Planning, reality and planning

I’ve gone through a kind of drought in blogging about the herd, partly because of one bad night (Feb. 20-21), but all things fit into place with time and reflection. So once more into the fray, re-planning for better and better days.

This is the season to plan so we can stay jolly all through the year, even if it means calling up Plan B. Since we are on the fortunate side of the precip drought/recovery line, we are on Plan A here.

It is hard to say when our production year starts. It’s probably at breeding in May and June, about the time we get steer carcass data from the previous year. But it always feels like it starts with calving.

The first calves are supposed to share my birthday in early February, and that means they are supposed to wait till I get back from NCBA. That’s short for the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Tradeshow, which is in Nashville, Tenn., this winter.

A few generations of artificial insemination (AI) and breeding up to greater accuracy in calving ease let us hit the target most of the time with heifer AI the second week of May and cows a little later.

When something comes more than a week early, it’s usually small and no problem in the sheltered heifer corral. We have a seasoned hand “on call”  just in case.

Last February it was the AI cows calving that shattered my plans. Given access to basic shelter, they’ve been selected and culled to be problem-free. However, the one night that the little black book said most were due was the one night everything went wrong. For a long time, I thought it was too bad to even write about.

I won’t dwell on it now, because it’s nothing compared to what folks in west Dakota went through, except to say I could have done more in this case. And I will do more this year.

The calves are due one week later, and a key fence that failed to keep several head from drifting with the snowstorm will be reinforced. I’ll patrol three times as often those crucial few days.

We’ve seen cold nights already, that’s for sure. I think we’re ready, and I’m excited to think about a great calf crop on the way, surely the best ever. When I look past the possible pitfalls of winter calving, I think longer term. Will the 2014 heifer calves get every chance to be all that they can be? I have lately considered what sires would be on my shortlist for a flush to make full-brother bulls. You’re free to pick your own, if only for a mental exercise, but it will make you think ahead.

A flush this winter for a fall band of brothers would mean I’ll likely not use them until 2016 in my spring-calving herd. I’ll use a complementary AI sire that year to double-down on consistency. After all, that’s the main reason for such a strategy: it brings more dependable results for all of us, from here to the consumer’s plate. It will be especially interesting to see those 2017 calves, get the steer carcass data in 2018 and choose AI sires for those heifers, so I can see how well it’s working in 2019. Kind of like thinking about a package you can’t open for five years.

Whoa, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. This business is all about the past, the present and the future. Keeping them all in perspective will help us build tomorrow together.

~Steve

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