Week Six with Extension by Emily Stamper

Walking the heifers back at CMREC

This week we spent Wednesday weighing the cows and sheep at WMREC and then went to weigh the Jersey calves in the afternoon. On Thursday, we went to CMREC to weigh the heifers and Friday I put in all the data from both days in Excel. IN our weekly connection we talked about critical thinking and problem solving. Throughout the week we had to make a few adjustments with our herd at WMREC. We have been having an issue with the sheep and cows from the front and back group mixing. The barn and shute system was starting to look like Fort Knox with the amount of paneling we had stacked up in hopes to keep the two groups separated. We have an area behind our 8 pastures that we decided to let the back group into. It is well shaded and has ample grass for the cows to graze. We split the pasture in two and added another fence to block them from going back up to where the front group is. This allows for them to still rotationally graze without potentially mixing.

The herd at WMREC

One thing I have learned from this internship so far is that you always have to be on your toes and think fast. At CMREC, we were leading the heifers back up to the pastures after being weighed. We normally wait until the experimental group starts up the hill before we let the control group out. As I was walking the control group up, we noticed that one of the heifers got pushed by another heifer into the wrong pasture. Immediately I hurried to the front of the group to stop the heifers from entering the pasture. The last thing we need is to try and separate out a cow from the wrong group. Luckily Cheyenne and Amanda were able to keep walking her up the hill and opened a fence to let her back in with the group. After Sarah and I put the control group in the pasture, we headed up to help Amanda and Cheyenne. We had to walk the heifers to the back pasture and they were not cooperative. It took all four of us to finally get them to where they were supposed to be.

I always admire that all three of my mentors work together so well and get things done as a team. Whenever there is an issue, it is never just one person who has to do all the work themselves. They all pitch in and help each other and it makes the load so much lighter and we get things done faster.