Coffee's Ready, Come and Sit on the Porch

farmerjan

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Raccoons also will kill for sport and leave many of the carcasses lay where they kill them. I have cleaned up after some of those kills and it turned me against raccoons forever. Coyotes prefer fresh but do eat alot of carrion as well as some fruits and berries and even some nuts. They get in a pack and will kill as much as they want... often decimating the whole bunch or flock or so, to have food for a later trip back. And the blood lust of the pack will get them going on slaughtering all that is available at the time. 3 animals/species of wild life that I hate... raccoons, coyotes, and black headed Mexican buzzards...All will kill indiscriminitely; the buzzards will kill newborns and go after cows with afterbirth hanging... they are not scavengers if they can find live food.... the other 2 kill whatever they feel like, not just for food.
 

CrealCritter

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Now I'm thinking I should have called brisket, elvis. Just get a load of that do.
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Brisket and I are working on getting to know each other. I have to admit he might be a little smarter than the others. He comes to me when I call him by name, because he knows I got an alfalfa cube for him. The others follow him, when I call him by name. He really likes to eat, I mean he really likes to eat. I can hear him quickly ripping grass up in the pasture from the garden, when he's grazing there is no messing around, he's on a mission.

When It's supper time he practically inhales the commodity and sweet feed mix. I doubt he chews the commodity and sweet feed mix. I have to try and feed him a little more and separate at the end of the feeding trough, if I don't he's all over everyone else's chow and creates quite a stirr with the others.

I think he's gonna finish out big, by the middle of October 2023. I think this only because he's so productive in eating in comparison to my other black Angus steer. I guess Brangus were bred to be productive? IDK... But it's kind of like the difference between a CCX vs a regular chicken, he's a eating machine. I'll most likely end up with another Brangus steer this early winter for a fall 2024 processing date, from the same man I purchased brisket from, IDK... maybe 🤔 But being a first time cowboy, I have to say I really like the Brangus breed better than Black Angus breed.

@farmerjan - what's your take on dropping the sweet feed and going with just commodity? As you can see in the picture the commodity has a good portion of cracked corn. I'm feeding them 3 lbs of sweet feed and 9 lbs of commodity every evening. It's about 3 1/2 gallons total. Thanks 👍

Jesus is Lord and Christ 🙏❤️🇺🇸
 
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baymule

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Going to be a high of 87F today and it’s 97% humidity. Texas has a heat dome starting tomorrow, going to be in the 90’s all week through next Saturday. Dunno after that, that’s as far as my weather app predicts. Some areas are predicted to go to 100F and maybe higher. Unusual for this time of year, I hope it doesn’t do this all summer.

It’s foggy outside. I’m drinking coffee, maybe I should put ice in it.
 

farmerjan

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@CrealCritter ; Once they are eating good, switching out to a less costly feed is fine. With the grass and all this time of year, feed is really not that necessary except to keep the animals coming in to the catch pen or whatever... we use it as an incentive to come when we call... when the animals go to pasture they might get some grain as a treat a couple times in the whole summer. They are designed to eat grass. If it is good grass, growing and succulent, not old stemmy over mature stuff, they really don't need grain. Grain is good for young animals that need the extra protein and balanced feed if a calf is not on it's mother to get the little extra nutrition they get from the milk. With the good grass, they will be getting about all they need. And then, when it comes closer to kill dates, it will help to put the finish on them and a fat cover that you want. Not gobby fat, but an even fat cover that helps to give a little more uniform carcass. Plus if an animal is finished well, they will marble better also. That takes some time, so that is why fed animals are on finishing feed for 60-120 days... to help the marbling develop and the even finishing of the carcass....
 
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