Bull Turned In

Romance is in the air at Fleming Family Beef, bovine romance. Unlike most beef producers, we like our cows to have their calves in the fall. At that time of year, feed is still plentiful, the ground is solid, and the weather has a high probability of being nice. In order for a mama cow to have her calf in the September-October time frame, she and the bull must do their thing about 283 days prior. That is the average gestation period for a bovine. So, five days ago, our (rented) Charolais bull was turned out with our cows. It so happened that one of our cows was “in heat,” (ovulating) on that day. It is neat to think on this cold winter day, that come the latter part of next September, we will start to have little white critters surprise us on various days.