Cattle Tales

Volume 1, Issue 2 October 2008

Recent Calf Crop Calves sold Two weeks ago, we penned all of the cattle. Calves from the Jess Cox Place (Florida Cattle), Adair Place (Bruce and Eric’s Combined) and the Home Place (Kevin’s) were delivered to Stuart’s for the purpose of shipping to a feedlot and storing for sale in 2009. Eighty-Five calves were delivered with three retained at the Adair place and one retained each at the Home place and the Jess Cox place. Of the Eighty-Five delivered, Seventy-One shipped and Fourteen were held out of the shipment. Due to the predicted feed prices, the shipped calves were subsequently sold. As per previous discussions with Wharton Family members, the calves from the Home Place would be combined with the calves from the Adair place and the proceeds would be divided in thirds between Kevin, Bruce and Eric. The Florida cattle would be divided evenly between, Kevin, Bruce, Stuart, Meldene and Eric. A decision is yet to be made regarding the calves currently at Stuart’s place.		Late December cattle purchase Florida cattle come to Texas When the Wharton Family met in Big Sandy, Texas at the Holly Lake Resort, a decision was made to purchase more cows to expand the existing herd. Money from Wharton Unified LP was used to purchase these pairs. Therefore, the ownership of the cattle and proceeds would be divided between the family members equally. Forty-One cow and calf pairs were purchased, with an additional cow. This herd was delivered and housed at the Jess Cox Place.
	Summer of no rain Florida cattle eating dirt As the summer progressed as most, the cattle at the Jess Cox Place have eaten most of the grasses available. Currently, we plan to move the cows from the Jess Cox place to the Forty Acres across the lane from the Home Place for two weeks. There should be adequate grass there for this short period. It should help that land develop more into a grass producing place to be grazed by cattle later. This also should give the Jess Cox place a chance to regenerate grass from usual fall rains. Kevin’s cows are fairing much better, with what seems like ample grass for the size of herd. It is planned to let the cows at the Adair place graze the Smith place for a short time this fall, since we will not be grazing calves there this winter.

Inside This Issue
1	Calves and sales
1	Purchase of Florida Cattle
1	Drought Issues
2	Last years crop and status
2	Hay crop
2	Poisoning Weeds

2007 Calf Crop

Current status

Twenty-three calves produced by the Bruce and Eric’s herd were combined with Eleven calves produced by Kevin’s herd. These calves were housed and fed at the Walton Place/Smith Place from November 2007 until May 2008. Of the Thirty-Four combined calves, nine heifers were separated to have the opportunity to be bred to sell as bred heifers later. Eight of these calves are currently at the Walton Place and available for sale.

One of the Thirty-Four had a respiratory infection and was sold at the Buffalo auction. That check was deposited into the Wharton Yield account. One of the heifers was found dead by the gravel/gas road on the Adair Place. Based on the evidence surrounding the corpse, it was determined that a gas/water truck must have hit the calf. Another steer attempted to cross the cattle guard separating the Adair Place from the Smith Place. The crossing was successful, but the steer broke his leg in the process. That steer has been taken to a meat processing plant and will yield meat to be distributed to anyone that wants. St. Mary’s gas company has remitted a check to reimburse us for both of these calves. That check has also been deposited in the Wharton Yield checking account.

One of the heifers had a physical defect. We (Michelle, Rachel and I) have named her “Humpback”. She is currently at the Walton Place. A decision has not been made regarding her future. It is prospected that she could be a productive cow, but the potential for her to produce similar defects in her offspring is high. The sell price of a calf like this would be very low for these reasons.

On the horizon

Coming soon

I have asked Terry to look for a few more cows to expand the herd at the Adair place and the Home place. Currently, we have Thiry-one cows at the Adair place, and I felt the we could increase the herd to Forty. This purchase would need to be a combined Bruce and Eric purchase to maintain current herd owners. Kevin has Twenty-Five, and I felt that herd could be increased to Thirty. He has recommended that Kevin replace some of his older cows with some younger ones. Combining Forty, Thirty and the Forty-one Florida cows, the total herd would be One Hundred Eleven Cows. This should allow us to produce a full load calf crop each year as recommended by Stuart.

Hay, what’s for dinner?

Limited rain affects hay crop

We have bailed hay at the Jess Cox place and the Walton place. Initially, we bailed early at the Walton place to clean up the hay meadow and hopefully improve the quality of the subsequent cuttings. There were Twenty bails produced in this initial cutting. Ronnie Ferguson was hired to move this hay at a price of $5.00 a bale. When we bailed the meadow there the second time, we cut and bailed the entire place for the same reasons. The grass outside of the meadow produced Thirty-One bales and was moved by Eric. The meadow produced Thirteen more bales. That hay is still in the field and will be moved and stacked as soon as possible. It was originally reserved for Stuart, but with recent rains, we should have more hay at the Jess Cox place and another cutting at the Walton Place.

The hay meadow at the Grimes place may not produce this year. We had fence problems throughout the year and the cattle seemed to have easy access to the hay meadow. More than six holes in the fence were fixed, and it did not deter the cows. We have built a new fence along the terrace to increase grazing down the hill and to restrict the herd from the meadow. Unfortunately, an unknown guest left the gate open separating the cattle from the meadow, and the cattle were found grazing the fresh growth.

The bulk of the calves were sold in May and shipped in June. The money was distributed equally between Kevin, Bruce and Eric.