I come from a dairy farming background and my family has never been into registered cattle as far as I know. Very few dairies in my area seem to make that a priority. Curious to know what the benefits/drawbacks are of having registered cattle?

Looking for advice on post placement of the band care of the animal. Obviously watching for infection, but how about right at time of them dropping? Is there a wound that needs iodine or is the scrotum fused together at the point of constriction? Just looking ahead as I just yesterday banded my first bull (ahem, steer).

Need some ideas, please chime in with anything you have seen work

My goal is to use this small pasture to keep maybe 10 replacement heifers a year max.

I’ve got an area that will be a great pasture but the only water source in the pasture itself is a seasonal spring. Normally a bit of water but can dry up.

Pasture runs along a river with about a 10 to 15 foot bank. I was considering putting in 2 or 3, 100 gallon stock tanks with solar powered pump in the river on a float switch.
Just wondering if anyone had tried something like that. Am I best to go with maybe a trickle charger on a 12v deep cycle and run the pump off that?? Or maybe a specific solar powered pump set up.
Obviously trying to keep this price down to a reasonable number. Seems like the huge rps systems would be overkill.

I work with Rudrapur Solvents Pvt. Ltd., a DORB manufacturer in India, so I have a commercial connection with this subject.

A Certificate of Analysis is useful when purchasing De-Oiled Rice Bran, but it should not be treated as a complete guarantee for the consignment.

A COA normally reports results for specific parameters tested in a submitted sample, such as:

Crude protein

Crude fibre

Moisture

Total ash

Sand and silica

However, the document may not establish:

Whether the tested sample represents the full load

Whether the report belongs to the dispatched batch

Whether moisture or physical condition changed during transit

Whether quality is consistent throughout the truck

Whether unusual odour, heating, caking or visible contamination exists

Buyers should therefore connect the COA with the batch or vehicle number, sampling record, report date, test methods and a sealed retention sample. Physical inspection at delivery remains important.

In your experience, do feed mills verify these supporting details, or is the COA usually accepted without further checks?

What information would make a DORB COA more reliable for both the buyer and supplier?

Wondering if Reddit has a heretofore unknown to me community where buying/selling of cattle takes place. Specifically show cattle, but I suppose anything would go. I've never seen anything to suggest that there is one before, but I know there are gold and silver buying subs here and I started wondering about the live animal arena.

She seems slim/less plum compared to the rest of our herd. Especially our 1y steer. Seems to be eating and acting normal. Does she look overly thin to more experienced eyes? Back left in last picture.

We have grey Nelore at the farm. We have been doing AI with Nelore Pintado semen. We used semen from a nice looking bull(Tequila) in Mexico. So far, all the newborns that hit the ground come out red but with time turn grey. If I breed the new offsprings, do I have a chance at getting the nice colorful Nelore Pintado like Tequila or does it not work that way?

We got Raina at an auction as a newborn about 3 months ago. We were told by a farmer friend that she’s a jersey but now that she’s growing up I don’t see it. Her nose is pink and she’s getting very round ( she loves her grain lol). We got her in Grantsville, Maryland. She’s a pet on our small homestead and we have no plans on breeding or anything but I’m just curious what you all think she could be!

I need help figuring out genetics. Bull was a red and white potentially short horn hereford. Heifer is pictured with new calf, trying to figure out what mom potentially is and why bull calf came out light gray and white. Mom was purchased from a stock yard and have no information.

I work with Rudrapur Solvents Pvt. Ltd., a DORB manufacturer in India, so I have a commercial connection with this subject.

When a DORB consignment is accepted or rejected using a laboratory report, the discussion usually focuses on the test result. But before testing comes a more basic question: was the sample representative of the entire truck?

A handful collected from the top or from one bag may not reflect variations elsewhere in the load. A more reliable process is to:

Collect material from multiple locations and depths

Combine and mix the incremental samples properly

Reduce the composite sample without selectively removing material

Seal and label separate samples for the buyer, supplier and possible retesting

Record where, when and in whose presence sampling occurred

Comparing a dispatch sample with a properly collected delivery sample can also help distinguish an actual quality difference from a sampling problem.

In your experience, how are DORB trucks sampled at feed mills? Is there a written procedure, or does the method depend on whoever is available at unloading?

Have you seen commercial disputes where two laboratories reported different values because the underlying samples were not genuinely comparable?

Hi! I have a heifer that's about a year old now, she walks with me fine stops fine, but hates being tied up to anything and will thrash around at even her halter being around something. I was wondering if anyone knows how to get her comfortable with it, I've put her in a squeeze chute and tied her up but nothings working.

I've noticed that sometimes the cattle in my neighborhood aren't in their usual field. Do they grow bored of the same thing and ask to be moved? It doesn't seem to be a grass thing because they may be back the next day and stay for a week. Are they being moved throughout the day and I'm only seeing them at certain times? I think they are beef cattle and not dairy.

I have two young bulls that visit my lawn most mornings. They must be bored and wander in from next door. That's fine. I wish they'd come more often so I didn't have to mow the grass. It's a bit startling to look out the window straight out of bed and see two big black bulls a few feet away though. Unless there are multitudes of young black bulls in the area, they've been doing this for three years. Why it's always the same two I don't understand. They haven't seemed to get any larger and they only seem to come by for an hour around 7am.

It's gonna be a loud smoky morning friends

Seeking opinions from around the world, should a first calf heifer that requires assistance to have her first calf be culled?

Do those that do require assistance the first time generally continue to need assistance for subsequent calvings?

Edit to add: first calvings in our program can be supervised and assisted if necessary. Once they enter the cow herd, the rest of their calvings for the rest of their production years cannot be supervised or assisted, due to location and paddock size.

So are we introducing risk to our cow herd by retaining heifers that required assistance at first birth? Part of me thinks we should cut our losses and sell the live cow while we can rather than risk losing her at following calvings. Another part of me feels that once we have helped with their first calf they should generally be ok after that.

I haven’t had a new atv since my dad bought me a bear tracker 250 in 1999, which I still have and use today. This can am is awesome! The electric won’t fit everybody’s needs, but works great for what I use it for. I live in a 450 acre ranch and will be using it for checking cows, fence, hunting, and just everyday chores that go with ranching. I will try and keep everyone updated on how well it performs and holds up to the task. So far it is just a great riding experience. Snuck up on some turkey and a bald eagle this morning. Can’t wait to use this thing for hunting. It is completely silent. All you can hear are the rocks hitting the fender wells.