January 15, 2025

From the Barns: Good things to come

December was not very kind to us as we closed out the year. The last two to three weeks we started receiving those winter rains a few days apart and you know that quickly leads to muddy conditions. So, the feedlot gets really muddy and even the pastures aren’t dry enough to travel across. Temps stayed warm, so we’re not getting any ground freezing.

January is starting out even uglier. Today we were hit early with an ice storm, followed by heavy rain — just an absolutely miserable day. Anywhere we had to get off the road to feed was a struggle. Temperatures are dropping this evening and snow is coming in behind today’s storm. It’s not going to warm up all week, so the ice here to stay. We’re going to lose lots of limbs and trees. Off to a bad start for 2025.

To make matters worse, the feed truck has been down for 10 days. It detected a few faults and forced a shutdown of itself. Of course, that happens at the beginning of a weekend, plus factor in the holiday and that makes it difficult to get anything worked on and fixed. The part needed is in and I’ve got a guy coming in the morning to get it going again. Fingers crossed all goes well. Been feeding with the tractor and wagon, but it is taking close to seven hours a day just to TMR feed, what with all the miles having to travel with the tractor. With all these circumstances, it’s quite a depressing time to be having to care for the livestock.

David has been breeding a lot of cows AI the past month. He should be winding down except for any rebreeding. Since I have been TMR feeding the heifers that were bred a month ago twice a day. It has given me the opportunity to keep an eye on the cleanup bulls. Right on time with the synchronization timetable, last week there were several that came back in heat as to be expected, but I wouldn’t say a large number, so hopefully we settled the majority with the timed AI breeding.

We have to treat several calves for sickness, even though they have been vaccinated for quite some time. With this topsy-turvy weather and the conditions, I would say it is no surprise. Honestly, with days like today, I don’t see how any of them stay healthy. Just another of the challenges we face with our cattle.

We did ship two loads of fats in December. The grid load graded well and was heavier than I thought they would be. Seems like once we get them up in the corral for sorting, they always look bigger than when they are standing out in the pen. We will ship another load of grid cattle next week. I need to take a closer look at some of the others, because I think that we could have another load or two ready to go in the not too distant future. Maybe when I get the feed truck back, I will have a little extra time to address that, plus many more things I need to look at and evaluate.

This has been a more negative column than I usually write, but it has been one of those months where it is hard to overlook that there has been more bad than good. However, not everything has been bad and I just need to keep remembering that there are many, many things to be grateful for. Not every month is going to be this much of a downer, so I’m looking forward to the good things to come.

Jeff Beasley

Jeff Beasley

Creal Springs, Ill.