abundant grass

The ranch has had 13.5 inches of moisture in 2011, about 5 inches more than average for this time of year, June 28.  Consequently we have tremendous grass growth, lots of extra cow feed.  This is a seeded grass field, the native grasses are not this tall but doing very well also.  The native grasses i.e. Blue Grama and Buffalo Grass is shorter but more nutritious for the cow.  Since total ranch income is based on cow numbers and cow feed comprises 60 to 70% of the cost of ranching it would be nice to have another 100 cow or so.  But then weather would probably change and that would be too many for the ranch to sustain.   

last calf vaccinated

The 3 man ranch crew finished the spring calf processing today.  We did this in 5 pasture groups over the last month avoiding the hassle of organizing a 12 to 15 person crew to do it in 1 day.  The calf table allowed us to process 1 calf per minute without injury to calf or cowboy.  The calves received vaccines that protects them from 12 different diseases, they were identified with the "frying pan" ranch brand and steers were created.  All the calves need to do the rest of the summer is eat, sleep and play calf games.

All of this years calves have been born now and the work load should have been reduced;  not so; the unusually wet weather has added stress to the new born calves and they are experiencing an outbreak of scours (diarrhea).  Within a few hours a previously healthy calf can become too weak to stand due to the toxins from the bacteria that infect  them.  Oral electrolytes, antibiotics and an antiinflamatory has saved any that we find in time.  Sunshine has returned  the past couple of days so hopefully this problem will disappear.