A Beckers Angus cow/calf pair on a summer day.
ASKOV, Minn. – About 3 inches of snow lay on the ground in Pine County. Temperatures were cold enough that resorts were making snow for ski or tube runs.
Fishing folks had their temporary ice houses on nearby lakes, although the DNR had not posted ice-in dates as of Dec. 5, the day of David Becker’s report. Median ice-in date for the region is late November.
“We’ve been getting quite a bit of snow – we didn’t get rain all summer, but we are getting all these little events, half-inch, a dusting, or 3 inches. It’s warmed up and then it melts, and then we get another 3 inches,” he said. “It’s been windy, too.”
The herd was at their winter locations near the home of David and Rose Becker, and just a quarter mile down the road at the home of Brian and Rebecca Becker.
In his last report, David mentioned that one waterer had been temperamental. He reported that the waterer valve had to be replaced because there was a bad seal. The rest of the waterers worked fine – although they hadn’t been tested in below zero temperatures yet.
There are four different groups of cattle, with the first being the heifers that are penned in a half-acre pen at Brian and Rebecca’s farm site.
The second group – the yearling bulls (located at Brian and Rebecca’s) have a 1-2-acre pen, but David opened a gate so they can turn out to 9-10 more acres. The reason the gate was opened was due to muddy conditions when temps warmed up.
“I wanted to get them out of there to keep them clean,” he said. “It’s almost impossible to keep bedding ahead of them when it gets warm, so I kicked them out, and I haven’t kicked them back in yet.”
The bulls were doing well in the larger area. They ate silage in a bunk with a nearby waterer, and then walked to the back of the pen to lay down. They had a lower area of canary grass made accessible due to drought conditions in 2021 and 2022. Two sides of the pen had trees to cut the wind. It was a perfect spot for bedding down in the evening.
The exercise was good for the bulls, too.
“After a while, I will shut the gate and get back to my normal bedding when it’s below zero,” he said. “They have to be in bedding when it gets too cold.”
The third group is a fall calf group (at David and Rose’s) that is in a 6-acre pasture with pine trees and a hill for protection. The calves have access to their bedded area that includes a big round bale feeder.
The fourth group (at David and Rose’s) is the spring calving cows, which are in about a 4-acre pasture. This group also has a hill to the north that blocks the wind, while the west side is blocked by trees.
When there are strong winds, a tree or two will sometimes fall on the fences, so David goes out with a chainsaw. Trees are cut and fences are fixed.
Predators are always a concern, but the Beckers have not experienced problems with wolves.
The Beckers feed corn silage in bunkers. They use a bottomless feed bunk for the cows. The other groups are fed in actual bunkers located along the pens.
All the livestock receive mineral.
They use a total mixed ration mixer, with the fall and spring-calving cows getting 80 percent silage and 20 percent grass hay. The heifers get just silage and free-choice hay that is fed in a hay ring.
The bulls get silage, some concentrate, and mineral. Hay is fed free choice.
“We try not to push the bulls too hard,” he said. “In my opinion, at some production sales, I’ve seen some bulls that are over-conditioned. Yearling bulls are going to lose weight because they are trying to grow and do their job, but we try to get them to grow well but not get fat.”
This is the 24th year that Beckers Angus has sold bulls, although the sale on March 12, 2023, is their second annual production sale.
“We’re not going to change anything, and we’ll keep the bulls in the same condition as always – because we’ve had success in the past,” he said.
In preparation for the sale, David, Brian, and Rebecca ran the yearling bulls and heifers through the chute and collected weights. They also took blood samples for parentage ID verification and genomic testing.
There was some paperwork for registrations that David was working on, too.
“I was going through the breeding books, but I do that all the time anyway,” he said. “I’m trying to figure out what bulls we might add this year for AI.”
David and Rose have several family get-togethers planned for Christmas. They are looking forward to visiting their daughter, Joanna, and her family who live near Marcell, north of Grand Rapids, Minn. Then they will host a family get-together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, they’ll visit David’s parents who live nearby.
All forecasts call for a very pleasant Christmas 2022!
We want to wish everyone at Beckers Angus a very Merry Christmas!
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A Beckers Angus cow/calf pair on a summer day.
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Cattle tucked away in perfect terrain for this mild winter – AgUpdate
