Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Simmental:
The Simmental breed are known as docile cattle. This breed was developed in
Switzerland, and they have a heavily muscled back and loins. Simmental body hair ranges
from yellow to gold to dark red. The head and lower legs are usually white. They have an ex-
cellent yielding carcass.
Housing
In general, adult beef cattle in good condition can live outside provided they have a wind
block to protect from winter wind chills. A covered shed will give them protection from
chilling rain or wet, heavy snow. Pregnant cows near delivery date and young calves should
be provided with a shed or a barn to escape bad weather. The barn should be ventilated to
eliminate ammonia fume buildup and to provide fresh air. Bedding material, such as straw or
corn stalks, should be maintained so there is always a dry layer on top. It can be allowed to
build up until you are able to clean the pen more thoroughly, provided there are no wet areas.
Broken fence panels, bent steel posts, and rusted feeders should be removed from pens, cor-
rals, and pastures. Cows can become impaled or entangled in these items. Fences should be
maintained in good repair to prevent a curious cow from walking through a down fence line.
Housing very young beef calves
If you purchase a very young calf under the age of 1 month without its mother, it should be
housed in its own separate enclosure to minimize spreading disease from suckling on its pen
mates until it is weaned from milk — usually at 2 months old. These enclosures can be as
simple as partitioning off a pen with cattle panels to using calf huts — plastic oval or rectan-
gular shells — designed for the dairy calf. Regardless of what you use, make sure it is clean
of dirt and manure and thoroughly disinfected. Calves being raised without a mother can be
bedded with shavings, sawdust, ground corncobs, or straw. Maintain the bedding on a regular
basis so the calf always stays dry. The calf will suck on any exposed surface, so make sure
there are no sharp edges in the pen. As the calf moves off the bottle and when he or she is eat-
ing grain and drinking independently, you can start to group the calves in small pens, or better
yet, introduce them to an outside corral for fresh air and exercise.
If you use an electric fence as an outside pen, the calves will need to be trained to the fence;
otherwise, they may just run right through it when they are frolicking or playing a game with
the other calves. Tie bright strips of cloth or plastic to the wire between the supporting posts.
