My Cows

[ChickQueen77]

I have been around cattle pretty much my whole life. My older siblings each had a bottle calf when they were 6 and we would also have bottle calves for everyone to share. I was way too little to really do anything, but I do remember trying to bottle feed a calf that I had named Mudge when I was 4 years old. My oldest sister got a bottle calf when she was 6 years old that she named Smore and my older brother got a bottle calf that he named Marshall and when I was 6, I got my first bottle calf I named him Caramel Cream. My oldest siblings started showing some of the bottle calves and I would help them with that. My oldest sister showed Caramel Cream since I was still too young to show him. In 2019 my oldest siblings started doing the BeefBuilder program which is where you can buy a BeefBuilder calf that is already done with bottles, and you can show it at the county fair in a special class just for the BeefBuilder calves. My sister's first BeefBuilder was named Cocoa and my brother's calf was named Milkshake. The second year they were showing I was 8 years old, and my sister named her calf Snickers, and my brother named his calf Twix. I did all the work for Snickers I for the most part trained him and my sister let me because she hates cattle and my sister would only sometimes lead him because our mom made her do a little bit of work for Snickers. But I did basically did everything but take him into the ring to show.

In 2021 I got my first BeefBuilder I named him Sundae but everyone wanted me to call him Swiss Mister because I had a bottle calf that looked just like Sundae and his name was Hot Chocolate and I can't name a steer Swiss Miss so they thought I should name him Swiss Mister I loved having my own calf that I could show and train. At the show which was my first time ever showing. Sundae won Reserve Champion BeefBuilder Calf!!! I was going to show Sundae as a market steer the next year but he got pneumonia and we didn't want to bring him to the county fair and leave him in the hot barn.

In 2022 I named my BeefBuilder Muffin. Muffin would lead and set up his feet better then Sundae did. I showed Muffin at the county fair as a calf, and he didn't place and I got to show him as a market steer at the county fair in 2023 when he was a year old and he didn't place but I used him for showmanship, and I won Champion Beginner Beef Showman!!

In March 2023 I got my first heifer it was also the first heifer any of us had ever had. Her name is Toffee she is a lineback and she was my bottle calf. In May we went to go get our bottle calves for the year we would usually get only steers but Toffee couldn't be the only heifer, so my sisters shared a black heifer that they named Leeli and my brother got a bald faced heifer he named Domino. I named my BeefBuilder Esben and when I showed him at the county fair as a calf he didn't place but he wasn't last either so he did pretty good. I got to show Esben in 2024 and he won Reserve Champion BeefBuilder Market Steer!!

 

[ChickQueen77]

In 2023 I also showed Toffee in the dairy class and she won Grand Champion Dairy and I won Grand Champion Beginner Dairy Showman!!

April 2024 we got Toffee's little sister. Since I got Toffee my brother got her sister and he named her Taffy so then we could have Toffee and Taffy. When we went to get the rest of the bottle calves I got to get a heifer so Taffy would have a heifer buddy her age. The heifer I got looked just like Domino so I named her Checkers. My BeefBuilder that year was named Seabiscuit. In June we bred Toffee, Domino and Leeli with AI to a Black Angus bull named Brickyard and then at the end of June or at the beginning of July we borrowed a Red Angus bull named Trump to breed the heifers that didn't get pregnant with AI. At the county fair Seabiscuit won Grand Champion BeefBuilder Calf!!

 

[ChickQueen77]

On April 14 Leeli had her calf. It was a black heifer calf that my sisters named Nugget. Her sire was Brickyard. Since my sisters each own half of Leeli me and my brother offered to buy Nugget from them, and we bought her for $500 I paid $250 for half of Nugget, and my brother paid the other half of the money for half of Nugget.

On April 15 Toffee's other sister was born so we took her home. Since my brother got Taffy, it was my turn to have Toffee's sister. I named her Tootsie so then we would have Toffee, Taffy and Tootsie.

I know it was in May, but I don't know for sure what day I think it was May 8th Domino had her calf. It was a red steer calf so Trump was the sire. All trumps' calves will be red so we can tell if it was AI that bred them or trump. My brother never named the calf, but our mom calls him Snuzzles.

My BeefBuilder this year is named Waffles. Waffles is my favorite BeefBuilder I have ever had.

in June we bred Leeli, Domino, Checkers and Taffy with AI.

On June 19 Toffee had her calf. It is a red heifer calf that I named Tic Tac so then Toffee's whole family will be Toffee, Taffy, Tootsie and Tic Tac.

We bred Toffee a few weeks later and then we bought the bull we had borrowed last year and put him out with the cows.

at the county fair I showed my BeefBuilder from last year, Seabiscuit. Seabiscuit won Grand Champion BeefBuilder Market Steer!!! When Seabiscuit was a calf he also won Grand Champion. He was my only calf to win Grand Champion 2 years in a row!!!
This year I showed Waffles and he won Reserve Champion BeefBuilder Calf!!!

After the county fair in September Waffles and 5 other calves went missing. It was awful to try to look for them since the corn hadn't been chopped yet so we couldn't see anything. 3 days after they went missing the lady that does our chores when we are gone was driving home from work and saw 2 of the calves on the side of the road so she went to our house and got our trailer and brought them home. no one was home then so my dad asked her to get the trailer and bring them home and she did. one of the calves that were found was Waffles!! the next day someone called to tell us that they found 4 calves and put them in a fence and they heard that we were missing calves so they called us and said we could go get them so we did and they were all okay.

we weaned Nugget, Snuzzles and Tic Tac a couple weeks ago. We are keeping Nugget and breeding her next year. We will sell Snuzzles and we are trading Tic Tac for a steer calf that we will sell. we can't keep her unless we kept her in her own fence because she can't be in there with Trump because he is Tic Tac's sire and they can't breed so we are trading with the guy we bought Trump from.


now we will have to wait until spring to see which heifers/cows will have Trump babies and which ones will have Brickyard calves.