MCR Mocha
This is Mocha, she is 1 year old and will be bred in June to EZ Magnum,a Full Blood Lowline Bull. Mocha is a 3/4 Lowline crossed with a Braunvieh Cow. The Lowline Cattle are great cattle for small acerage. They finish off grass, and produce delicious lean meat. The Braunvieh Cattle are from Switzerland. They bring rich milk, large ribeye and can live in heat or harsh winters and at high altitudes, so Brisket Disease is not a problem. We live at 7800 feet. Both the Lowline and Braunvieh breeds are very gentle. If you are looking for a really good 4H breed I recommend this cross. The other neat thing about Lowlines is that they are small. The steers will finsih at around 1000lbs. So for our Fair it would make weight. They love attention and are very easy to handle. My goal with Mocha is to produce 4H quality steers and great breeding heifers. They are very easy to halter break and love baths. So keep your eye on this girl.
DDR Lucky Lady
We call her Lady Bug. She is 1 year old and a purebred Lowline. She stands around 38 inches tall. Lady Bug is confirmationaly correct so for the show ring she shines. The judges love her. I will breed her to a fullblood Lowline bull,Dakota Pride who will add to her small size. Lady is pretty small so we need to keep her offspring small. Lady should produce very nice show quality calves perfect for the sale ring and showring. The purebred and the fullblood Lowlines are typically small. If you want to go into the market class at most County Fairs you will want to look for the larger size Lowlines. Lady Bug is too small for our Fair, but I am going to show her in the breeding class anyways because she is great at showing. You never know we may get a judge that knows Lowlines.
Diamond Belle
Diamond Belle is a registered Black Angus heifer. She is beautiful and her daddy is unbelievable,DCC Rito Platinum 314. I would like to use Diamond Belle for my commercial herd. I am looking into a full blood bull named EZ Magnum for her. She is very gentle and loves peppermints. Watch out if you have peppermint horse cookies in your pocket! She is big since she is a full angus, so my big sister will show her at Fair in the breeding class. She can be a handful on the halter. She should do really well in the breeding class.
Champion
This is my 4H Steer, Champ. He is an angus cross. He weighs around 900lbs. right now and will probably finish at around 1250lbs. I did Catch a Calf last fair and caught. So I was awarded a free steer from Maynard Smith Cattle Co. Maynard is my hero, he has been raising cattle all his life. I go to him with all my questions. This is the second year I have shown one of his steers. Everytime he has picked a sweetheart for me. Champ is a real character he loves to push his feed bucket across our pastures and play in the irrigation ditches. He was so easy to train. So always buy gentle steers they are too big and too strong to get drug around by. Our fair is Aug. 2nd for our big show and sale. I think I have a Champion.
Good Tips ...Picking out your 4H Steer
Have a very experienced cattleman help you pick out your steer. You want a very quiet and gentle steer. They will know their moms and will be able to do this. If you get a wild one send him back it is not worth the chance of getting hurt. Don't buy a kicker!
Pick one with a flat back, pretty face, big butt, sloping shoulder and a feminine neck. Watch them walk, you want them to step their back foot into the front foot print. The judges love to see a smooth walking steer. When they get to be 1200lbs. you don't want them walking like a linebacker.
The day you get him put a rope halter on him. They are cheap. I love the ones that have really long ropes so I can grab them and not get kicked. Only leave the halter on while you are with your steer or heifer. Don't leave them on unsupervised.
Know what to feed your steer. I love this website www.honorshowchow.com. They can answer any of your questions. This time I started my steers on Conditioners by Purina, it is for cattle that are going through the weining process. It really helped them to eat and not be so stressed. Believe it or not steers are picky eaters. Than we moved to fitters and are now on finishers also by Purina. This website can answer any of your questions. They are great.
Keep good records of your feeding program, worming, and other things. I weigh my grain everytime I feed. We bought a scale and hang it in the grain room. Don't feed a lot of hay it gives them a hay belly. Later, we will add Beet Pulp to their diet. It helps stretch the grain, but adds nice smooth look to your steer. We also keep a blot block in the feed lot 24/7. When you start pushing the grain up to 20lbs. a day they can blot. If you think they are blotting call your vet.
A plug for Lowlines, no grain needed. They finish great on grass. You save so much money.
Play with your steer everyday. We put ours in a smaller pen so we can catch them and pet them. After awhile they love to be with you as much as you love to be with them. Start washing them as soon as it is warm. I have a steer blower that I use and I get them use to brushing and the clippers before we go to fair.
Raising steers is the best! It has me wanting to raise cattle the rest of my life.
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