Job Details
This job was posted by : For more information, please see: confinement season starts in November and by May the cattle are back in pasture and no intensive care and manual feeding is needed after that time. In November, we start with maintenance on pens and calving pastures to prepare for the confinement time frame where cows are pulled from pastures. (Waters, feed bunks repairs) and start pulling pairs off of grass. In December, we continue pulling cow pairs off grass and start weaning the calves. At this time all the calves must be processed and given multiple vaccinations and treated for any problems or illnesses they may have. As soon as the first pair is pulled off grass we must start daily feeding once all pairs are in pens this will take up to 6 hours per day to complete. In January, if any of Dec work isn\'t finished it will carry over into January. Besides the feeding that occurs daily for 6 hours, we also start working the cows in January. This consists of multiple things. We put them through a sorting process where I decide if they are a young enough cow to raise another calf, have maintained enough body condition to survive the winter and raise a healthy calf. Then the cows that are not culled must be run through including being vaccinated and checked to make sure they are pregnant. In February, any January work not completed is finished. Any replacement cows are purchased and added to the herd going through the process of vaccinations tagging, branding, etc. We also start sorting up cows to go to their respective calving pastures. We start preparing for calving. Some cows will start dropping calves the last week of February. We still need to feed the cows which will continue taking 6 hours a day. March and April Calving is in full swing. It is common to have up to 20 calves in 24 hours. We check all the cows every 2 hours via pickup driving through to make sure there are not any cows having birthing difficulties. If so, that cow must be brought into the barn to assist her with having the calf. Daily feeding will continue. In May, we bring in pairs to sort into smaller bunches to go to summer pastures. All pairs must be processed and inspected for sickness, or problems and treated. Cow pairs are then bunched and hauled to pastures. Continued daily feeding until hauled to grass. This can take up to 3 weeks. By the end of May all cows are out to grass, the labor pressure is off and I do not need further assistance with the cows until November when we prepare for the next calving season. No manual feeding is done while in pastures since they are eating the natural grass growing in the pastures. Additionally, in June, planting continues until finished. Employees will be spraying throughout the month including posting corn, applying grass herbicide on milo, and any more burn down ahead of the planter that is needed. After this, preparations for wheat harvest starts. Any repairs needed to combines and all support equipment such as grain carts, tractors, and service pickup truck and trailer is carried out. We also start irrigation around this time, which includes servicing wells and maintenance on pivots. July starts wheat harvest - cutting with 2 combines, and 2 grain carts. After this there is equipment cleanup, irrigation to check, cows to check, and farming of summer fallow to do. In August, spraying on wheat stubble is done as needed. Need to continue checking cows and fields for problem areas where cows are getting out. Farming more summer fallow as needed. Farm maintenance is done as we slow down a bit as long as there are no big breakdowns. Help is not needed during the months of September and October. Employer may provide pay increases for performance and experience at employers discretion.