The Rural Voice, 1990-09, Page 35Mitchell breeds his heifers to calve
at least a month before the rest of the
cow herd. "We're more alert then.
Instead of watching 100 cows, we're
watching only 20 heifers." Heifers are
just under two years of age and about
1,000 pounds when they calve.
Mitchell sells his steer calves to
his father, Roger, who farms close by.
Mitchell's brother, Ken, operates an
85 -herd cow/calf operation nearby,
and also sells steer calves Roger.
For the first time last year, no outside
calves were purchased to fill the 100 -
head feedlot.
The three men share labour and
machinery, but each owns his own
cattle and property, and also rents land
individually. Lloyd owns 160 acres
and rents an additional 500. The three
men own or rent a total of 1,200 acres.
Mitchell has a Junior Agriculturalist
helping out this year. His wife, Pat, is
a milk tester, but helps on the farm
when she can.
Roger Mitchell grows about 20
acres of corn silage and uses it to feed
the steers from self-feeding bunker
silos. Lloyd does not grow com silage
for his own operation. Instead, he
planted 70 acres of barley and mixed
grain this year to feed the replacement
heifers and finishing heifers, which
the two brothers finish jointly in a
separate feedlot. The finishing heifers
receive only barley and hay. Replace-
ment heifers receive 5 pounds of grain
plus supplement daily, for an average
daily gain of 1.6 pounds.
Disease problems in the feedlot
have been minimal. Mitchell attri-
butes this to the preconditioning that
all calves receive prior to weaning.
They are started on 5 pounds of 14 per
cent medicated grain ration and free -
choice hay. Once started, they get
free -choice corn silage along with 5
pounds of grain and free -choice hay
from round bales.
Hay is the most important crop for
the Mitchells. Last year, they baled
2,600 round bales and 25,000 square
bales. They reduced the number of
square bales to 10,000 this year to
decrease labour input and increased
the number of round bales to make up
the difference. Mitchell likes the ease
of handling the 4 x 4 1/2 -feet round
bales, and adjusts his feeding methods
to accommodate them. The two
brothers built a 45 x 38 -foot addition
to the north end of Lloyd's bam where
round bales are now stacked three or
four high; 200 round bales can be
stacked in the addition, enough to
feed the 15 heifers housed in the barn
last year. Mitchell places portable
gate feeders at the edge of the addition
and rolls the bales to the heifers. The
bales are easily rolled by one man and
the partitions are moved forward as
the mow recedes. All of the hay that
the Mitchells bale is stored inside.
Mitchell chores at four barns,
including his own. Given the ease of
feeding round bales, he could feed the
cattle at all the barns in one hour if he
were in a hurry. He keeps 45 of his
own cows in a rented barn, custom
intends to custom feed 35 cows again
this winter, allowing him to get a bet-
ter return for his surplus crop. When
he increases his herd to 120 cows, he
believes his own feed will be fully
utilized. Eventually, he hopes to fin-
ish all his own steers too, if profitable.
Mitchell takes advantage of cattle
rotation to use his pasture during the
grazing months. The cattle are kept
in three separate groups and cow/calf
pastures are rotated every 2 to 7 days.
The cattle come when they are called
from pasture to pasture, and electric
wire is used to confine them. Cattle
are also pastured on second -cut hay
and grain stubble.
Most pasture fields were hay fields
at one time. Mitchell underseeds grain
Family help with labour and machinery has been critical, say Lloyd and Pat Mitchell.
feeds 35 cows at another, and chores
at the feedlot where the heifers are fin-
ished. Heifers for breeding are kept at
his barn.
Last winter, Mitchell kept 45 cows
in the bush from December till March,
then they were brought to the barn for
calving. While it took a while for the
cattle to realize their temporary home
was not the bam, they adapted well in
the sheltered bush. Round bales were
hauled to them every second day.
Mitchell harvests about 200 acres
of hay from his own farm and finds
that he has more than enough feed.
He is reluctant to cash crop the hay,
particularly when round bales are
selling for only $9 to $10 each. He
fields with a 90 per cent alfalfa and
10 per cent timothy mixture. Some
fields, which have only a foot of top-
soil before bedrock or have boulders,
are frost -seeded in mid-March to help
rejuvenate them.
Using a broadcast seeder with his
all -terrain vehicle, Mitchell is able to
seed about 10 acres an hour. The
seeder holds 50 pounds of trefoil and
white clover seed and can broadcast
25 feet. Trike-seeding enables him
to seed in many conditions, including
muddy fields and snow. He also cus-
tom seeds between 200 and 300 acres
for other farmers in the area, charging
$2 an acre for land close to his farm.
The custom frost -seeding business
SEPTEMBER 1990 31