the same. Sometimes it is an accounting error. I knew 134 heifer had been sold after the vet pulled her stillborn, breech calf, but I kept her on the roster. I could minimize these miscues it by taking inventory more regularly, but it is especially hard to keep track of calves on pasture.  Suddenly, you notice something that has occurred gradually: a cow has stopped lactating because no calf is nursing.

This year it was a promising heifer calf, number 151, at about two months of age. She had everything going for her. From a good family, an AI daughter, living within the AI herd. But as the synchronizing program began on the cows, the expected 49 pairs (minus 134) became 48 with 47 calves.  We’ll probably never know what happened to 151, but I miss not getting to see what she would become, and I’m sorry to have to cull her formerly promising mom.

Until next time… let’s aim for profit, target the brand and keep building tomorrow together.

~Steve

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