3-14-10 1st calf heifers started calving at Pinhook Farm, this means I will be going without sleep for the next 2 weeks. To pass the time in the wee hours of the morning I thought it would be interesting to share a daily photo diary of what happens during calving season on an Iowa cow farm. With each photo I’ll do my best to explain some aspect of production on my farm. If it does not bore everyone to death I’ll continue this project until our April session and you will all feel like seasoned farmers.
Heifer, this is a young female bovine that has not had her first calf. Both cows in this picture were still heifers at 7:30 this morning. Now they are first calf heifers.
The tags in their ears are for identification. The calves are tagged as soon as they are born. This is for my production records and your safety. This tag will stay with the calf all the way through slaughter. If there is any concern for the publics safety from animal born disease the National Animal Health Vets are able to trace back to the exact farm of concern if a good record keeping system is maintained.
The calves tags match their mothers ID. Red for boys, green for girls. The letter represents the year the cow was born. W is for 2008, the next numbers are simply serial numbers. Two years old and she has had her first baby. This is something I hope she continues to do for the next 10 to 12 years or longer.
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