Page 33 - MWC 3-9-2023s

feed. I walked along behind October 1st,” said Mike. His The Midwest Cattleman · March 9, 2023 · P33
them and whichever ones heifers average about 565 pasture was
let me scratch them on their pounds at weaning and his available, Mike
tailhead and kept eating, steers weigh around 600 saw some fantas-
those were the ones I want- pounds. Mike preconditions tic precondition-
ed.” Mike has been buying his calves for around for- ing gains. “Both
bulls from Monte ever since. ty-five days, during which the heifers and
“I’m very satisfied with the time they are bunk broken the steers get a
Rowell bulls,” he says, add- and given two rounds of weaning ration
ing that he has recommend- shots. During these recent every other day
ed them to several neighbors drought years, Mike’s heif- [when on good
over the years. ers and steers have gained wheat pasture].
So, how have those Sal- an average of two pounds per
ers-crossed cattle been day during preconditioning. continued on
doing along the Red River In the past, when good wheat page 34
for all these years? Excep-
tionally well, according to
Mike. Calving season for the
Mcaskills begins in Janu-
ary and ends in May—Mike
has bulls on his cows from
April 1st to October 1st—
and those Salers-crossed
mother cows make it easy.
“As far as mothering ability,
they’re pretty good mamas,”
said Mike. He again empha-
sized the tremendous vigor
Success Starts With Female
of Salers calves. His herd is Success Starts With Femaless
roughly ninety-five percent Offering 20+ pairs plus a package of outstanding heifers
black-hided and many cows
are one-half to three-quar- sired by MJB Velocity 414E and 50+ of their bull siblings
ters Salers, with commercial
Angus cows purchased as re-
placement heifers.
Mike’s cattle graze on
2300 acres of deeded native
pasture and 700-800 acres of
riparian grassland, all along
the Red River and its north
fork. Mike usually relies on
wheat pasture for grazing
yearlings. However, wheat Join Usoin Us
J
pasture in western Oklaho-
ma has been severely lacking MARCH 26
over the past few years due
to extreme drought; in May MARYVILLE, MO
of 2022, Oklahoma State
University Extension agron-
omist and Jackson Coun-
ty Extension director Gary
Strickland told Milling Jour-
nal he expected a nearly fifty
percent decline in winter
wheat yields harvested that
season (1). Regardless, Mike
and his family have managed
to make do.
“We try to wean on about

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