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Horns N Hooves
🐄 Horns and Hooves: The Highland Cattle Podcast
Are you tired of sorting through bad advice about raising Highland and Highland Cross cattle? Do you need practical, proven strategies to make smart decisions for your farm? You've come to the right place!
Welcome to Horns and Hooves, the podcast dedicated to being your go-to source for all things Highland and Highland Cross cattle.
Join your hosts, Lori Racicky (from Creekside Highland Haven) and Taylor Hauser (from Hausers Homestead). We started this podcast because we learned the hard way - through our own mistakes and by trusting the wrong advice. We know what it's like to feel all alone, juggling costly decisions and second-guessing every move.
The good news is: You don't have to anymore!
What We Cover:
We dive into topics that truly matter to the everyday cattle owner, offering real stories and honest advice from people who live it. We keep it real and share what works, learning from experience, not nonsense.
- Farm Economics: Expert tips on managing feed costs and making financially savvy choices.
- Buying & Selling: Strategies for navigating the complexity of livestock auctions and sales.
- The Hard Truths: We tackle the subjects others avoid, like getting straight answers about cattle sizes, temperament, and quality.
- Community Support: Our mission is to build a strong community where everybody feels welcome, no matter how long you've been in the game.
Our goal is to cut through the noise and give you the practical takeaways you need to raise a healthy, successful herd.
Hit that subscribe button and give us a five-star rating to help our community grow!
Follow Us on Social Media: Find us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
Horns N Hooves
Hands-on Cattle Management and Pregnancy Checking with Taylor Hauser
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode of Horns and Hooves, Taylor returns from a transformative week at the Graham School in Garnett, Kansas. Stepping far outside her comfort zone, she dives into the technical world of cattle management, covering everything from ultrasounding and pregnancy checking to nutrition and herd health.
Taylor shares her excitement about bringing these new skills back to her mini highland herd, noting that "you're learning everything you need to know from the moment that calf is in the womb... to taking it to the sale barn". The duo also discusses a fascinating product called Bovi-Thera (referenced as "therapies") that mimics a nursing calf to calm livestock during high-stress events like weaning, shipping, and AI.
Key Takeaways
The Graham School offers an intensive five-day cattleman course providing hands-on experience with pregnancy checking, ultrasounding, and fertility management.
Once you pay the initial fee, students can return to future classes for free to refresh their skills.
Calming products that mimic natural maternal pheromones can significantly improve conception rates during AI and reduce weight loss during shipping.
Proper semen handling is critical, as even slight temperature changes in the neck of the tank can damage motility and lower success rates.
Episode Highlights
Taylor describes her experience as a "niche breed" owner among 19 students from across the country, including Hawaii and Florida.
We discuss the challenges of confirming pregnancies in miniature donkeys and horses, hoping that external ultrasound techniques might provide a faster solution than waiting a year for a foal.
We also touch on the emotional side of ranching, acknowledging the mourning process cows go through after losing a calf.
Finally, we look forward to the National Western Stock Show in Denver, discussing the preparations for showing heifers in the new facilities.
Timestamps
00:11 Graham School overview and location
01:04 Skills learned: Ultrasounding and preg checking
05:29 The "Return and Learn" free tuition policy
07:18 Benefits of calming pheromone products
10:40 Testing external ultrasound on mini donkeys
14:07 Technical tips for AI and semen handling
16:43 Coping with calving losses and breech births
19:18 Preparing for the National Western Stock Show
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Website: hornsnhoovesauction.com
Production Credit: Edited and produced by @the32collective_ / https://www.the32collective.co/