As the new farm intern, I have spent the last two weeks acclimating myself to farm life and all it entails! Since I had very minimal knowledge of farm equipment before starting this internship, I have spent a good amount of time being instructed on farm vehicles and their implements including: the tractor, shredder, hay loader, lawn mower, etc. I have also worked some on general maintenance and upkeep of the vehicles to keep them in good working condition.
Throughout these two weeks, I have also begun to learn the lay of not only the farm, but also the towns of Thrall and neighboring Taylor, in order to know how to reach important places to run errands for the farm. I have picked up items to work or feed cattle at the feed store, dropped off and picked up pieces of tractor equipment at our tractor repair shop, picked up pesticide and herbicide from our chemical supplier, as well as other random assorted items from local hardware stores.
Since I am an animal science major at Texas A&M and my area of focus is on beef cattle, my time is mostly spent working with the two herds of cattle here on the farm. They are mostly Brangus (Brahman and Angus) cross with some other influence such as Hereford (which one can tell from the few “bald” faces we have). Every morning I go check the cattle to make sure they are still in the right pasture, check body condition score (which evaluates the animal’s physical condition health- and nutrition-wise, based on how they appear), possibly move them to a different pasture, and do whatever else needs to be done to ensure their wellbeing. We have been supplementing their forage grazing with hay and cottonseed (which provides a protein source) as needed. This week we also added in some liquid molasses feeders (which provide an energy source) and mineral (which will supplement whichever minerals they are not receiving through the forage, to help prevent mineral deficiencies).
An important aspect of owning cattle is working cattle every few months. We start with trying to train them to come into the pens a week or so before the working by leaving food in the pens. The morning of working them, we try to get most of the cows into the pen with food and the stragglers we will herd in afterwards. Then we will separate out calves and cows/bulls and run the calves through first. They will be herded into a lane so that we can put them into the chute at the end of the lane one at a time. In the chute, the calves will get vaccines they need, a numbered ear tag for identification purposes, and wormer to help combat various parasites the animals may pick up. After the calves are done, the cows and bulls will be run through the lane/chute to also receive vaccines and wormer, numbered ear tags that need replacing, as well as a fly tag to stop flies from biting, which can be an issue for cattle. The cattle are then released back into the pasture until the next time we work them!
It is hard work on a farm, but it has been and continues to be an incredible experience as I broaden my knowledge of agriculture.
Farm Intern
Kyra LeJeune
