From the Barns: Muddy in a hurry

Who would have thought that hurricanes would impact Illinois weather so much, but that is what has happened. Not just one, but two of those storms made their way to southern Illinois with ample amounts of rain. Add to that another general rain, and over a two-week period, we ended up with 8 inches of precipitation.

It was definitely needed, but could have used a lesser amount. Made things muddy in a hurry, especially in the feedlot. We have had good drying weather the past week and we are sitting in good shape now. Don’t want to sound like a complainer, because our brethren in the southeast are certainly suffering major effects from what hit them. I can’t imagine what cattle producers in those areas are facing, but my thoughts are certainly with them.

The moisture received certainly benefited our pastures. There was a quick recovery and the forage growth and green-up was much needed. Now we don’t have to worry about supplemental feeding. I also believe we will get some additional grazing off the sudangrass, at least another week or two, unless we get an early frost.

In the meantime, we are planting a Supergrazer mix, cereal rye and ryegrass. We are going to stagger the planting so the forage doesn’t come on all at once. Hopefully, we can get some late fall and early winter grazing from it, but not sure if we are getting it drilled soon enough or not. With these soil conditions, maybe we can get a good stand up quickly.

We did get the other 80-plus calves weaned, vaccinated and started on feed. They are turned out now and we will keep them on a slow growing ration for the time-being. We pregnancy checked their mothers last week. It was David’s first solo effort on using his ultrasound machine. Just to be on the safe side, we pulled blood on any that he called open and have submitted those samples for testing to verify his call. That will help him determine if he is making the right assessment, which will be valuable in his learning process. We should have those results in a few days.

Got another group of spring calving cows down at the Russell farm that we are going to try and get preg checked later this week and that should wrap up that job for this year.

Fall calving is going hot and heavy, having calves born almost every day. I think we are more than 50% complete. Having a few hiccups and disappointments as we always do, but that just goes with the territory.

Got some new feeder cattle in a couple of weeks ago. Got them vaccinated and processed immediately and turned out in a couple of traps. Pleased with how they have started. They were supposedly preconditioned out of a sale down south, but you never know if you can totally rely on that.

We are running behind with getting some of our longer-term feeders implanted and re-vaccinated. I hope we can put a dent in that project this week. At least, that’s the plan. Shipping another load of fat steers out tomorrow. We continue doing that every couple of weeks. The last load came back 100% Choice or higher and 65% Prime.

My old feed truck went down in early August, so I had to find another truck to replace it. I believe I ended up with one bigger and better. Took it to a local shop to have the TMR bed switched to the new rig. That took several weeks, but finally got it back and I am very glad to have it. Speeds up feeding time considerably.

Now, my tub grinder may be down for the count, so I am in the process of finding a replacement for that. Sure seems like it is always something on the farm that is breaking down, but again, that just goes with the territory.