A New Cycle

I was going to write about the grazing experiment we did on the “Scot” place. I was going to tell about grazing windrows laid down in September, and how we didn’t expect them to be edible after fall rains and winter snow and frigid temps. The feed was gray to black in color and none to appetizing. Still, it smelled good, and when we turned the cattle in they started eating and kept full and content. Mark rationed the field out in sections with electric fence every few days. We ran a nutrient test on the windrows and it tested well. But anyway, that was what the blog was going to be about. But then yesterday we found a new baby born overnight. I knew then that he had to be the star of my blog.

I've been dreading the start of calving. So much work ahead and the end of our off-season activities. But . . . how can you not be excited to see a new baby? He is so cute, so fresh, and the heifer (a first-time mother) is taking such good care of him that you have to be impressed. Might as well celebrate the start of a new production year.

Today I got photos of the happy couple. Mark said the calf was “no bigger than a minute.” And I can just hear Gary repeating what he commonly says about newborn animals, "he has the whole world to grow up in.” And so he does.

The grazing experiment:

a sample to test