A Close to 2011 Calf Crop

Here I sit in my office waiting patiently for the auctioneer to announce that our cattle are next to come into the sale ring.  Thanks to the Internet I can sit in my office and not have to take a day off to watch our cattle sell.  I can even buy cattle on the Internet at the sale barns that I am a registered bidder.  Pretty darn cool!! Now it is not quite the same as being at the auction in person but for those of us who also work off the farm we can still participate in the sales and watch our cattle sell.  We hauled the replacement heifers (not the ones we keep for ourselves) and the few steers that were not big enough to go to the feedlot in December to the sale barn yesterday afternoon.  Let me tell you it was a strange feeling last night when I was out feeding the bottle calf and checking the bred heifers to not have the calves following me up and down the fence.  We raise our cattle to provide beef for consumers and we can't provide the consumers the hamburger or rib eye steak if we don't sell the calves we raise.  Even though it is hard to let them go there will soon be another generation of calves on the ground soon that will need our care and attention for the next 12 months.  Not to mention the bank will like to get their payments for the year.  Now it is time to clean the pens and move the replacement heifers that we are going to breed this spring moved into a pen.  It is time to start getting them prepared to make their journey into the production team.  Any day now calving season will be in full force and before we know it fall will be here again and the pens will be full of calves again!!