Making this so I can track the progress of my shorthorns with occasional updates. I know they're not horses, but they are large livestock that require a lot of training for what I'd like to do with them. I got them both the first week of October. First, a little bit about my boys.

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Etherion is a white bull born May 4th 2020. He's from show stock and quite a hefty boy. He was an 85lbs birth weight with a 1.3 calving ease, so we plan to only use him on cows that have had a calf before. When I got him, he was calm, but untouched other than getting shots, tags, and ear tattoos. That and he had some bad diarrhea from having just been weaned and put on feed. I have his papers and plan to show him, so my little guy will have to get a nose ring some time in the future. He is polled, fluffy, and eating about 23 pounds of grain per day plus unlimited mixed grass hay. He weighs about 650 to 700lbs right now and is a super calm boy. Likes having his tail scratched and enjoys bathes in warmer weather. He is very gentle and will lick me if given the chance. Etherion is getting very easy to catch, but he thinks treats are poison.

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Entei is a roan steer born May 2nd 2020. He was a 94lbs birthweight and calving ease of 9. On paper, he has way more business being a bull than Etherion has, but the white calf has better legs and Entei has a few genetic diseases that the shorthorn association is trying to breed out. That and he's a lot spunkier. He came to me hyper and terrified. He had only been touched for tagging, shots, and castration. He got put in the chute to have a halter put on before he got in the trailer, and he did not like it. Now, he is a very sweet boy that loves having his back scratched. He likes the hose and leads amazing. Right now we're working with the show stick, and he's picking it up very well. He is a treat vacuum and loves attention. Entei is polled and has the most beautiful, feminine head of any cow I own. I do have his papers and he will be shown in a state show and possibly the shorthorn national show next year. He weighs about 675 to 700lbs. His mom was a good 1500lbs, and I got within 10 feet of that huge tall cow when we brought him home. She was beautiful. Entei needs to hit 1000 to compete in the state show I'm taking him to in March, so he's eating the same as Etherion and they're about to see an increase in feed.

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The first couple pictures will be from when they first came home, and the last couple will be from 6 days ago. There are also some pictures from in between. Please excuse my sucky fences. My property is not amazing, but it's fairly useful the way it is.

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These two have gained a ton since I got them. They've put on a ton of muscle and gotten generally thicker, as well as growing capacity and s lot of hair. They're super fun to work with and are surprisingly respectful. The pen they have used to be occupied by mini horses that pushed the fence down reaching for grass, because what pony doesn't do that? There are places that I can easy go over, and they've been there since the end of October and never once made a move. They got this pen because it has a decent roof and plenty of space for them to excercise and be comfortable. It's only about 1/4 on an acre, but they can run at top speed and look pretty satisfied all the time. They're just good boys and I wanted to share the little monsters with everyone.

Just wanted to start your forum off with, Oh my lord, look at those adorable boys and their floofy coats! ;D

Hi, I don't know much about cows. What is a calving ease?

Such floofy coats and such nice names. Good luck with them!

They are absolutely adorable! I hope they continue to do great for you! I live on a dairy farm, so cows/calves all the time and I know what joy they can bring to someone life!

Also curious haha

Calving ease is how easy the birth was. A higher calving ease means the birth was easier. It has to do with the way the calf is shaped at birth and how big the cow's pelvis is, which is then carried on to the bull's offspring. The white bull should really only be used on cows with his slightly bigger birth weight and low calving ease, but I have a red angus bull with a 72lbs birth weight and a calving ease of 13 to use on first time heifers. We're hoping to sell the red angus, but we would be replacing him with a very similar shorthorn bull. I like colorful cattle, which is why we're switching from a red angus bull to shorthorn.

I didn't know about this, thanks for explaining that! :)

The little monsters had a tying/grooming session today. They were brought into a very airy stall along with a little Guernsey bull, who's name is Everest, and tied loosely so they could eat, lay down and get comfortable. They got brushed, given hay, and left. I checked on them after 10 minutes to make sure they were getting along with Everest, and they were all laying down chilling together. The jersey heifers in the next stall were helping themselves to their hay and the boys were all just vibing. They spent about 2 hours tied up and just layed around eating the whole time. These longish tying sessions are important because cows are tied up in rows at shows and don't get stalls like other show animals, so they sometimes have to spend a few days tied up at a show. Since the shorthorns are going to show starting in January, they're getting used to it so that they won't get upset later on.

The little monsters have been eating very well lately. They got a new pen mate, a dairy/fleckvieh cross bull named Ean, and 15lbs of grain has been added to their daily ration. Ean had only been eating 5 or 6 pounds of feed per day before, so he's happy camper with the extra grain. I haven't been working with them much due to rain making it muddy and nasty here. We moved the rest of our cattle around and put some bred cows next to the boys, which has Etherion very interested. The boys just got a new round bale to eat/lay in. The bad weather hasn't bothered them much. It's super muddy right by their roof, but most of the pen in very sandy, so the water soaked right in and left them with 90% of their pen totally dry.

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On Tuesday, I'm buying a used Sullivan Air Express blower for them. It's basically a powerful blow dryer for show animals. It's a small unit that sits on the ground and has a long hose like a tank vacuum. I believe this model also has an outlet to plug in clippers on it. It's supposed to be in almost new condition, so I'll see when I get there to buy it. I have a blower that I purchased years ago in need of repair and had just gotten the parts to fix it too, but the one I'm looking at is a much nicer model. If I do get it, then the boys will be getting a major bath on Wednesday and I'll post new pictures of them after their grooming. I'm hoping to park the trailer in the driveway so I can tie them to it for blow drying and I haven't yet decided whether I want to bath them in the back yard or run a hose to the driveway to do it. I'm 99% sure they're going to be terrified of the blower at first. The first show for Entei is going to be at the end of the month, so he's going to be getting a lot of special treatment until then.