Pooper behind me

Every year my calving heifers have milestones, not good ones, but it seems to run the same every year...
First calf born dead, watched her labor and got tired of waiting, was alive when we got her in the chute but never took a breath.... I'll have the 'its not my calf' heifer. We'll have the 'that's my calf not this one that just fell out my butt.' And then the pooper. The pooper lays down at night and what she thinks is just a big poop, its actually a smallish calf. What happens with the pooper is they don't get up and if the sack is still over the calf, it suffocates. I'll go out at first light and find a dead calf, usually cleaned off by someone and i'll have to look for who had it. Sometimes she's still just laying there with the dead calf behind her. But, we saw pooper when she started labor this season. And as usual, she did not get up. We got to the calf before he suffocated. But meanwhile, she gets up and walks away chewing her cud, lah la lah..UGH... Since her calf was tiny, she was spunky. Penned them up and we had a good outcome and they are out with the herd now. What I have left is the, 'quit trying to nurse me' heifer. I still have over 20 left to calve. These girls wear me out.....

It's the 'pooper' heifers that keep me out at night when they're expected. I've seen that too many times and it's such a waste of a year's work to miss that minute during which you could rescue the calf! The ones I see aren't tiny though, they're the ones their mothers are just glad are finished causing the pain and the pushing and so they lie there in relief that it's all stopped. I've cleared a calf's face and then watched it gradually get more lively until it was crawling its way around the side of the heifer before she even noticed it. Fortunately all of mine in recent years have been happy the calf is theirs.

Just curious why you would not cull the pooper.

jehosofat":1ngt6aje said:

Just curious why you would not cull the pooper.

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Its a heifer and her first calf.

cowgirl8":38l0zj3i said:

jehosofat":38l0zj3i said:

Just curious why you would not cull the pooper.

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Its a heifer and her first calf.

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Quoted from your original post.

Sometimes she's still just laying there with the dead calf behind her. But, we saw pooper when she started labor this season. And as usual, she did not get up.

jehosofat":3i94w99q said:

cowgirl8":3i94w99q said:

jehosofat":3i94w99q said:

Just curious why you would not cull the pooper.

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Its a heifer and her first calf.

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Quoted from your original post.

Sometimes she's still just laying there with the dead calf behind her. But, we saw pooper when she started labor this season. And as usual, she did not get up.

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Pooper is what I call a heifer that year that does that. The name does not stay with her.

I forgot the 'swarm'...Where bored heifers see a heifer with a brand new just hit the ground calf and they swarm her. I had calves die when they do this. And it confuses the calf, since everyone is sniffing and talking.. They have trouble deciding who their mother is. I think I thwarted that one too...Love having my heifers at the house, I can watch them almost all day. Oh and another, 'bred to bulls who produce tiny calves and one has one over 100 pounds', just pulled that one. Luckily we were here or she would have been the 'calf stuck, dead and heifer paralyzed" case...

Heifers can make you pull your hair out for sure sometimes.. One of mine slipped her calf 3 weeks early, I think it was a bit of a "pooper" deal.. slipped? fell? shoved? who knows... Next one had her calf standing up, took care of it alright.. 2 more to go, should have them this week

Had the," Its not my calf, get it away from me" or the, "What is this thing, get it away." heifer yesterday. We had to pull it. Was the hardest pull we've had in a very long time. So hard, I had to look away while the guys winched away. We heard so much popping and snapping, it sickened me, there was no turning back at this point. But all is well and calf just fine. Really thought his shoulders were jacked. Big stout bull calf, very very strong, luckily. He chased that heifer around for hours until I decided to put her in the chute so he could finally nurse. She's not real aggressive, but, politely pushes him away. Stood quietly in the chute.. We'll get this worked out.. I started counting and looks like we are down to around 10 heifers left. Yay....Once we get these heifers done, we're out of here...

cowgirl8":b112caes said:

Had the," Its not my calf, get it away from me" or the, "What is this thing, get it away." heifer yesterday. We had to pull it. Was the hardest pull we've had in a very long time. So hard, I had to look away while the guys winched away. We heard so much popping and snapping, it sickened me, there was no turning back at this point. But all is well and calf just fine. Really thought his shoulders were jacked. Big stout bull calf, very very strong, luckily. He chased that heifer around for hours until I decided to put her in the chute so he could finally nurse. She's not real aggressive, but, politely pushes him away. Stood quietly in the chute.. We'll get this worked out.. I started counting and looks like we are down to around 10 heifers left. Yay....Once we get these heifers done, we're out of here...

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WOW, you have some incredible stories. Must be exciting to be a real rancher.

Aint nobody got time for dis

cowgirl8":3c7y4xuv said:

Aint nobody got time for dis

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So, will she be culled?

greatgerts":3qwsbwmd said:

cowgirl8":3qwsbwmd said:

Aint nobody got time for dis

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So, will she be culled?

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It's a heifer. Just depends. Seeing that we pulled that stout bull out of her she'll probably never have problems with the size of a calf the rest of her life. Worth considering keeping and we've never had one repeat. It's a heifer thing.

It appears your husband has time for it, and you have time for pictures. As per normal.

...You decided.. Yeah I betcha.

Supa Dexta":lydruyex said:

It appears your husband has time for it, and you have time for pictures. As per normal.

...You decided.. Yeah I betcha.

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what does this mean?

I was going to post the latest picture of 'What is this thing, get it away?" heifer. Still not happy about the calf nursing, but tolerating it some. Luckily he's what I call a Zombie calf. Just keeps coming at you no matter what is done to him. He was trying to nurse and she'd let him for a second, but he's so aggressive that he buts her hard and that doesn't go over well with her. As he nursed, I got the chute ready and that got her attention where it gave him a better chance to nurse longer. SO, I decided that it was time for the feed distraction. YAY, it worked.

I'd like to see a terminal cross of Pooper and Zombie, back over a Get It Away. Prolly make a he// of a calf.

Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...

Update on Pooper. She's mothering her calf and all is well and is now in their summer pasture. But, one of the cows who had been partially paralyzed, lost her calf, and put in the pen with the calving heifers, has adopted poopers baby. So baby pooper has two mommies. It will be interesting to see if baby poop grows better than the others. SHe's so tiny now...
Zombie calf has won, she's given up and he gets to nurse all he wants now. BTW, I've been giving our cattle goofy names forever. Here is a youtube I have with a zombie calf from 8 years ago. Not all calves are like this, just occasionally do we get a bottle calf or one we need to help that is like this.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE_fZhvYPtc