How long Ian it necessary for you to raise the calf that’s hasnt been recognized by its mother before the calf is able to subside on its own? Have you ever had a calf that imprinted on you? I’ve seen stories of animals mistaking a humans as its mother and then following around the human for life.
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I would honestly have to ask my parents because it's been a while since they've had to raise one. I can't remember how long we normally have to bottle feed it before we can turn it loose with the general population cows and it can eat solid food like grass and hay.
I wouldn't say that we've had any to imprint on us, but the female ones that we've raised and kept for a long time will act more friendly toward us and be the first to arrive when we "call" them. If any imprinting has occurred, it usually subsides by the time we release the calf back out with the rest of the cows. After a few weeks of following the herd's routines, we've been forgotten haha.
Thanks for your comment. I'll get back to you on an exact amount of time!
That’s cool. It’s always interesting how different animals respond to and have different relations with humans. Sounds like your fathers side has a long tradition in the farming industry, did you have any interest in continuing the tradition or did you want to get away from farming as fast as possible?
What's most interesting about my father's family is that my dad and uncle have always farmed on the side. Both of them have full-time trade jobs. My dad is an electrician, and my uncle is a welder who makes precision machine parts. With beef cattle, thankfully, there's not much maintenance once you get the fences up and grow the herd.
Installing and repairing fences was probably my least favorite farm-related activity when I was growing up. It took me years to learn how to nail in a "steeple," which is a U-shaped piece of metal with two sharp ends that can be driven around a piece of wire into a post. It's quite a challenge. I think I mastered it by high school, but my parents never really forced the life onto me. They encouraged me to go to engineering school, and now I'm in graduate school, so I'll probably not go back into full-time farming.
While farming isn't my favorite thing to do, I wasn't thinking "get me out of here" at any point in time. I learned a ton of useful skills during my time growing up, which brought a healthy appreciation for farmers and their hard work. Of course, beef cattle are much easier to manage than bumper crops, which is never something I've done. My family tried to plant corn one year and never did it again.
It's getting harder and harder for farmers, especially in America because of increasing competition across the globe and rising costs of implements and equipment. I know this is the case for chicken farmers, especially.
The beef cattle have been a great source of income for my family over the years, especially in recent years, as beef prices have continued to rise. The other main farm-related thing my family still does consistently is bale hay. They sell it and keep enough to feed our cows in the winter when the grass isn't plentiful.
I know that was probably way more of an explanation than you asked for and belongs in a blog post by itself, but I hope that helps give you some insight into my life growing up!
That’s a great explanation. I was interested because when I was younger we lived in the country side, we weren’t farmers by any means but we did grow our own vegetables and several fruits. Just maintaining a decent size vegetable garden was challenging enough, so I can imagine tending to animals comes with a lot of challenges. Farming is one of those under appreciated professions and with big multinationals sweeping in and taking away profits from regular farmers, I think the government needs to step in and restrict these massive companies from complete exploitation. It’s good to see your family raising beef cattle has been profitable, sounds like you have a hard working family
They are very hard-working! It's been more difficult lately as my grandpa has aged and can't do as much to help out, but they still make it work.
I know about the garden work, too. We always had a small family garden, but some years, we would plant way too much corn or too many green beans and then we would be shucking and snapping and shelling all summer long. I have fond memories of watching Star Wars over and over with my cousins while we strung vegetables to help out my mom.
I'm not sure what is going to become of large-scale farming in America. It's always fascinating to go see large farms. I've seen them from the air when flying to Minnesota and South Dakota before, and the large irrigation systems are always impressive. Hopefully crop prices will rebound and the farmers will be able to continue working hard.