Monday, November 9, 2009

Pregnancy Checking


I wonder if the ranches in Australia that run thousands of heads of cows preg test? This is always an interesting time on the ranch - the momma's babies have been weaned and before they are put out to their winter pastures the mommas get preg tested, some shots and some get their teeth checked. They check the teeth in order to know to verify age and to make sure she's got enough teeth to keep eating enough to support her and her calf. There are many decisions that are made in a short period of time and its an time to observe different ranching philosophies ie. if she's not pregnant do you keep her? Many factors go into consideration here. Every ranch is different some cull all that aren't pregnant, some may mark the one's that are open, some may put them back on the bulls - its not just running them through a shoot - and lets not forget the record keeping aspect!