Steer Planet - Show Steers and Club Calves Forum

I didn't want to hijack firesweeps thread but thought they go hand and hand.  I am glad she had a good day and in most cases I feel that the good out number the bad but today I had to take a 10 year old cow that we raised to the sale barn today. Hate this part of it. She was a good cow, I traded my husband steers calves for her. But she aborted her ET calf 5 weeks early and her bag is not the best at 10 so with the weather helping make the decision she had to go. Hate this part.

I hear you loud and clear!  My best cow raised the best set of twin simmy bull calves this year in a complete drought,  then came in open. I guess ill always remember her though,  most cows this year didnt bring in one big calf , let alone two of them!

I hear you loud and clear!  My best cow raised the best set of twin simmy bull calves this year in a complete drought,  then came in open. I guess ill always remember her though,  most cows this year didnt bring in one big calf , let alone two of them!

ruthless!

Quote from: kidsandkows on February 08, 2013, 03:21:26 PM

Yea we are weighing some of those decisions right now too. We have a cow that we have had for a long time almost as long as we have been married she is older than my kids. She was given to us and we bottle raised her. She normally produces one of our better calves. Our daughter will show her last year calf this year. But she is the oldest in the herd and we have had no winter moisture and very little grass so its looking like someone needs to go to town. But she might have been saved by some younger cows coming up open. There are 2 that we think might have lost their calf (I will preg them this weekend) but if they did they will go instead of Dixie. Not sure what im hoping for though?

A cow like that I'd let her find her spot and lay down. Tough taking one that's been so good to you to town for a couple hundred bucks.  

More than likely that is what will happen. It sure has been a tough year! Or else we wouldnt be considering selling any we just got up to the number we wanted to run just in time to have to turn around and cut back because of the drought.

Aldens buried Dividend on their ranch. I can understand it. Cattle are not the equivilent of a human though. A humans life is way more valuable then a bovine's. The bible says so. Old horses are probably the hardest. My dad had an old horse he wouldn't ship. He died on the place. He looked like hell in his lst days but he had great care.

I know dogs are differant but we have a blue healer that is 17 years opd.  She meets me at the back door and goes to the barn with me everyday.  I know someday in the not to distant  future she will not meet me at the door. And that will be a sad day

I was sorry when Service Pack closed its doors down the road from us.  We could take our old and cull cows straight to the packers knowing that they would not have to make a long truck ride or be recycled by a "cow trader" to try and get "one more calf out of her".

I have to agree. As a mid-20s cattle raising individual, I never went a year in 4-H where I didn't have tears in my eyes as I put my steer on the trailer when the fair was over with. It always felt like the end of a chapter that I had spent a year of my life in. No matter that I had done it before and I knew with the purchase of every steer as a feeder calf that the day would eventually come, it doesn't make it any easier.
As for the cows, we had to part ways with our PB Angus cow that had spent 12 years on our farm a few months ago. She was always a big eater, and loved eating our leftovers from the fridge and melon rinds we threw out in the summertime. She was definitely the "in-charge" cow in our herd, but was so special. Never chased us when she had a calf that needed tagged and vaccinated. Always a kind soul, and never got crazy with us. A few tears were shed when we had to take her to Producers. Then not too long ago, one of my PB Maine cows got sick. She got skinny, and went downhill quck. My dad knew I wouldn't be able to take her to producers, as she and I had an inseparable bond from our years spent together and our shows we attended. We shared ice cream cones, she loved wafer cookies, and she was always the first one at the gate when I needed to just spend time in the barn. We had her humanely euthanized, and she is buried on the edge of our property near the pasture. I miss her like crazy. Darn...cattle sure are like pets to some of us.