go back to the home pen. So you can really see that transition where a calf is mentally becoming accli- mated to its home pen. We exercise and acclimate for at least 5 days on a bawling calf. At the end, they don’t have the urge to go anywhere. About Day 3 you can really tell a difference.” “That’s what we want them to
do, go to the pen and eat. We don’t want them walking the fence line. After they eat, they lie down and rest.” Burkholder believes exercising
and acclimating fresh calves are ex- cellent tools for any newly received calf. But these tools are especially effective on a bawling calf. It also gives her and her crew
a double opportunity to spot any sickness. “I look at the calves actively when they are walking past me in
the corral. If I see something I don’t like, I can pull that calf right then. We pull and treat those animals, and they immediately go back to their home pen,” she says. Later in the day, the feedyard’s pen rider will also check the cattle. The program has improved the effectiveness of her pen riders and
when they are getting sick. They’re showing the cowboy they don’t feel good instead of trying to hide it. It’s all because of how we set these fresh cattle up when they come in.” Burkholder’s staff is now a big
proponent of exercising and accli- mating fresh calves. But that wasn’t always the case.
Newly weaned cattle are going to walk and bawl. Exercising them gives a purpose to their movement.
their ability to fi nd those animals that might be getting sick. “If cattle aren’t comfortable in
their surroundings, they won’t tell you when they don’t feel good,” Burkholder explains. “But if you get them comfortable in their sur- roundings, it’s a lot easier to tell
“You talk to my guys now, and
they are huge advocates of it. But back when we started, they thought I was crazy when I said we were going to start exercising calves,” she says with a grin. “They see what it does for the calves, how it drops the morbidity
TCFA member feedyards in the three-state region of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico offer: - Experience of producing 30% of the nation’s fed beef supply - Best climate with mild summer temperatures - Proximity to all major packers
For more information, visit
www.tcfa.org, or call (806) 358-3681.
tscra.org September 2013 The Cattleman 65
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