Hay and Pasture: what is inside everyday feeding hay and pasture

Some times the question will be thought of what is in the hay and the pasture that my cattle are feeding on. These are some of the grasses in the hay we get: meadow foxtail, perennial rye grass, annual sow thistle, shepherd's purse, Lambsquarters. Alopecurus Pretenses, known as the meadow foxtail , is a perennial grass belonging to the grass family. It is native to Europe and Asia. This common plant is found on grasslands, especially on neutral fsoils. Lolium Perenne, common name perennial ryegrass, is a grass from the family poaceae. it is native to europe, Asia and northern Africa, but is widely cultivated and naturalized around the world. Sonchus oleraceus is native to Asia, Austrailia, and Europe. The latin name Sonchus refers to the hollow stream, while oleraceus refers to its good taste. Capsella bursa-pastoris, known by its common name shepherd's-purse because of its triangular, purse-like pods, it is a small annual and ruderal species, and a member of the mustard family. Chenopodium album is a fast growing weedy annual plant in the genus Chenopodium. Though cultivated in some regions, the plant it else where considered a weed.f

Castration on Bull Calves

When you get a male calf there are a few decisions you need to make, but there is one you need to make quickly. That is if, when, and how you want to castrate your calf. The methods of castration are Burdizzo, rubber banding, and surgically removing.  The rubber band method is simply putting a tight rubber band around the base of the scrotum. It will cut the blood supply off and the testicles will eventually shrivel up and fall off. This method is used when the calf is very young and is virtually painless and is the best method of castration. If you wait to long to do the rubber band method you have to decide on either the Burdizzo method or the surgical method. If a calf is more than a couple months old it is to late to do the rubber band method.

The Burdizzo method is a non surgical method. A Burdizzo is a castration device which employs a large clamp designed to break the blood vessels leading into the testicles. Once the blood supply to the testicles is lost, the testicles shrink, soften, and eventually deteriorate completely. There can be complications from the Burdizzo if you do not do it correctly. Most people use the surgical method when castrating because it is the most common to people. The surgical method is simply cutting the testicles off surgically.

Calf Growth

The Bovine species grows at an unbelievable rate. There is a difference in size and weight between the bovine species. There is the beef breeds and the dairy breeds, the beef breeds are usually short and meaty while the dairy breeds are tall and lean. The common beef breed is usually angus or hereford cattle. The common dairy breed is either jersey or holstein, holstein cattle are tall and huge cattle while jersey cattle are small. Anyway calves usually will grow to be around eight hundred to one thousand pounds in a year. As they get older there consumption rate will skyrocket.