TMRHerefords

Weaned Calves To Be Offered Soon!

These registered polled Hereford calves are almost ready to be offered. They’re done with their weaning & they’ve received both their immunizations as well as their boosters. But we’d like to give them a few more days to settle in.

Photo taken 06-15-19

There are 1 heifer & 3 bulls in this group:

Heifer #318-5 – DOB 11-07-18

Bull # 299-5 – DOB 11-20-18

Bull # 335-5 – DOB 12-01-18

Bull # 185-7 – DOB 01-19-19

They’ll be ready to offer soon. And oh my, you’ve never seen a more calm group of calves!!

Night-Time Nusiance

Rat snake at the chicken coop #TaylorMadeRanchIf you’ve got chickens, sooner or later you’ll have to deal with a rat snake. We only have hens, we don’t have any hatchlings. So I’m not worried he would hurt the hens, he’s just looking for a quick egg meal.

 

What he doesn’t know is that I collect eggs almost as soon as they’re laid, they never stay in the nesting boxes for long. So his eggy meal is denied.

Oh, and that lump you see in his belly? Yep, he ate the golf ball that I keep in the nesting box. LOL.

Carrying Away Rat snake from chicken coop. #TaylorMadeRanch

 

 

But rat snakes have a valuable place in our ecosystem. They do a fine job of keeping mice in check. A good thing if you’ve plopped your home in the middle of what used to be an open cow pasture!

Of course venomous snakes we’ll dispatch. But all others are simply relocated.

We have these 47″ snake grabbers that safely captured this snake off the chicken coop. We walk across the street and toss him far over the fence.

He could certainly  make his way back of course, but it’s our hope he carries on with catching and eating mice!

Memorial Day Not A Day Off Work For TMR!

On this Memorial Day, we pause to offer our heart-felt gratitude for those brave men & women who sacrificed all to keep us free! If you’re enjoying a day off, remember to say a silent prayer for our armed forces.

Here at the ranch we’re spending the day doing some cattle maintenance. First we pregnancy checked some cattle and will send the samples off to the lab first thing in the morning.

Working cattle in the squeeze chute at Taylor-Made Ranch

Then we moved some heifers that are ready for the bull into the pasture with him. And we palpated a cow to follow-up on her pregnancy. Exciting things to come at Taylor-Made Ranch!

Enjoy your day

 

Bowling For Heifers!

If this were bowling, would it be considered a heifer strike? LOL

We’ve got some gorgeous registered Polled Hereford heifers currently offered for sale – be sure to check it out. And we’re also in the process of weaning more heifers and bulls too for sale in the coming weeks. If you’d like, drop us your email address or FB message & we’ll let you know when they’re ready!

www.TaylorMadeRanch.com

TMR Welcomes A New Heifer

We like to be present for each and every calf’s very first breath of life & this beautiful girl was no exception! Her dam calved this 78-lb heifer in 15 minutes hoofs-to-tail – good job, mama!

Join me in welcoming the newest addition to the ranch! Welcome, little one…

Using Technology To Your Benefit On The Ranch

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Why not use modern technology to aid you & help efficiency in monitoring your herd? We use a drone that's proven invaluable in certain circumstances! #TaylorMadeRanch

Most ranchers know there’s no substitute for laying eyes on your herd animals on a regular basis. We typically check our herd daily. These visual inspections tell us much. Things such as how a cow’s body score is holding up, whether a bred cow is nearing calving time, and if one animal has her head lower to possibly  indicate illness. Quick action is important in reducing the negative effects of problems in the herd. And in our opinion that needs to be boots on the ground, physically looking them over.

But sometimes you have need to keep an even closer eye on some in the herd. Maybe you have a cow that you’re pretty sure will be calving within a couple of days. You want to know as soon as she starts pulling away from the herd, possibly indicating labor.

Waiting For Spring…

Ugh, the mud we’re dealing with! We’re trying to keep our herd out of the mud as much as possible, but coming off the heels of yet another drought followed by record rainfall, it’s a tough endeavor. And unfortunately Mother Nature’s holding the cards,  all we can do is try to level the playing field.

So we’re moving the cattle often. We’re bringing the herd into a ‘sacrifice pasture’ where we’ve loaded hay into hay rings. Although the cattle congregate around those hay rings and make a muddy mess, we’re sacrificing the health of the grass in this one paddock to try to salvage the other pastures and keep them productive.

Mud around hayrings in a sacrifice pasture. We're anxious for spring! #TaylorMadeRanch

After a few days we’ll move the herd to a nearby hayfield to graze a bit. They can only stay there a short time because although the grass is finally trying to sprout, there’s not much up yet. But it gives them a chance to get out of the mud for a while. It also helps the ground around the hay rings to (hopefully) dry up a bit.

The cows very much enjoy their short grazing time before we once again bring them into the sacrifice pasture for hay for a few days.

I think I join all cattlemen across the nation when I say:

“Come One SPRING!”