A short verse for Sunday morning........

[gcreekrch]

The Dumb Calf's Prayer:
The chute is my mother,
I shall not want
The rattle leadeth me to temptation,
Where a hand holds me in position,
And I can suck,
if I have to,
I guess...……...

 

[Ky hills]

Or if not they will feedeth me with a tube until I finally desireth to nurse on my own.

 

[wbvs58]

I can definitely see a career change coming on here Dave. Maybe I was a bit unkind in my other post.

Ken

 

[76 Bar]

Thinking a cowboy poetry thread might be a great addition to CT. :nod:

 

[JMJ Farms]

I feel your pain. Dealt with one week before last. Cow had two extra tits straight off the back of her bag. Calf would suck these two but not get under the cow. Didn't notice problem till day 3. Calf was starving. Put them in lot. Caught cow and put calf on tit. After day 2 of the chute, cow figured out to just go down in the chute and she could get turned out. So then I started bottle feeding calf once per day. After a week and a half, the little heifer figured it out. Boy was I glad. Nice poem. New calling?

 

[gcreekrch]

I feel your pain. Dealt with one week before last. Cow had two extra tits straight off the back of her bag. Calf would suck these two but not get under the cow. Didn't notice problem till day 3. Calf was starving. Put them in lot. Caught cow and put calf on tit. After day 2 of the chute, cow figured out to just go down in the chute and she could get turned out. So then I started bottle feeding calf once per day. After a week and a half, the little heifer figured it out. Boy was I glad. Nice poem. New calling?

1992, we bought 20 heifers from a neighbor. Hereford and Hereford Red Angus x. As they got older some of them developed bags that would have them on the bus here today. But, what the hay, we were barn calving in February back then. Our new barn shining in the wintry sun, hauling slimy, wet, cold calves in and cleaning the pens daily. More work calving 175 back then than what we do now.

Anyway, #41 was a RA HH x with bottle teats, a swing bag and the b!+ch from Hell's attitude. It was usually a 3 day affair to get her calf going on her bag and a reduced diet for a couple weeks until the calf could take what she produced. Old 41 would hit the self catch headgate, evacuate bowels and bladder and then belly flop into her self made soup. Release the squeeze, stand her up and repeat. We eventually resorted to a sling affair that we hung on the loader bucket and prevented her from doing anything but bawl.

Was a sweet day when she finally went on the truck to the sale. A character builder for sure......

 

[TCRanch]

It's not funny - except it is! I think most of us have been there and feel your pain.

 

[gcreekrch]

It's not funny - except it is! I think most of us have been there and feel your pain.

It would have been funny watching for a bystander. We've had a few since that were competitors but none have taken the trophy away from old #41 yet.

 

[Nesikep]

except for the flopping down in the squeeze part, I think I might have had the same cow.. MEAN AS HECK after calving, huge bag with teats about 6" off the ground... she actually cut one of them by stepping on it.. in the squeeze she'd just kick like mad.

https://youtu.be/4mhECCMxi1w