MoosNews
Volume
15, No. 7 – July 2012
Join your fellow cattlemen for a
summertime Farm Tour on Thursday, July 12 at 7 p.m. Dinner will be served at
the Little Grassy Creek Farm on Sam Young Road, between Oxford and Stovall.
Bring $5 for dinner and a lawn chair for relaxing. Need directions? Call Sandy
or Laura Gabel – 919.693.8099.
News, Views, and Mostly
Other Matters
By Paul Westfall, Extension Livestock Agent
After a really nice
stretch of weather during June, it looks like July is going to start off by
really turning up the heat. We are
getting what a lot of the rest of the country has already endured, but
hopefully the triple-digit heat won’t last too long. All we can do about the weather is enjoy it.
We can, however,
utilize our management skills to make the heat less oppressive on us and on our
cattle. I’m saying that with the
idea that if we reduce heat stress on our cows, we will also reduce some of the
stress that we face as a result of how we work with cattle. For example, working cows in
hundred-plus temperatures is generally a bad idea. It can lead to heat-stressed
cows and even dead cows since cattle don’t have an efficient way to dispel heat
like we do. My logic is that if
cows get heat-stress and something bad happens as a result, the owner’s stress
level goes up exponentially, too.
Bottom line is that we, as cattle farmers, should use an uncommon amount
of common sense to make life easier for our cattle, and thus for us.
Another thing to
remember about hot temperatures and cattle is that they need a lot of
water. Make sure that there is
plenty of cool, clean water for the cattle to drink each day. A beef cow nursing a calf will
drink about 17 gallons of water a day when the temperature goes above 90
degrees. How many cows do you have
on your farm? Multiply that number
by 17 and you will know how many gallons of water to have available as a
minimum. For 20 cows, that would
be 340 gallons per day. I would
contend that 17 gallons is a low number and that the actual number is higher than
that. Work from the University of
Nebraska shows that a beef cow with a nursing calf will drink about 20 gallons
when the temperature is 95 degrees.
That jumps the amount of water needed for 20 head to 400 gallons per
day. It takes a while to pump that
much water, so be ready.
Some other things for those with spring-calving
herds to do include considering creep feeding. Pasture conditions and marketing
plans will influence this decision, along with the cost of the feed. Pregnancy check the cows and heifers 45
to 60 days after the end of the breeding season. Any heifers found open can be sold now, or if there is room
and feed available, could be considered for finishing as freezer beef. Tattoo or otherwise establish permanent
IDs for the bred heifers. Prepare
a weaning pen for calf weaning and be ready to wean the calves at 7 to 8 months
of age. (Do these jobs early in the morning to reduce heat stress!)
Managers of fall-calving herds have some summer
chores, too. Those include
selecting replacement heifers.
Weigh the heifers to see how much weight they need to gain between now
and December when the heifer breeding season begins. Heifers need to weigh
about two-thirds of their mature weight at breeding. They usually need to gain 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per day after weaning. Watch the body condition of the bred
heifers. Separate them from the cows and provide
supplemental feed if the BCS score gets below 5. De-worm the calves at weaning, and cull
any open and poor-producing cows after weaning is complete. Identify the thin cows and separate
them from cows in adequate body condition. Supplement those thin cows at a rate where they will reach
moderate body condition by the time they are ready to calve again.
Hope your summer goes well and that the cows have
plenty of cool water and green grass through the summer.
**********
From the President’s
pen:
Greetings!
Well, we made another Earth Roast,
and even with bad weather, it was a great one. Sales were down some, but
the beef was cooked perfectly and after-event roast sales have been
great. We have sold all the whole roasts, as of a few days ago, and
only have a few of the 1-pound sliced packs left. If you want one, please let
us know -- they are going fast!
Thanks go out to everyone who
helped and supported us. It was a team effort.
I'm looking forward to seeing
everyone out at Sandy Gabel’s farm at Gela for our monthly meeting on Thursday.
Come and bring a friend to Little Grassy Creek Farm on Sam Young Road. Sandy
and Laura have such a nice place.
- Kay
**********
June Meeting
Minutes
Granville County Cattlemen’s Association
Minutes: June 14, 2012
Thirty-one members and guests attended the monthly meeting of the
Granville County Cattlemen’s Association in the Cooperative Extension Board
Room on Thursday, June
14, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. A beef
meal preceded the business meeting.
During the business meeting minutes of the May meeting were approved as
printed in MoosNews and the Treasurer’s report was accepted.
Members approved the recommendation of the Board to forward $425
to the N.C. State Scholarship fund to in order to fund the $1000 annual
scholarship provided by GCCA.
A note of thanks from young participants in the Got To Be N.C.
Festival was shared with those present.
It was noted that a representative of the state organization will
be at the Earth Roast providing information and promoting membership in the
local and state Association.
Sothern Pallet is contributing wood for this year’s event. Each take-out
will include a note of thanks for support and provide information about GCCA. Members were reminded of the Pond Workshop on
June 26 at Vance
Granville Community College.
The July meeting of GCCA will be held on July 12 at Little
Grassy Creek Farm on Sam Young Road.
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jean Y. Gill, Secretary
**********
Scenes from Earth Roast
2012: From start to finish, it was another wonderful event!
 |
| Roasts are wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in the trench on a layer of gravel covering hot coals, then the trench is covered. 2,600 pounds of beef was roasted in the earth! |
 |
| People enjoying the Earth Roast. Delicious!!! |
**********
Granville
County Cattlemen’s Association
P.O. Box 746
Oxford,
NC 27565
Officers:
President, Kay Stark
Past President, Joy Morgan
Marshall
Vice President, Larry Medlin
Treasurer,
Sandy Gabel
Secretary,
Jean Gill
Newsletter,
Laura Santos
Directors:
2012:
Jimmy Morgan, David Owen
2013:
Sherby Slaughter, Steve Walker
2014:
Linda Currin, Wendy Lane
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