Mother Nature can be cruel, but even when she is at her worst, there’s really nothing better than welcoming new life to the ranch.

Throughout March we have celebrated calving season with a photo contest. We teamed up with Igenity Beef to host the “Scenes from Spring Calving” photo contest, and it was wonderful to see a glimpse of your operations this time of year.

Thanks to your images of newborn calves and maternal cows bonding together, we created a beautiful collection of images, which you can view here.

From these images, we narrowed down the entries to 15 finalists.

Congratulations to our top photographers: Curt Dahlstrom, Danielle Diniz, Rachel Jones, Louise Hall, Carol Greet, Randi DeBruyne, Autumn Fuhrman, Alex Carone, Suzanne Loepker, Ella Callicott, Derek Stehr, Amanda Towny, Haley Scott, Eric Gardner and Cathy Brown.

The four photographers who receive the most votes will receive 10 Igenity Beef DNA tests, valued at $290!

We need your help in selecting our champions. You can vote for your four favorite photographs daily from now until April 3. Winners will be announced on April 4; plus, three lucky voters will be randomly selected to win BEEF caps.

View the finalist gallery and vote for your favorite here.

Thanks to everyone who has made this another fun and exciting contest, and good luck to our finalists!

Related:Scenes from spring calving

Each spring, ranchers keep busy welcoming new life to the ranch. It’s an exhausting but rewarding marathon ensuring that newborn calves get off to a good start, made even more challenging if Mother Nature decides to strike a brutal blow.

Even as we deal with the typical spring mud and swelling of the nearby James River, the problems we have this time of year are nothing compared to those who are battling to save their ranches and their livestock right now.

My heart is in Nebraska and the surrounding region, and I pray for the ranching communities that have been impacted by massive flooding. The devastation to these farming families is indescribable, and I can’t imagine trying to calve and feed cows in a flood zone!

Thankfully, our agricultural friends have rallied together to help those in need, and the BEEF team has worked hard to cover these events and the ongoing efforts in Nebraska.

Catch up on all the latest news and relief efforts here:

Related:What’s the most economical month for calving?

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Farm Progress.