Boys and girls

The two heifers pictured in this post made my weekend. The above heifer, number 2, is my favorite of the bunch, and she was kind enough to have a heifer calf. Little number 14 will likely be one of my favorite heifers of her generation, and there's a good chance you're looking at replacement heifer for our operation next year.
I have been hoping this heifer would have a heifer calf since we turned the bulls in last summer. I hope she has heifer calves every year of her life.



Then there's this heifer, who belongs to me. She's a big girl - I call her a steer maker, and she must have heard me because she had the biggest calf to-date, and it's a bull. I didn't really want a heifer out of her because I prefer a more moderate cow than she is. If she raises a great big steer calf, that would suit me just fine.

These aren't the only heifers that I specifically hope have either a boy or a girl. There others who are still keeping things under wraps (or hide) for the time being. This is a fun time of year, and when you see the first results of your genetic and breeding programs from the previous winter (when you bought bulls) and summer (when you selected which bulls to put where, and turned them out with the cows).

Decisions have big impacts in agriculture. These calves, and their counterparts, are the future of our operation. We already had over a years worth of work in them before they arrived, through selecting, raising, feeding and caring for their mothers and fathers. Seeing healthy newborn calves is a great reward for all that time and dedication, and it's even better when the right heifers have bull, or heifer calves.