Why does my farm have happy cows? Because we work hard to insure the health, nutrition, productivity and well-being of our herd.
- Herd: the word used to describe a group of cattle. You can have a small herd like ours (30-50 head) or a large herd (100+ head).
- Head: the word used to describe one animal in the herd.
153 is a heifer in the dry lot at our farm. |
- Heifer: a heifer is a female bovine that has not given birth to a calf.
- Calf: the name used to describe a juvenile bovine of either sex. Think of how we use the word child.
- Cow: a female bovine that has given birth to a calf.
- Bull: an intact male bovine that is used to breed the cows and heifers.
- We have two bulls in our herd and farmers commonly have at least one bull per 30 females.
A heifer walking through the corn stalks we let them graze. |
- Dry lot: we bring our cattle into a set of pens where they have access to feed, water and minerals. It is handy to have cattle come into the pens because it makes it easier to check them each day. Cattle maintain a similar schedule daily according to the juxtaposition of the sun. Our cattle come into the pens at the farm every afternoon and return to graze towards evening. If my brother notices that one didn't come in, he knows something could be wrong and can closely inspect.
- Corn stalks: we let our cattle graze the ground that was used to grow corn from April to September and has been harvested. The stalks are left in the field to prevent erosion and provide a great feed source for our herd. One acre of corn stalks can feed two 1,000-pound cows for one month.
Enjoy,
Tera
Photo credit: These pictures were snapped by the newest farm wife in our family - my sister-in-law. I'm sure glad God made farmers, but it takes a special woman to be a farmer's wife! Shout out to all the farmer's wives out there!
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