Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch

[The Porch]

ALSO: When I think of my stress, and the out of control wild bunch, I have been telling myself - buck up buttercup, stop fussing, the 2 Great-grandpas that have passed and the 2 living Great-grandmas away would love to have this problem [ 5 hard core 200% & boys 2 girls]

 

[CrealCritter]

Not sure what going on here... But all morning long daisy and nugget have been head to head. It's a shoving match of epic proportion. Sometimes daisy wins, other times nugget wins. Whatever this means, it won't last very long. Nugget will quickly outgrow all the girls, he's a beef steer after all . But of course "pasture boss" Oreo has to referee, too make sure it's all fair with no cheating. Children
View attachment 21107

Jesus is Lord and Christ

After reading the belted galloway breeders handbook. I now know, daisy went into her first heat. This graphic is from the A.I. section of the handbook. Note the time from for success is hours not days.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[FarmerJamie]

Homemade sweet potato pancakes made and consumed this morning. Easy peasy and the wife gave two thumbs up

Drizzled with local honey.

 

[CrealCritter]

Drizzled with local honey.

View attachment 21139

Man...


You got a recipe? Please.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[FarmerJamie]

Man...


You got a recipe? Please.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

Roasted the sweet potatoes for an hour at 425 degrees. Just cleaned them, poked about 6 times, and placed on a cookie sheet.

 

[The Porch]

Drizzled with local honey.

View attachment 21139

Yummmmmness! good job!

 

[FarmerJamie]

Cut up a ripe pineapple for the wife. Haven't had that in a while (was on sale big time, perfectly ripe)

 

[FarmerJamie]

Roasted the sweet potatoes for an hour at 425 degrees. Just cleaned them, poked about 6 times, and placed on a cookie sheet.
View attachment 21140
View attachment 21141

Oh, and I used almost 2 cups of sweet potato.

 

[farmerjan]

@CrealCritter ... the rule of thumb is a.m./p.m. for natural heats... See them in heat in the morning, breed in the evening... see in evening, breed in morning. The egg has to "mature" after it is released and the sperm have to go through what is called sperm capacitation... so it has to be in the female for a certain amount of time before it is capable of penetrating the egg membrane... MOST (not all) cattle will follow the time schedule that was displayed... Breed too early and the sperm are there before the egg is released... and they die off. Breed too late, the sperm have not gone through the capacitation and are unable to penetrate the egg as it passes through the fallopian tube to the uterus. Most all eggs are fertilized in the fallopian tube and pass down to the uterus where they will attach to the lining in 3-10 days....
Some breeds are harder to catch in heats... some you will see more pre heat and some more post heat... the head butting you were seeing is signs of a heat... either pre or post....
If you see a bloody discharge on the tail or back side of the butt... they have HAD a heat and have gone past... go 3 weeks ahead on the calendar and count back 3-4 days at least to get an idea of the actual standing heat.
My suggestion is to get with the person going to do the breeding, and get a K-mar or other "heat detector strip"... it goes on the tail head, just a little ahead of the tail head... and it will change colors with the friction of another cow riding the one in heat... Your "breeder person" should be well versed in them. It will help an inexperienced person to at least get a better idea of when they are being ridden ....added to other signs.. like the fence walking, bawling and such... Personality changes are common in animals coming into estrus.
There is an optimal 12 hour window and a decent 18 hour window to breed... I will breed 2 x ... both a few hours after I see them,,,, and again in 8-12 hours if they are still showing heat signs. Costs more for 2 breedings, but more likely to get them settled.... especially if they have had a breeding or 2 and have come back into heat. Some breeds tend to release eggs easily... Guernseys seem to release eggs late and sometimes are very hard to get settled... I always bred mine very very late in the heat and then gave a shot of GNRH to facilitate an egg release. That is my experience....
My beef cows were pretty easy to get settled AI....

 

[tortoise]

I skipped coffee and had ragu sauce with spaghetti squash for breakfast. Yum! I'm watching Splash destroy a homemade dog toy. : DS7 is on the bus, so it's time to get moving.