Calving season 2020 for me

[Nesikep]

weather is slowly warming back up...
no more calves, but Zecca is very flabby and the udder is getting full.

Here's a whole bunch of pics that are kinda recent
Zeus scratching an itch


Zeus is an excellent babysitter, gently plays with the calves, even gives them some licking (Gucci the male twin)


Coda and Cindy..


Hannah, from Robin the PB heifer, I think she's a replacement.. she's BEST BUDS with Pozzy, Zeus's brother
They're both about 2 1/2 weeks old in these pics


Pozzy

 

[Nesikep]

Cindy.. she's 1/4 Limo.. I'm not that fond of the 1/2 Limo cows, tend to be kinda bony, but I might keep her and see how she does.. Momma has an excellent udder, not the prettiest cow to look at but she does alright


The twins


Lard-arse's calf just got tagged, pic at the perfect moment when she was shaking her head.. that calf is HUUUGE, I can't get over it (she's 2 days old here)


Pozzy



Etna and Tina.. Not that fond of Etna from what I see so far, kinda narrow shouldered
Tina I'll have to see, I REALLY like her full sister (Pookie).. She still doesn't like the back teats, and she gets incredibly frustrated with me when I hide the front ones so she has no option


Hades, Hestia's daughter (Cenci's granddaughter).. She's the social butterfly, comes right up to anyone.. THAT is a nice back.. I'm hoping she grows nicely to make the replacement pen

 

[Chevy]

awww!

I had a calfsickle born this morning, -10C/14F but -2F with wind chill
warmed up in the shop, drank a quart of colostrum, back with momma with a blanket, couple hours later he'd found the milk spigots so he's doing well.. probably lose the tips of his ears though

Can tell he's in rough shape in the first pic

How is the calf doing?

 

[Chevy]

You lost me on which one this is.

 

[Nesikep]

I don't really have a name for him.. He's doing fine! little bit of contracted tendons but they'll ease up in time.. I find when they're newborn you don't see it much, then a day or two later it's noticeable
Here he is as of yesterday

I do have one I think is getting navel ill, I'm going to have to try and catch him.. d@mmit I noticed his umbilical cord was much thicker than normal, I iodined it and clipped it to about 4" long but I guess that wasn't enough.. That's the cow that has had 8 bulls in a row.. a few years ago her calf was bleeding from the navel after birth, also had a thick umbilical cord.. I tied it off and it was fine

 

[Nesikep]

FIIIINAAAAALLLY, Zecca calved, needed some help but it was way less stressful than last year... calf is a bull, 297 days gestation.. I was sure waiting on him!

Postimages is being a biatch and not letting me upload pics.. I'll get some soon

 

[Nesikep]

 

[Nesikep]

2 more heifer calves born today, this morning was Sybille, big brown heifer.. tonight was Kama, I actually induced her with 5cc dex yesterday because she's got some vaginal prolapse, udder was full so might as well get it over and done with.. Kama's is a white face, much like her steer last year, I doubt I'll keep either of them as replacements, I know for certain I won't keep Kama's, her udder isn't nice enough (VERY LONG, big teats, and the prolapse thing).. Other calf, well, her momma has just never made a heifer I liked (she's 14).. she makes great steers though

This morning's baby


Prada was tired and passed out, the outline of her belly is the same as of the mountain behind her!


Prada with the twins in a more respectable position


Cindy


Mushy


Hannah


Pozzy was passed out


Zecca and Zippo


Zippy, a heifer from last year, was a good pic so it snuck in

 

[wbvs58]

I think I'd be holding a wisp of cotton wool to their nostrils to see if they are breathing Nesi.

Ken

 

[RockinRB]

They're looking real good!

 

[Nesikep]

I think I'd be holding a wisp of cotton wool to their nostrils to see if they are breathing Nesi.

Ken

I'm used to their antics.. some were really good at making you have a heart attack.. one cow we had 25 years ago would lay head downhill, feet uphill, neck arched back with her head under the fence, tongue hanging out, fast asleep

Here's some more pics showing the difference in the size of the calves.. White face is about 80 lbs.. I haven't weighed the other one, I don't feel like picking him up, I'm thinking 120

8 hours old and climbing on momma already


Not fond of how she's flat footed already..


Here's where you can see the size difference between them really well






Pozzy roasting his nuts in the sun


Hades is an eternal pest

 

[MurraysMutts]

Love all the photos!!
Lmao at mountain belly!
Ya gotta love a mama thatll raise twins too!
Looks like they are doing well.

 

[Nesikep]

Love all the photos!!
Lmao at mountain belly!
Ya gotta love a mama thatll raise twins too!
Looks like they are doing well.

They are, they're full of energy, though I'm sure more milk would be welcome. I greatly dislike bottle babies, she took them without a second thought. She's the momma of the cow that had the big boy and Zippy's grandma... She's always a little thin but does a great job raising calves.. She's a garburator though, she loves treats, any kitchen scraps, lemon peels, onions, everything

 

[tamarack]

Looking good old son! Day 30 of isolation just me and cows

 

[Nesikep]

Looking good old son! Day 30 of isolation just me and cows

Good to hear from you again! Hope all's well, are you calving now? I heard there's been some miserable weather

 

[tamarack]

crazy weather here , calving to start on 6 th and been snowing for 3 days must have a foot new snow and -20c weather and wind been bad wind chills in -30c . Calling for 3 more days snow and cold before warming. was try to send pic but photo thing wouldn't let me in made new password and such but still wouldn't will try again. got lots time isolated here am staying by myself , my girlfriend is a nurse and cant come home now are isolated at hospital. I have to stay good as my mother lives by herself on her farm couple miles away and am helping her out she is 80 now but in fair good health. How are you making out in these trying times?

 

[Nesikep]

crazy weather here , calving to start on 6 th and been snowing for 3 days must have a foot new snow and -20c weather and wind been bad wind chills in -30c . Calling for 3 more days snow and cold before warming. was try to send pic but photo thing wouldn't let me in made new password and such but still wouldn't will try again. got lots time isolated here am staying by myself , my girlfriend is a nurse and cant come home now are isolated at hospital. I have to stay good as my mother lives by herself on her farm couple miles away and am helping her out she is 80 now but in fair good health. How are you making out in these trying times?

I can't complain, no calves lost, no cows lost.. only one calf will have kinda short ears I think, but he's doing fine otherwise.. I had one heifer calf get clostridial bloat twice now, oral tetracycline boluses and a shot of castor oil seems to fix her up though

Around here it's windy, not particularly cold, but not warm either, though you'd be considering it tropical!

 

[Nesikep]

Well, Hera calved on her due date.. was a close call though.. my morning shift people weren't all the ball and missed it.. I thought for sure I had a dead calf, a front leg was backward, his head was mostly out and really swollen, tongue was cold and dry..
Thank god for friendly cows, I pushed him back in, fished for the other leg, no chute needed.. of course it's a miserable snowy windy morning, I had to strip off all my good layers of clothes to be able to roll up my sleeves. I didn't have the calving chains on me (I was going to feed).. I decided to leave him as pushed in as possible, let her warmth get him warmed up again.
Got the chains, put them around her neck and led her into the calving pen, she cooperated very nicely, she laid down, I had the chains on his feet already, a minute and he was out, and alive!
Let momma lick him a bit, gave him 2cc of dex, then brought him to the shop, it wasn't long and he was hungry, went out to momma with my bottle, aimed the teat into it and filled it up, he drank two of them with gusto







I highly recommend these 700-1000 cc pop bottles for calves.. the red calf nipples from the 2qt hard bottles stretches over the mouth of the bottle perfectly, you can squeeze them to get some flow started, they'll collapse as the calf nurses, and you can fit them in a large pocket to keep them warm


Of course it had to be a miserable day

 

[Nesikep]

He rested for a couple hours, I got him nursing from the cow now, just have to make sure he gets all 4 teats, especially if his mouth is a bit swollen still.. the hind ones are a little shorter

 

[MurraysMutts]

His lil face does look a bit swollen eh!
Glad all is well. All in all a happy day?