I am often struck by the whole “herd” concept, when it comes to my cattle. They have been busy calving and we have 7 out of 10 calves on the ground so far. I have been noticing more and more how they will take turns watching the little ones as they go out to graze in the afternoon.
I have been giving the cattle afternoon grazing pieces, to get their rumen use to the grass in their belly and also, because up until a day or so, there hasn’t been enough grass to have them soley on pasture. I like the afternoon graze because that is when the energy is best in the grass.
It seems the Mommas and even some of the steers will take kid duty and hang out with the calves as the rest go off to get their fill. It was humorous yesterday because Lucy was doing calve duty and the rest came in to get a drink. Pretty soon I see Lucy coming in toward the barn with calves in tow mooing away kinda like, “Hey, I’m out here. How about a break,”? Soon enough, Oreo takes the walk and goes out to meet her and the calves while she comes in for a drink. Pretty sophisticated system, for a bunch of Bovines.
Soon, I will get the whole herd together as the yearlings have been separated from their Mommas for almost four weeks now. It’s called “cross line weaning”. They can see and speak to the Mommas, just can’t get to them for the milk. Once they are together, I will stop Silvo Pasturing and start them onto the main pastures.
~Farmer Steve