Mother's are what all livestock ranches are built on. We need mother animals to produce young. Usually the male young will be sold for a profit and eventually will be what we consume, and the female young will be selectively chosen to either stay on the ranch and become mother's themselves or else sold to another ranch or sold for meat. This time of year is when most baby animals are born. At our ranch we raise commercial cattle (mixed breed, not purebred). There are also many other types of animals besides cattle that are raised for consumption such as pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys, etc. Here is some terminology to describe each animal:
Cattle (Food: Beef)
Bull - Male that can breed
Cow - Female that has had a calf
Steer - Male that cannot breed (has been castrated)
Heifer - Female that has not yet had a calf
Long Yearling - An animal that is almost 2 years old
Yearling - An animal that is 1 year old
Calf - A young heifer/bull/steer
Swine (Food: Pork)
Boar - Male that can breed
Sow - Female that has had piglets
Barrow - Male that cannot breed (has been castrated)
Gilt - Female that has not yet had piglets
Piglet - A young pig of either sex
Sheep (Food: Lamb)
Ram - Male that can breed
Ewe - Female
Wether - Male that cannot breed (has been castrated)
Yearling - An animal that is 1 year old
Lamb - A young sheep of either sex
Goats (Food: Goat)
Buck - Male that can breed
Doe - Female
Wether - Male that cannot breed (has been castrated)
Yearling - An animal that is 1 year old
Buckling - A young male goat
Doeling - A young female goat
Kid - A young goat of either sex
Poultry (Food: Chicken)
Rooster - Adult male
Hen - Adult female
Cockerel - Young male
Pullet - Young female
Chick - Young chicken of either sex
Poultry (Food: Turkey)
Tom/Gobbler - Adult male
Hen - Adult female
Jake - Young male
Jenny - Young female
Poult - Young turkey of either sex
Ranchers take very good care of their livestock because our livestock is our livelihood! During calving time, cattle ranchers are up at all hours of the night and day checking on their cows and heifers that are about to have their babies. Heifers need to be watched especially closely because they have never had a calf before and can have a difficult time delivering it. If the cow or heifer needs help having her calf the rancher can pull the calf out using calving chains or a calving jack, and if there are serious problems the rancher may need to call a veterinarian who can perform a caesarean section which will surgically remove the calf. Once calves are born ranchers often give them shots to prevent disease and give them a head start in life. They also will disinfect the calf's navel with an iodine dip. Calves must be tagged in order to identify them from the other calves in the herd as well as given a RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) CCIA (Canadian Cattle Identification Agency) tag. If for some reason the calf is not sucking (drinking milk from it's mother) the rancher must bottle feed the calf many times a day. If the calf will not suck, then it must be given it's milk with a stomach tube. If the rancher raises purebred cattle he/she must select the best male calves to keep as bulls to be used for breeding and the rest will be castrated and become steers to be used as meat. In the summer cows and heifers are bred so that they will have calves the following spring. Breeding can be done naturally with a bull on pasture or by AI (artificial insemination) in which the cow or heifer is bred manually by a trained AI technician with semen that has been collected from a bull and stored in nitrogen tanks. Calves grow up and in the fall the rancher selects which heifers and bulls he/she would like to keep in his/her herd. The rest of the heifers, bulls, and steers are sold by private treaty, at an auction mart, or directly to a feedlot.
Besides the animal moms, human moms are an integral part of many ranches. My Mom is one of my best friends and has supported me in everything I do. She is also a very important part of our ranch... she can get up first thing in the morning to feed cattle, drive tractor and pull calves, work all day, and then come home and make us supper, do laundry, and all the other things Mom's do that we take for granted everyday.
Mom & myself at Ya Ha Tinda
Happy mother's day to all the amazing mothers out there!
