Surprize!

Woke up to a surprize this morning.  New baby bull calf in the field.  Mom & Baby both doing well.  Not supposed to start with calving until Jan 20. 

Here they are!

Drum roll please....2015 upcoming Herd Prospects that will be in our sale, March 3, 2015 in Burley, Idaho.  It was a hard day to get good pictures, but we continued on and got through a few.  There are some "beefy" boys, and it's exciting to see them develop.  

Getting them to pose and get just the right shot to show off their best features is not an easy task!

B8042 Net Worth Bull (PB Angus)

BR440 Game Day Bull  (PB Angus)

BS221 Maker's Mark Bull (3/4 Sm 1/4 Ma)

BT77 Game Day Bull (PB An)

BZ240 Game Day Bull (1/4 Sm 3/4 An)

Braden & Tyler Torching the hair for the finishing touches. 

Kamri, Charlee, & Cash getting them cleaned before they head to the finishing chute. Brodey, Call, & Ryan Loughmiller were all hanging out helping too. (All under the age of 13!)   Pulling poop tags, blowing, clipping, waving flags, standing in corners  in the cold weather makes for good kids in the end. 

BZ865 Final Answer Bull (3/4 An 1/4 Ma)

Getting ready to start feeding hay

Brodey, "Queenie", Kamri, & "Annie" climbed up on the stack of straw bales to run for a while after setting up the picture pen for tomorrow's project.  We'll start clipping up the bulls and taking pictures/videos.  Let the fun begin! 

We have been enjoying the mild weather so far, but know that the time is soon coming that we'll have to start feeding the cows.  Although, the cows should be grateful they are in Malta right now and not in Elba as we got quite a bit of snow with this last storm.  The cows at Malta were spread out and grazing today when we went down to weigh the bulls.

Weighed 90 head of bulls and averaged 1088 lbs. They are bigger than you think when you get behind them and start pushing them up the chute. 

We had to finally get another Dodge truck to replace the good Ol' Tank!  The guys have been in process of switching over the hydra-bed and attachments to get it ready to go.  Not an easy task. 

R.I.P! 

Cattle Drive to Malta

"Living the Dream" and driving the cattle to pasture in Malta. The snow only lasted a little while today and the cows trailed out well.  Only took 5 hours to make the 12 mile trip.  The cows will be happy now they are there...  lots of feed on the pivots for them to graze.

Braden & Kamri 

Tom Trying the new colt out.

Many cars came through and stopped to visit.  A couple stopped to take pictures along the way.

Even our friends from California came and joined in. Glad you could be here for the fun, Trevor & Mike Schmidt!

Thanks for joining the crew today, Aubrey. 

Utah Cattlemen's Display

It's becoming a tradition for us, Kay's carmels & cheeseballs seem to draw in the people.  Getting excited to have the bull sale #'s starting to come in.  Spreadsheets are available with all the bulls we have and listing their birth weights & weaning weights as well. Registrations are being submitted and 50K testing on the Purebred Angus Bulls.

New Mangers going up in Malta

Expanding some feed-yard space at Malta to be able to feed out our heifers and utilize the pasture there.  Thanks to Larson Construction for their skills and getting the job done!

Preg-testing Day

We have always scheduled preg-testing day for Thanksgiving weekend, usually due to necessity.  That's when the kids are home and out of school to help.  Come rain, snow, or shine we usually trudge on.  Thanks to Dr. Dustin from Bear River Animal Clinic for making the trip to spend the day with us.

  It was a long day to get through 300 head, and the clouds kept looking threatening on the mountains above, but it held out long enough to get done. 

#101 way to use a cane...Ruel overseeing the progress.

Even the son in law came to help!

Cowgirl up!

Another Tradition: Ham & Beans on the tailgate of the truck.   

Looking forward to seeing some of the AI calves that will be hitting the ground from these sires: Range Boss, Monopoly, Man Among Boys, O'Reilly Factor, JJ Bar Night Ride, Unstoppable, Game Day, Hook's Yellowstone, Final Answer, Insight, Missing Link, & All Around.

Here comes the Snow!

It came today just like they fore-cast.  It was really coming down when we came in tonight after doing chores.  Just moved the cows up to some fields with lots of good grass, so hoping it will lay off tomorrow and they can keep grazing off the fall feed.

Heifers on the hill grazing on the beardless barley.

Whitaker Corral..can you spot the wild turkey? 

Feed us please! Feeder steers waiting for their grain. 

Two point Buck in our garden.  After meandering through our yard, he hopped over the fence and away he went to the willows. 

Step on the scales, boys!

Weighed the yearling bulls today to see how they're coming on the starter ration they've been on.  Switching over to their new grower ration, but very impressed with how well they've been gaining so far. Averaged 894 lbs on 92 head of bulls.

King of the Hill? 

Snowing!

Weather forecast was predicting it, and sure enough when we woke up there was a covering of white on the ground.  They are saying we're going to have a real winter this year.  Might be true. 

Heifers in the big field

Breakfast tastes even better when you're cold. 

Weaning Heifers

Today was a busy day weaning the rest of the heifer calves...122 of them to be exact.  It was a beautiful day to do it once the sun came up and the frost melted off the grass.  This might be one of the best matched up groups of heifer calves we have ever had.  Sorted a small group off that were lighter weight to take to the sale tomorrow.  Should be interesting to see what kind of prices they bring.  The cows are a little mixed up right now as we separated their calves in one corral and then pushed them up to the top corral.  The sound of bawling cows & calves may keep some of the neighbors awake the next couple of days.

Tom & Braden bringing them in from the pasture. 

Corral full of great replacement heifers 

More Preview Day Pics

We appreciated getting these pictures shared to us from the Tracy Family from Declo, Idaho.  We enjoyed getting to visit with everyone and hope you learned something useful to help you in your upcoming show ventures.

The heifer was in the chute waiting patiently for her turn to be clipped. 

She needed to have some scratching after waiting, so Makayla got a close up view of the clipping.

Looking at it from all angles was helpful to see what was being talked about. 

Wow! This is what she looked like at the NILE.  Thanks for sharing Taylor Family...Congrats on a job well done!! 

Preview Day!

The day started out a little chilly, but it warmed up and was a beautiful day for our Preview.  Thanks to Joel Judge for the great tips he shared on Feeding and Clipping.  Tri Tip Fajitas for lunch were yummy--Thanks to Kay, Amanda, Traci and their helpers. We are looking forward to seeing what calves end up in different parts of the country.

Setting up for the day

Feeding tips 

Clipping the heifer to transform her for Showday. Good luck, Makayla Taylor at the NILE this next week!

Showday Tips

4 pens of steers

1 pen of heifers

Happy Customers!

Here are 2 past customers that have written us this week.  We love to hear success stories like this!  1 more reason to buy a Barker Cattle Heifer. 

From California:  "Hello, my name is Karly Kavajecz and I purchased a Maine x Chianina heifer from you guys in what I believe was the 2010 sale.  I've had amazing success with the cow's calves. Last year's got Reserve Grand Champion at the Humboldt County Fair with a calf out of our Angus Bull! We also kept back her AI calf from the year before as our herd bull and he is outstanding."

From Idaho: "Your calves look amazing as always.  Our daughter is going to show from her little herd of calves out of the heifer we bought from you.  The calves from her daughters have thrown some fantastic calves. Last year she won Grand champion with a calf out of her Barker Heifer "Cher",  and then another steer that she sold from one of  Cher's calves won Reserve.  These were also sired by bulls we bought from you."

Randa Allen & Champion Steer

Last set of Pictures done!

Nice to have all the calves finally pictured!  The videos should                   be up on the website tomorrow.  Showtime!

Lot 1 BZ132 Boss x Vendetta 

Lot 4 BP121 Cool Whip x Ma x An

Lot 9 BP67 Unstoppable x Energizer 

Lot 11 BR43 Unstoppable x Nautica ....gentle disposition

Lot 13 BT217 Cornerstone x Abrakadabra

Lot 16 BP58 Cornerstone x All About You

Lot 23 BP222 Cornerstone x HeatSeeker...gentle disposition

Lot 25 BT221 Cornerstone x Nautica

Lot 26 BS312 Cornerstone x Duramax

Lot 116 B421 Smilin Bob x Positive Addition Heifer

Lot 119 BX131 Cornerstone x Ma x Heifer 

Lot 120 Cornerstone x Nautica Heifer