It’s hard to believe that so much time has gone by since the last post where Buck and Roy were first introduced. It wasn’t long before Sven, Elsa, Cookie, Oliver, Kristoff, Bunny, Midnight, Ana, and Flower arrived to complete Crop #4.
It was different with this crop. Because of the ice and snow, we lost two calves born during that time. We suspect that several of the cows had miscarriages, perhaps also caused by the harsh weather. With baling hay, moving the herd between pastures, and so much rain, we did not have the same amount of time interacting with these calves. We watched them grow and play and some were very curious about us and the dogs. But we were unable to develop the strong bonds as we have before. Not long ago, it was time to take the calves to market and start planning for Crop #5.
One thing special about Crop #4 was Genesis, who was the first calf born on our ranch, had her first calf, Kristoff. These are photos of Genesis and Kristoff and Mama 47, Genesis, and Kristoff.
As the saying goes, “Time marches on.” More next time on what’s been going on at the Lazy J Ranch!
There are many strategies among ranchers with cow-calf operations. Our goal is to have all of our cows on the same cycle where they will go into heat, breed, and calve at the same time. This insures having a consistent calf crop which makes it better when you take them to market.Our goal was to buy a black Angus bull in the Spring to breed with our cows. Charlie had even spoken with several ranchers that sell bulls. Sounds practical and efficient, right? But we all know that things don’t always work out as we plan for them to – 
One morning in November when I walked out toward the herd, I noticed a white patch in the middle of the cows. I walked a bit closer, thinking that this was just the sun causing a glare and making my eyes see things. However, as I walked closer, it was apparent that we had a visitor in our herd. A very handsome red Hereford bull had come to visit our ladies. Mr. Curly (as named by Natalie because of the white curls on his head) was very happy to be among 14 cows that were looking for male companionship. It took a few phone calls and we found which neighbor Mr. Curly belongs to. 
Charlie talked with him and it was decided to leave Mr. Curly in our pasture to ‘finish the job’ since he had already messed up our schedule of putting a bull out in March with the cows. Soon we will do a pregnancy check on the cows and see how many are bred. We would expect to see Black Baldies – Black Brangus with white markings on their heads. But some could show up with the red from the Hereford. 
Time will tell and I’m not really wanting to be patient to find out! As you can see, the calves being weaned were very curious about our visitor!
She was pretty tame with the neighbor’s wife, but was not ready to be rounded up. Lily Cow is making herself at home with our herd. She stands out because she is a white and reddish tiger stripe with black dots on her forehead. The dots on her head made me think of the inside of a flower plus she is a tiger stripe cow so I came up with Lily Cow. Charlie and Jason have restructured our working pens now so when we gather the cows up soon to work them, our neighbor will be able to come and collect Lily! I think his wife is anxious to get her back. I’ve been taking care of by hand feeding her cubes. Can you spot Lily Cow with the other cows?
We are fairly confident that we will have 2-3 more calves, but only time will tell. Our goal for our cow-calf operation was to have a herd that was on the same calving schedule. It makes it easier to manage a herd if the calves are born around the same time. With Genesis (calf #1) coming in January and no others showing up yet, we were trying to determine the best method to meet our calving schedule goal. After talking to some local cattle raisers and a broker, we decided that our next purchase would be bred cows that would give birth about the same time as those that we already have.
It was just standing there when Raya was trying to walk up to it. We scooted it back into the pasture. However, the oldest calf – a black Brangus steer – hit the driveway and headed out to the road. As I made it to the road, I saw not only the black calf but a tan one following it! Charlie and the driver took off after the two runaways in the side by side and found one in the neighbor’s pasture and the other one pasture down. So the phone calls began to call the neighbors to help round the calves up. The tan one found its way back to our pasture shortly – listening to the mama cows billowing. We were afraid that it was going to take more effort to get the steer back, but soon he was in the pasture next to ours. Our neighbor was able to rope it and was leading (pulling) it back to our pasture. Charlie, on the other side of the fence, was trying to guide the steer and did a great job because the steer looked at him, put his head down, and plowed over Charlie knocking him to the ground! Charlie wasn’t hurt but discovered how much power a 200 pound calf has! All 5 calves were safe and sound in our pasture.
They came close enough for me to take some great shots. 
One of the Originals let out a loud ‘mooooo’ while facing the newbies. She has done this several times! She’s the one that I call “Sassy Pants!” It didn’t stop them from coming closer.
The Wheeler's Country Road 