Kristyn Harris – Building the Herd

Here’s our co-host David Woodruff with Kristen Harris. 

“Diamond K is my brand.“

Yes, you mentioned that. Did you say something about spread mouth cows? 

“I did, yeah.“

Our listeners might not be familiar with the term. I’ve heard it, but I can’t tell you what it is. Can you tell us what it is? 

“Spread mouth, that’s referring to their teeth. It’s an age thing. Spread mouth is a cow that’s a little bit older, but still be able to keep having calves for another several years. They call them a gummer if they’re completely out of teeth. That’s kind of the cow that you’re going to take to the sale barn.“

Right.

“Solid mouth are your young ones. Those will be the more expensive ones. They’ve got a lot of years left in them.”

You can say a spread mouth is an experienced cow. She knows what the heck she’s doing. 

“Exactly, exactly. You don’t have to worry about staying up all night with her calving like you do with the heifers. “

You’re getting to have a fairly good sized herd now that you’ve been after it. Was it five years? 

“A little more than five years. I think about eight or nine years. I built it up to about 25 mama cows. I didn’t want to get it too large because someone else is taking care of them most of the time. I’ve actually sold back a few this year with the market being so good. I’m keeping some replacement heifers as well. It’s still a small herd, but it’s sure come a long way.”