It does look like it's shaping up to be pretty dry however. The weather experts are predicting a return of El Nino which means dry weather for the high plains in general. The Kansas River is so low now, it looks like a dry July. Of course what every cattleman hopes for is a dry winter followed by a wet spring and summer. With the exception of breeding season, haying time, etc. We're darn hard to please in other words.
True to form, the heifers started calving 14 days early. They were synchronized for a Feb 4 start date. By Feb 4 however, we were closing in on 2/3 done. Very nice. We have one more calve out program heifer to go, then we'll have those done and delivered. We'd called her an AI at preg check, but apparently she was a clean up bred heifer. Ah well. The rest have gone remarkably well, with the exception of one c-section. That heifer was AI'd to a sire we know is very variable on BW, but who is attractive enough in a lot of other areas that we use him heavily. Combine the calf's large size (100 lbs. and a couple days overdue) with a small pelvic opening and we quickly called for the vet. The good news is momma and baby are doing just great. However, she earned herself a cull-notch in her tag. We had repro examined these heifer as yearlings, but she'd made it through. Ah well again.
The mature cows will start calving Feb 20, so things are still relatively quiet. We've been building some fence and getting things in order for the big calving rush. Hopefully the mild weather will hold. Every nice day is one day closer to spring, right?