[dominiquer60]

One added note on foot wear is that concrete can make a heck of a difference with how fast and in what way hooves wear.

I am not completely convinced that foot color has everything to do with soft feet, genetics surely play a role as well. My mother has soft teeth and I seemed to have gotten that from her (one started falling apart and led to my first crown before I was 30). My steers are 3/4 related and have 2 very different sets of feet. I don’t notice any difference in hardness when I am rasping, but the steer with white feet has a lot more chipping on his feet compared to the red footed brother, and is more sensitive about walking on rough ground. Maybe the white footed steer just got some bad genetics from the one unrelated sire, maybe it is because he lack pigment in his feet. I can’t say for sure.

I did care for a horse one summer and he had two dark feet and two white feet, one each up front and in back, shoes on the front and barefoot in the back. The foot that wore funny and was always giving us problems was the rear white foot.

Although white genetics are naturally occurring there is something about too much white that leads me to see it as a weakness at times. Variegated plants for example are less hardy than their green counterparts, they lack the vigor to thrive as well and seem to be less cold hardy (in general). The white gene in horses is referred to as the lethal white gene because albino horse die at birth. Australian shepherds with too much white (and Dalmations) can often be blind and or def. There is also a trend that some notice that horses with watch eyes and or too many white markings have a tendency to be a little screwy at times. Holstein breeders that I know tend to strive for darker show animals, not just because they clean easier, but they seem to handle and show easier (so I have been told). White dear and white squirrels make easy target in the non-winter months and don’t tend to live as long in captivity. And then there are humans, though not white, it is said that all people with light (blue) eyes can be traced back to one probably blond inbred person from northern Europe, we have coped well but our trait is of a frowned upon origin:)

I am sure that genetics play a role in poor feet in cattle and horses these days, just look what we have done the the feet of Standardbreds for example, while breeding for fast, having good feet was left out of the equation. However it is my opinion from years of observation that though white is naturally occurring, there tends to be weaknesses associated with it.

Liberty, if you want to get into steers, Holstein calves are an easy find, or find a pair of a breed that you prefer. I started with a beef steer and heifer because that was what was available here on the farm. It is good to think about things first, but you won’t get doing it until you jump in:) Have fun with it!

[dominiquer60]

Welcome future cattle man,
Read around and ask around, this is a great place for folks new to draft animals. Good luck finding the right team for you, and enjoy.

[dominiquer60]

I am new to this but am already training my second team. My first team was a pair of beef calves that were bottle fed, but did not start any training until they were 6 months old. I could pick all of their feet up, but could only trim (rasp) their front feet with little trouble. I used a rope attached around their necks to tie the foot so that they could not kick to trim the back feet. This method worked for all involved but was not ideal.

I started training my second team (Milking Shorthorns) at 6 weeks of age and they are wonderful about their feet. I can pick any of them up at anytime with no kicking and can easily take a rasp to their feet while they standing resting in their field. They are very comfortable with me handling feet, and though they are only a year old I anticipate caring for their feet in the same manner for a long time. I don’t plan on shoeing them as there is no one around that does such in these parts and I don’t see the need to.

Bivol’s comments on hoof color do seem to ring true. I have a roan and red, half brothers out of a mother daughter pair of dams. The roan has dark reddish feet and they seem to be good sound feet, he travels well on rough surfaces. The red has four white socks and white hooves, they seem to chip easier and he is awful tender on the rough parts of our drive and dirt road, get him on grass and he walks sound as a pound. It makes for slow traveling on gravel, but once we get real to work on sod or soil he is fine. This experience alone would lead me to choose a darker hooved team over a team with white feet in the future, or at least have all feet in the team match, it gets frustrating at times with a faster and slower steer, speed one up slow the other down.

Good luck and enjoy that first team you’ll never have another like it,

[dominiquer60]

Route 9 opens and part of 30 too!

I am happy that my 145 mile trip just shrank back into a pre-Irene 55 mile trip, less driving and more helping the Baileys, woohoo!

Rutland Herald

STAFF REPORT – Published: September 10, 2011

The Vermont Agency of Transportation opened Route 9 to full public travel late Friday afternoon, restoring a critical east-west travel corridor.

The agency also reopened a bridge along Route 30 at the Dummerston and Newfane town line. The opening reestablishes public access along Route 30 as far northwest as Jamaica, where the road remains closed due to storm damage that is still under repair.

Tropical Storm Irene caused considerable damage along Route 9, knocking out a bridge in Woodford and washing away several roadway segments between Marlboro and West Brattleboro. Route 9 through the heart of Wilmington also received considerable damage. As a result, the entire 35-mile stretch of Route 9 between Woodford and West Brattleboro was closed.

“Travel between Bennington and Brattleboro since the storm has been challenging as the detours were exceptionally long,” said Gil Newbury, incident commander for VTrans recovery efforts across southeast Vermont. “Reopening Route 9 allows not only residents but businesses to return to something that is close to normal.”

[dominiquer60]

could they be with Pat and he doesn’t realize what is going on?
Erika

[dominiquer60]

Wolfgang,
Exactly! When my steers are in “park” I have 2 requirements, 1) feet don’t move 2) heads stay up (no grazing), but if their minds drift to the tractors in the distance or a bird pulling worms I don’t hold it against them while I am working on something else. The “Ready” command just lets them know that I am ready for their help again. I will let them lean into the yoke at this command but they are not to move forward with their feet until they hear a different command. I find they start a load better with this transition command too. This seems like one of those things that the books never touch on and you just learn by doing.

[dominiquer60]

Been meaning to respond to this one for a while, Love It! Glad to see some one else using the “ready” command, I picked it up from doing a bit of agility with my dog and thought it would make a good “I need you to focus on me” command for the cattle as well.

Erika

[dominiquer60]

I have not signed or passed it on yet, so I don’t think it is ready yet. But certainly al good thing to remind us about, we should probably try to have this completed by the meeting.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

Thanks Beka!
We will include this new date in our next eNews which will be coming out very soon.
Erika

[dominiquer60]

So memberships accepted at the Annual Meeting would go toward the up coming year, right?

[dominiquer60]

So glad to read that you are all well, what a relief. Electricity seems to be coming back faster than predicted, it has been good to hear from everyone and know that you are ok.

[dominiquer60]

I wish I had nothing better to do than spend a couple weeks and a lot of fuel on a road trip to Idaho. I hope you all have fun for those of us in the East:)

[dominiquer60]

That would be great Jean, don’t rush to the meeting, one of us can present it and give you due credit, if we need to. I see an organization with the resemblance of being organized attractive to current members and potential members. It doesn’t need to be perfect, just need some numbers.

[dominiquer60]

There should probably be a financial report of some sort for the meeting next month. We don’t have a treasurer, is Jean still our official book keeper? An itemized list of expenses and income would be great and if we can get this together before the meeting we could have a simple projected budget for next year as well. Jean hopefully you have some time to work on the first step? otherwise we should get our finances straight some how before the meeting.

[dominiquer60]

Bailey Family-

How did you fair the storm? When things settle down it would be good to know what roads will not be passable to the upcoming gathering. I know Rt. 9 from Bennington was closed, but hopefully that was just for water over the road and not under or through it.
I hope all is well, and if there are any big problems I hope that they are nothing 20 animals and their teamsters can’t fix:)

My best to you all,

[Author]

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