Hello All: May it be that God’s blessings of salvation, grace upon grace, mercy, peace, provision and love were clearly evident on Christmas day…AND…may the truths of Christmas and Resurrection Day ring true EVERY day of your year: A savior was born…and He rose from a tortuous death to pay a penalty we can’t…because He loved us…while we were yet sinners…glory to Him.
I regularly ask the children, “Are you thankful for what you have or are you complaining about what you don’t have?”…and I regularly complain about what I don’t have! This wasn’t remembered, that wasn’t put away, those things weren’t done correctly (my way) or done at all…I even complain when the laws of physics hold true, “Why didn’t that pickup stay where I put it? Why did it have to roll?!?” Anyway, I have much more to be thankful for than to complain about…but I sinfully complain nonetheless. Thank you, God,…and family…and everyone who deals with me…for forgiveness.
In our last update I aimed to explain the two primary reasons someone should buy bulls from us: 1. ICE genetics and 2. The ICE development program, the nature and nurture aspects of all cattle operations, even all livestock operations, all animal operations for that matter (even zoos select for certain genetics).
I am going to give a report on both the nature and nurture aspects of our program. I’ll start with nurture: As I’ve stated several times we do not feed our cattle except for special circumstances like our annual A.I. project. These special projects cumulatively consist of perhaps 2 weeks of hay feeding over the course of a year (even during A.I. we aim to graze cover crops adjacent to our breeding facilities). Our cattle MUST graze, forage attached to the ground, year-round. This is true not just of our cows but of the bulls and replacement heifers we develop. What are our cattle eating now? Corn stalks, with NO protein supplementation. University recommendations typically include feeding some sort of supplement when cows are on stalks. We go farther…in the opposite direction! We not only don’t use supplements, we keep the calves on the cows through most of the winter…where they can learn to graze stalks from their mommas. What kind of cow can eat nothing but crop residues, while nursing a calf…and carrying a calf…and breed back the next year?!? Our cows! Here’s the nature (our cow genetics): We just finished preg checking and 91% of our cows bred back, several in their teen years. 80% of our replacement heifers are pregnant, nearly double what we used to have.
We have the right genetics and we keep pressure on those genetics the way we run and develop our cattle. If buying a bull is too big of a leap to see what I mean, then buy a heifer…then buy a bull next time! Other genetics might be similar or as good as ours but I’ve no doubt they haven’t been forged in the same fire and refined like ours. We treat our cattle well, but tough (just like we raise our children), because we want a product that OTHERS will be proud of and that works well.
Grace to you all!
Lanny Greenhalgh | Steward
[email protected] | (402) 984-6375
www.icecattle.com