From the Barns: Breeding success

Spring calving season is over, but spring and summer breeding season is well underway. The past two to three weeks have been a frenzy of synchronization and breeding protocols, enough to make your head spin and hard to keep up with.

The heifers had been on a 14-day controlled internal drug release program, and that culminated with timed artificial insemination on May 30 in which we bred 105 heifers in less than three hours. We had two guys doing the breeding and five others each with their specific job as we worked them up to the breeding chutes and then sorted them out of the chutes into four separate groups. We didn’t want to hold them up in the lots overnight or the entire weekend, so we hauled them out that evening to their respective pastures. That was a killer day, to say the least.

We also have been synching cows, all getting the 7-day CIDR with timed AI. Some are already done, and some others to be bred this coming week. We have a couple of groups of cows that will get natural service only. With the heifers, we waited a week post-breeding and just now have turned cleanup bulls in with them.

We also have been synchronizing recipient cows to put embryos in and they have been part of this mix, as well. We had a veterinarian from Clinton County Vet Services down the other day to assess the recips and the ones that he passed he went ahead and placed embryos in, as the timed date for that had arrived.

As we have had the cow-calf groups up for all this and we ran them through the chute, the cows received a deworming and fly tag. Likewise, the calves, we gave them a Nasalgen 3-PMH vaccine along with a clostridial and fly tagged them, as well. Just noticing that horn and face flies are starting to increase in numbers, so hopefully we can minimize the aggravating effect they can have on the cattle.

Newer feeder cattle that we placed the last month or two are doing well, and the fat cattle are doing well, too. We sold a load of steers through USPB at Tama in east-central Iowa three weeks ago, hit the market when it had almost reached its new high and also graded 74% Prime, 100% Choice. We have some more going next week and then it may be late July before another load is ready to go.

I did get 50 acres of the sudangrass mix planted about a month ago. It looks like we have a good stand, and we ended up getting Hamson Ag from up in Hamilton County to come down last week to use their drones to put on nitrogen, as it sure looked as though it needed something to jump-start it.

We are supposed to get some rain in the next day or two and that stuff should really jump out of there. Once it does, I can foresee us ready to start grazing in seven to 10 days. It should make a lot of great forage.

I have another 60 acres that I need to get in the ground, and once this rain passes, I think we will jump in and do it. I will need to assess the weed and grass competition, thinking I may have to spray this go-round.

On June 9, we are hosting a field day for Purina Feeds. I was told there were 75 producers signed up to attend. They will be receiving information related to nutrition on heifer development, cow supplementation on forages and finishing cattle diets.

Hopefully seeing what we are doing here will be a benefit to the producers from the southern third of Illinois. I hope the weather cooperates, but I am afraid it will be hot and humid, but this time of year we have to suspect that is right around the corner.

We have been blessed with good weather this spring. Warm, but not too much humidity and enough rain to make crops and grass grow, but except for some small stretches not too wet by any means. Hopefully the Lord will continue to pour out blessings on us as we deal with the weather and other challenges and problems we face on the farm and strengthen our faith and patience when we need it.