OMG that is sooo cute. Do you allow them to stay with their mommies? You raise beef cattle, not dairy don't you?

OH yeah.. They stay with their mommy's.. The only time we have bottle babies is when the mom can't or won't take care of them.. We lost the Cow that always gave us bottle babies last yr.. So everyone ought to be good to go and NO three times a day feedings.. Bless his little heart we already tagged,banned his HoHo's and gave him his shots.. Big day for him..LOL

Awww, he is just precious!

Glad I don't live there, I like keeping my HoHo's LOL
the devil made me do it

What a cutie! Raising animals for food is a special calling I think.

What's the reason for castrating the male caves? Is it to keep them docile or do they produce better beef if clipped? I was watching a BBC show about raising animals for slaughter and they castrated baby piggies with a razor blade at 7 days. My neighbor docks her lamb's tails by banding them. It kind of gross walking around and finding shriveled lamb tails on the ground. lol

Kylie, what a precious baby! Bet that ranch/farm keeps you very busy.

OMG he is adorable. I just love babies. One of our bunnies had 7 babies yesterday. They are 1/2 black netherlands (mom) and 1/2 blue lionhead (dad).

Do you guys have any milk cows? I am thinking of getting a milk goat lol.

PA ..LOL I'm betting I couldn't hog tie you anyway!!

Karyn you get a better price at auction. It is harder and puts more stress on the animal to wait and do it at 300~400 lbs..

El It use to be a whole lot of work.. When we bought it was raw land..We built the house our selves and did the clearing. It is much easier now.. BUT you never run out of work..

Kylie

OMG!!! We have another little calf.. It's a heifer..Cleo the mommy was one of our bottle babies.. The weather is taking a serious turn for the worst.. I sure hope the new babies will be alright..It's suppose to snow tonight and be in the teens for most of the week. :0(

Kylie
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Congratulations Kylie!
They are soo adorable! I would probably try to make big
babies of them! :)

Awww look at that sweet little face. They have the most soulful eyes. How long do you keep them before they go to auction and do you keep all the heifers for breeding?

Lynette I was looking for a lionhead but couldn't find any breeders anywhere nearby, even at a local rabbit show. The nearest breeder was in PA so I ended up with a AFL. She's a cutie and they don't need the constant grooming like the angoras. I lost the last of my Netherland Dwarfs last year. Happy Sunshine was going on 13. I wasn't intending to breed them but got 2 and the vet couldn't neuter my male until his testicles descended so I'd check daily. I guess I missed it by just enough because about a month later I had 5 babies. Ugly little things at first but once they got furry they were adorable. Post pics of yours in about a week : )

Lenette I want to see pic's also..All of ours are beef cattle..

Karen The bottle babies are spoiled rotten.. We have had a couple that have spent the night in the kitchen.. I can go out and moo at them and they come a runnin..LOL

Karyn we bought a young bull 2 yrs ago so he could grow up here.. half of the calves we got last yr were his and all this yr are..We gave the guy up the road 4 heifers last yr and he will give us 4 out of a different bull.. So all of these will have to go so there is no inbreeding.

Kylie

Oh we keep them till they are 300+ lbs.

So one bull gets his way with all those heifers? Lucky bull. lol How old are they at 300 lb? Do they go to slaughter then or to someone else to fatten them up some more. Sorry for all the ?'s but it's interesting. I always wanted to live on a working farm, animals, not plants or should I say animals and plants : )

LOL.. Their weight and age depends on the Season and the Cow.. If they are born now they can be weened come Spring becoz of the green grass.. If they are born late in the yr.. They stay on the tit for a longer becoz there is no green grass we supplement with cubes and hay but the calves can't get in to get it..Some cows will let them nurse till you haul them off.. BUT generally speaking it is about 6~7 months.
Once we sell them at auction they do fatten them up and well ya know.. We did take several bull calves last yr. so hopefully they are Living the good life somewhere.!!

Me and my questions again. lol Do you keep any of the beef once they are butchered? How long do you have to age beef and does fresh (unaged) beef taste a lot different? Just throw me in a meat locker and I'd be in heaven. Red meat is my one seriously bad habit. I eat way too much of it. It's shocking that my cholesterol levels aren't off the chart.

LOL..We have put one in the freezer a long time ago. I think it was only aged for a couple of months.. It was good tasted the same to me..but we gave most of it away. The only beef we eat is steak and some ground.. It is cheaper to buy that..

WOOOO! I was a bit scared the weather here went from 75* a couple of days ago to 14* right now and snow and high winds ..grrrr! BUT all 3 new babies are out running and buckin.. I hope they stay close to mommy.. The weather is just gonna get worse not anywhere close to freezing till Friday and thats a maybe..

Kylie

Wow 3 babies now. I hope everyone stays warm and dry. I can't believe the weather that's been going on. It seems to get crazier every year.

Here is a pic of the little blue lionhead. I got him from a breeder at our local chicken swap. She has them for sale all the time. She had some really pretty ones. I wanted some regular plain old bunnies for making a worm compost bed but had to get this little guy because my dd fell madly in love with him then she ended up allergic to him so I have to take care of him now lol. He is very sweet and tame. She still goes out to his cage and talks to him though.
I will try to get some pics of the baby rabbits soon. I am kinda leaving them alone a little because the momma is acting skittish when we come around them. They look like they have dark skin and are bald lol. I hope one is black but with long hair like the dad.
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OMG!! That is so cute!! now I want one or six..LOL Looks like a stuffed animal! What is his name?

He's so cute. I have no idea why there aren't any local Lionhead breeders here. It's such a pretty variety. I can't wait to see a pic of the babies : ) I got Molly at a show at the county agricultural fair. They had every obscure variety except for Lionheads. She's a house bunny and is litter box trained. She's the Alpha pet in the house. The cats are scared of her and she sits with Bailey (my 70 lb dog) and they share pig ears. She even attacks the vacuum when it's running. Weird rabbit, but sweet. {{gwi:448155}}

Ya'll That is just SOOOO wrong.. Kyle will kill me if I bring another animal home.. BUT They are soooo cute.. YES Hubbies name is Kyle..hahaha

No way. Kyle and Kylie! Too funny.

hahaha!!

AW Sh&%! we just lost a little calf to the weather that was born a few hr ago..Saw her momma and found her.. I guess we should have got there a little sooner.. I hate Winter.. At least in the Summer I can be there to help them out..

I'm sorry. Poor little thing. How in the world are you supposed to know where they are when they are giving birth, especially in the dark. This winter really does suck.

So sorry Kylie about losing a baby calf :-( Hope no more decide to give birth until the weather clears up some.

Cute rabbits Lenette and Karyn. I recently checked out on lionheads and one other because someone closeby was selling them on CL. I read up on lionheads and thought there was too much work with them, so changed my mind, LOL! I thought it would have been a good 'pet' for my gd, but would have to be kept at my home. Don't recall now how much they wanted for them, but think it was about $25.

Eloise if she likes long hair bunnies the AFL (American Fuzzy Lop) is a great choice as they rarely need to be brushed, if at all. The only thing I have to do with Molly is clip her nails. Unlike the other long hair varieties their hair won't tangle or mat.

They make a good house pet or can be kept outside in a hutch. My ND's stayed outside because they were too freaked out when we got Bailey but Molly and Bailey get along quite well. They can also be litter box trained pretty easily. You should check out the ASPCA, House Rabbit Society or other rescue group. People are always giving up rabbits, especially after Easter : (

Sorry to hear about the little calf who didn't make it. Darn weather!

Karyn, Molly is so pretty! I haven't seen any like her around here yet. Wonder what our Lionhead and Molly's babies would look like? LOL!