Hello All:

The man who has everything but has not Christ has nothing; the man with Christ has everything no matter what he has. Truth is often easier to agree with than to live out. Our actions demonstrate what we really believe. God has blessed me so richly that if I had to go back to few material blessings I would struggle with a complaining spirit. A common question in the Greenhalgh family (my kids even ask me now): “Are you thankful for what you have, or are you complaining about what you don’t?”

Sale preparations continue. Today we preg checked cows. I will report on that later.

If you are an interested buyer, please get registered with DVAuction or call Kristin with your bank name and number and the amount of funds you wish to have approved for the sale.

There is some excitement in the air: We have received some VERY impressive bids on the registered bulls and bred heifers and some composite bred heifers. Please know this, we will NEVER bid an amount higher than necessary to procure an animal with a bid you have entrusted to us. You may need to raise the bid on the bull you are interested in if you must get a certain bull, but I would also suggest you be ready with a second or third choice. Though we have had no trouble selling heifers we have frequently no-saled many bulls, many very good bulls. If you must have a registered bull, so be it, but some of our most impressive bulls are composites. Though I consider all our bulls to bring value, the composites might deliver the most bang for your buck. Note regarding composites: Don’t be afraid of the tiger stripe, that is from the Tarentaise breeding NOT Brahma breeding! Some of our most eye-catching bulls have a little tiger stripe on them. It especially won’t make a difference if your cattle are homozygous black. If you can live with unregistered cattle, our composite heifers are going to provide someone, several someones, with BEAUTIFUL females for years to come. Our daughter Ashley will be handling the sight-unseen bids for us, so if you have some, please let us know.

Preg check results: I mentioned in a previous update that we typically have at least 10% of our cows open each year. I haven’t done any scientific data gathering, but my rule of thumb for years has been that if greater than 90% of your herd is bred…you’re feeding too much. Unless you sort, you can’t feed one without feeding them all…and if most can make it without feed why can’t the rest? Some (a lot of?) cows only stay in herds due to Democratic Socialism, well, at least a generous welfare program. There is always a bottom 10% of your herd. We certainly don’t feed too much. We haven’t fed hay as a planned part of our nutrient program (other than for special situations like A.I.) or any protein for years. Our cows graze year-round. They start on grass in April/May and graze through the summer until the corn stalks are ready post-harvest, then go back to grass in April again. I would be EXTREMELY interested to hear the preg. check results if a seedstock producer, or a commercial cattleman who feeds, ran their herd with no hay or supplements for one year. I would be especially interested if they did this two years in a row. Body condition might carry the cows for a year, but it would be difficult for a cow to do that for two years if they were used to supplements. The cow simply wouldn’t breed back.

Okay, the results: Drumroll? No, it probably won’t impress most…because most feed so that they have everything bred…but I’m very pleased. We pregged 172 cows and had 9 opens and 14 late breds. This amounts to a cull rate of just over 13%. Considering cow age (many of our cows are in their teens), the fact that the calves were just weaned last week and that our cows receive nothing but grazing forage, salt, mineral and water year-round…their entire life…THAT’S IMPRESSIVE! Please know, God is the One who has blessed us with these cattle. The cattle are His, and they are doing this. We are just managing them.

As you just learned, we have 14 late bred cows for sale. All will be private treaty. Ashley built a spreadsheet with their information. If you would like to see this spreadsheet, please contact me at [email protected]. They range in age from 5 to 16, most are 7-9. Last year we had a base price of $1000 on our late breds, and they all sold. This year I am simply asking $1200/head, first come, first served. Three of these girls have already been spoken for; I’ve made arrangements with a customer to pick them out tomorrow afternoon. UPDATE: Since I started typing this 2 more have sold, so there are 9 left. You are welcome to come and look at them and speak for them before the sale or sale day. You are, in fact, welcome to speak for them without seeing them at all. I may not know which ones have sold, but we will get you that information post-haste. I’ve seen them, and they are all in good shape.

I have received some feedback that I requested regarding issues you’ve had with our cattle. I am pleased to report that the majority of the reports have been positive; that is what we aim for. However, there are bad eggs in every hen house. We strive to get rid of problems in our herd so that we don’t ever pass them on. As we are preg checking today, every cow that is open, or bred late for what we consider to be an acceptable calving window, will be culled. Any cow that has a bad disposition is culled. Non-functional udders are culled. Any heifer that does not calve on her own is culled (even though she may never have a calving issue again) and her calf is out of the program. We do not treat our cattle; they either recover from their malady or they are gone. We don’t pour. When we first went away from pouring cows, there were a lot of bald cows in the spring. We still don’t pour but don’t have bald cows, very few are missing hair at all. Problems sort themselves out if you are willing to let them. Unfortunately, a cow can have a calf that does well, has a good disposition when it is here, and becomes seedstock, yet the problems don’t reveal themselves until it leaves our place. Some problems, like calving ease, we guarantee by being willing to pay a vet call to deliver a calf. Typically, the cow will be fine from then on. But what happens when the calf is large and doesn’t come out, doesn’t get checked until the next day…and both die? Who is at fault? Who stands the loss? Those are tough questions. What about a breach calf or a heifer who is so dumb she drops her calf in a river or a heifer that doesn’t breed back…or a million other scenarios? We aim to have satisfied customers, and the degree to which that goal will be accomplished depends on our ability to reason together to come up with an acceptable solution. We have had customers with problems (as I assume EVERY seedstock producer has), and to every extent that I am aware we have made it right…but I could be wrong. We might have people who were disgusted but never said anything and simply never came back. The point I want to make is that when there are problems, neither you nor I enjoy it, but I want you to know I am willing to discuss the issue to see if we can get to a point of satisfaction. Maybe not, but I’m willing to try.

Grace to you all!

Lanny Greenhalgh | Steward
[email protected] | (402) 984-6375
www.icecattle.com