Check out the latest changes at Duxbury Beef as written from the insider perspective of Shannon Duxbury!
Starting The Next Generation
It’s breeding season at the ranch! At Duxbury Beef, we breed cows via artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and live coverage with herd bulls. To make our calving and breeding seasons more efficient, we synchronize our females to be bred and calve all around the same time.
When our cattle all calve around the same time, we can ensure we have all the right resources to tend to any cows having trouble with birth, and we can be more prepared and attentive to baby calves. This also helps us optimize our feeding program, as the nutritional requirements of animals vary based on what “season” of life they are in!
Lactating cows need extra supplementation to make sure they are making enough milk to support their calves, and growing calves need extra supplementation to make sure they stay healthy while they are developing! Having uniform sets of animals ensures we give everyone the right nutrients at the right times.
Calves Need Vaccinations Too!
Having all the cows and calves in the barnyard also gives us a great opportunity to work our calves! We dehorned, castrated, and vaccinated the calves. Horns can be dangerous for both humans and other cattle, so it is best to remove them while the calves are young.
We also castrate males that will become Duxbury Beef someday! A steer, a castrated male, typically has better-tasting meat than a bull, an intact male, due to the difference in testosterone levels.
Steers and heifers also live in the feed yard together, and we do not want any heifers pregnant while they are being fed and harvested for Duxbury Beef. The last step we do is to vaccinate our calves!
Animal welfare is our #1 priority, and we want to make sure we give our animals every opportunity and defense to stay healthy.
Thanks for following along! Until next time.