A day at our ranch

[cowgirl8]

Just some pictures i take on my rounds of what goes on around here in the spring.

If i see a cow in labor, i hang around. Most times it progresses normal. Sometimes, things happen. This calf was born still enclosed in his sack. It was about a 1/2 mile away watching. I could see that the sack was covering the calf from that far away, and rushed to it to make sure his face was clear. It was not. I was face to face with this mother cow while i desperately struggled to break through the sack so that he could take his first breaths. Ever find a dead calf who is seemingly perfect but for some reason it never took a breath. If i had happened by later in the day, the cow would have cleaned it off anyway and there'd be no evidence to the reason why it died. Got lucky on this one.


We had flooding rains and on one of our herds, i have to wait to check on them. Waited on this herd and sure enough, Humpy had trouble calving and is paralyzed. She was in the furthest spot possible, miles of open wet field. Managed to get her. Halfway to the gate, husband saw a mound of drier ground and this happened..

The long ride home.

And the snakes are out. Here is one of those shiny cotton mouths.... ;-)

and he was nice and healthy.

 

[Jogeephus]

You should make a belt out of the cottonmouth. They make the prettiest belts when they are stretched and tanned.

 

[A.Lane]

Thanks for the pictures Cowgirl8. There is nothing like the sight of a wet sloppy calf shaking it's head with the ears flopping. Love it.

 

[TexasBred]

Glad you saved the calf. Which bull threw the red calf?

 

[cowgirl8]

Thanks for the pictures Cowgirl8. There is nothing like the sight of a wet sloppy calf shaking it's head with the ears flopping. Love it.

Its something you never get tired of seeing....
He's out of the old brindle bull we like getting replacements out of. Humpy's monster calf was dead, her paralyzed, she was bred to a LBW angus...He was a lunker.. Bull was 16712296 butler final answer 0717 or the other we bought at the same time with pretty much the same EPDs....

 

[Muddy]

Didn't you think that Humpy's deformity might be responsible for the death of calf and paralyzed her? Also who knows that calf might not sired by your Angus bulls....

 

[cowgirl8]

Humpy has had a calf problem free every year. She's a 2006 cow. I know which bulls were in her pasture. Helper bulls were white face and her calf was solid black. This is the first year we put older lbw angus with this herd, big red sim usually ran it with our black sim/angus bull who both made good sized calves.
Her back did not cause her problem, the big calf did.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Humpy has had a calf problem free every year. She's a 2006 cow. I know which bulls were in her pasture. Helper bulls were white face and her calf was solid black. This is the first year we put older lbw angus with this herd, big red sim usually ran it with our black sim/angus bull who both made good sized calves.
Her back did not cause her problem, the big calf did.

Hate to break it to you but we have more solid faced calves from white faced sires AND dams more often than anything else. Unless you DNA the dead calf, which is silly, you have no real way of knowing who the sire is. The history of those older LBW Bulls should carry more "weight" than the color of the face of the calf! Have they had a history of throwing large calves before?
A dead calf is a big loss, sorry to hear that.

 

[Muddy]

Humpy has had a calf problem free every year. She's a 2006 cow. I know which bulls were in her pasture. Helper bulls were white face and her calf was solid black. This is the first year we put older lbw angus with this herd, big red sim usually ran it with our black sim/angus bull who both made good sized calves.
Her back did not cause her problem, the big calf did.

A 11 years old cow shouldn't have any problems with calving out large calves but I suspected that her spinal deformity plays a part in it.

 

[TexasBred]

Hate to break it to you but we have more solid faced calves from white faced sires AND dams more often than anything else. Unless you DNA the dead calf, which is silly, you have no real way of knowing who the sire is. The history of those older LBW Bulls should carry more "weight" than the color of the face of the calf! Have they had a history of throwing large calves before?
A dead calf is a big loss, sorry to hear that.

Dozen dead calves and four or five paralyzed cows is no setback for an operation and plantation of this size. ;-)

 

[cowgirl8]

Well there's no arguing with you fellas. Carry on ;-)

 

[wacocowboy]

Pretty lil cotton mouth

 

[3waycross]

Glad you were able to save the calf. I have a question though. What about the "after" picture of the snake?

 

[cowgirl8]

Ah, the snake was at a far off creek crossing...i let him be. Now if i had been in a truck, i may have looked the other way and crossed his path while he was in it..just depends on my mood..
Stood up Humpy tonight and she can use one back leg, so there is hope. I have my bottle calf trained to nurse her on the ground..lol...love when that happens. So, when Humpy gets up, she'll have a calf. Yay to no bottle calf..
Muddy, i respectfully disagree, a cow at any age can have calving trouble, ask your vet..

 

[Muddy]

Muddy, i respectfully disagree, a cow at any age can have calving trouble, ask your vet..

From what? A 100lbs calf?

 

[cowgirl8]

Muddy, i respectfully disagree, a cow at any age can have calving trouble, ask your vet..

From what? A 100lbs calf?

Dont argue with me, question your vet. He'll be able to fill you in on numerous reason for any cow, any age, any size can have trouble....Do you think that only heifers have calving trouble? I just talked with a 80 yr old rancher who has raised reg brangus his whole life, he had an older cow paralyzed after calving the other day..His calf lived...but had to put the cow down. I've read many post here where it happens to others..I'm on other ranching forums, happens there too..Not just me.

 

[Muddy]

Looks like you don't even know what weight the calf is.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Looks like you don't even know what weight the calf is.

If you lift enough calves over the years, you get where you can guess them pretty darn close.

 

[cowgirl8]

Looks like you don't even know what weight the calf is.

I have a system of guessing....small 25 to 45, med 45 to 70, large 70 to 100 and holy shyte over that. You're right, we did not weigh this dead calf in the middle of this muddy field, there was no reason to. It did take two of us to lift it and it hung off the gator on both sides..We arent a reg business so exact weight is not important and any time i mention a weigh its my husbands guesstimate and he's pretty good at it and if its a guesstimate it will be rounded to the nearest 5 or 0.. There are factors other than size, shape of head, shoulders and hips, any that can get stuck along the way. The calf could have had a flexure, yet for some reason it came out on its own(although i've been told they cant). I watched Humpy calve 2 times in the field. She had her calves easily. Each time, i'd see the head and when she got up to readjust, it went back in which means she was a roomy cow.
Calving with a mature cow is never a sure thing. Oh, and she's a 2006 cow which makes her a 9 yr old not a 11 yr old...

 

[fenceman]

Old proven cow, proven bull. Sounds like just a bad deal to me. I would stop the investigation and move on. It definitely happens with nothing or nobody to blame but bad luck. Real sorry yall had trouble