Any tips for winter calving in a cold environment?

[badaxemoo]

One of my cows settled much later than the others last year and it looks like I'll be having my first winter calf. I'll cull her if she settles late again this year.

Any tips on winter calving in the upper Midwest?

All my other calves have been born on pasture in April-July. Should I segregate the cow prior to calving so I can put her on some cleaner bedding? I have a stall area in the barn - the other cattle are all outside on a bedding pack which is usually out of the wind.

Should I try to disinfect the umbilical cord where it breaks?

Are calves born in really cold weather slower to nurse?

Should I try to dry the calf off or let the cow do it?

 

[KMacGinley]

If it is cold/cold, I try to pen them when they get close. Last year a cow had a Legend heifer calf when it was 12 below and the calf was up and nursing within 30 minutes. Another cow had a Northern Improvement heifer when it was 20 above and I had to tube that calf. All calves are different.

If you are in the barn or a lot disinfect the navel.

If You can dry off the calf without being killed that would be good.

I have a 4 by 4 by 4 warming box with a heat lamp and a plexiglass window in it that I put chilled calves in to warm up. Mine is made from particle board.

Hope this helps.

 

[rockridgecattle]

Agree with the last poster.
Always iodine the navel. Clean ground = less scours, less navel ill etc.
once the calf is dried off it's okay. Just have a shelter for the calf to go into during bad weather. Kep from the main herd...don't want her finding a new momma who is just starting to build her colostrum
Calf should have its first suck some where between the first 30 min and 2 hours.
if you can dry the ears and tail to prevent from freezing.
We calve is sub human temps in March and April in south central Manitoba. It can be above zero celcius or -30 celcius and the calves make it...just don't get them chilled.
Heat lamp, hot water bottle or a warm bath in an emergency all work

good luck

 

[grannysoo]

Good luck. That's one problem that I'm glad not to have.

 

[msscamp]

Any tips on winter calving in the upper Midwest?

How old is the cow? Is this her first time? If so, I would watch her and pen her when starts showing signs of imminent calving. If she is an older, established cow I wouldn't worry about it and would simply make sure the calf had nursed following delivery.

All my other calves have been born on pasture in April-July. Should I segregate the cow prior to calving so I can put her on some cleaner bedding? I have a stall area in the barn - the other cattle are all outside on a bedding pack which is usually out of the wind.

I don't think I would put her in a barn unless she is used to it. Reason being - being shut up in a building tends to raise their stress levels, and (depending on how big the area is) she could step on her calf. Another factor is that she could be nervous enough about being in the barn that she is unwilling to take care of her calf. Keep her surroundings familiar and low key.

Should I try to disinfect the umbilical cord where it breaks?

That is a matter of personal preferance, and is up to you.

Are calves born in really cold weather slower to nurse?

Not usually. We've had very few problems with calves being slow to nurse, unless they had the misfortune of being born in a blizzard. Some first time heifers get a bit confused about the birth process, don't get their calf cleaned up right away, and the calf gets chilled. We've always monitored them for this very reason, and a 16 oz bottle of plain old warm store-bought milk will almost always jump start them very nicely.

Should I try to dry the calf off or let the cow do it?

That depends on the cow, and how she is behaving. If she is interested and doing her job - leave her alone and let her do it. Just make sure the calf has nursed. If she is showing absolutely no interest, and the calf shows any signs of being distressed - then, yes, I would intervene.

 

[MistyMorning]

I'll give this a go for you. I'm pretty new to this business, but spent a fair amount of time in cold weather calving last year. Worst was -30F. Heres what I did and take from it what you will.

Definately do the navel/iodine thing.

I put mine in three sided pole building with fresh bedding when they looked pretty close.

With the more docile cows, I would bring in a towel and work the calf over pretty well.

Lots of fresh water.

Gave them some good alfalfa hay.

Clean bedding every day.

After about two to three days and they were milking good. I would let them out with the rest. Oh and I banded the boys before sending them out.

I have another smaller three sided pole building I made into a calf shelter where only the little ones could get into.

I liked doing this maternity ward thing because I felt like I could get at any problems earlier if they occured. After the girls got moved out and another moved in, the ones that were out sure wanted back in bad. ;-)

JMHO - Good Luck

 

[Syd Sydney]

badaxemoo wrote:

I'll cull her if she settles late again this year.

By the way if she's late this year she will be late next year,the most you can gain is a couple of months unless you sit her out next breeding season.

 

[grubbie]

I agree with msscamp. We routinely calve in weather that can be below 0 degrees in this part of the country. If the calf gives up trying to get up and suck, (key words here are "gives up trying") then you may want to get him dried and warm and out of the weather. If the calf gets up and sucks, it's gonna be fine, leave it alone, momma will do her job. When she is getting close to calving, if you have a place where you can put her where she will have some shelter, thats even better. But out here they calve in the pasture on their own and with very little shelter. However, if this is a first calf heifer, there are other things to consider. Good luck!

 

[KNERSIE]

All this is very interesting for someone from South Africa, if its -30 I am not sure a warm bath and hot water bottle will be enough to pull me through.

I don't envy you for your winters, but wouldn't mind getting more of your rain.

 

[Horseless]

One of my cows settled much later than the others last year and it looks like I'll be having my first winter calf. I'll cull her if she settles late again this year.

Any tips on winter calving in the upper Midwest?

All my other calves have been born on pasture in April-July. Should I segregate the cow prior to calving so I can put her on some cleaner bedding? I have a stall area in the barn - the other cattle are all outside on a bedding pack which is usually out of the wind.

Should I try to disinfect the umbilical cord where it breaks?

Are calves born in really cold weather slower to nurse?

Should I try to dry the calf off or let the cow do it?

I am sure your situation is quite different from mine, but I would say sell her, unless you watch your cattle alot.

 

[mitch2]

Dec 2006 had all heifers preg checked all that were bred were within 75ish days. We leave our bull in until right before calving starts. All calved within the 75ish days except one.

She had her calf Monday am before Thanksgiving. Obviously slipped her calf last winter, and was rebred. That little girl is doing really fine. I knew she was close that weekend, as her bag POPPED, but I didn't do anything special, luckily that week we didn't have below 0 temps like we have had lately.

Good luck with yours!

Michele

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

There has been a lot of good info for you to filter thru.
Here's my 2 cents worth.
We calve in winter. I put all my upclose cows/hfrs in a barn - during the night only. But, I can watch them during the day & if one goes into labor, she gets put into the barn for calving. Definately iodine naval. I have a heat lamp in the corner of the pen with hay/straw under it for a "nest" (pen is bedded with fine wood chips/ course shavings. If calf gets right up & sucks, I do not intervene. Leave in barn for about 24 hours, depending on how severe the weather is outside & how well calf is doing. When turned out, calf has a place to get out of wind.
Wind is your enemy - IF they can be out of the wind - and IF there is no dystocia - and IF the calf gets RIGHT UP & sucks - and IF the dam is aggressive in caring for the calf - outside can be just fine.
Just too many IFS if left outside for me. If I don't have a HEALTHY, live calf out of each cow, I've wasted a whole year on that cow. And just a "live" calf isn't enough. If the calf has a slow start & doesn't suck right away, or gets slightly ill & you "save" it, they usually never perform up to 100% - and that's not acceptable if I can avoid that.
We weigh calf, iodine naval, ear tag & give Selenium & A&D vitamin shots AFTER calf has sucked. If born during night, we do it in AM.
As mentioned, dam may be nervous inside if never been put inside. I always put a "newbie" in several days before I think she will calve. After 2nd night, they are waiting at the gate to be put in at night.

 

[badaxemoo]

By the way if she's late this year she will be late next year,the most you can gain is a couple of months unless you sit her out next breeding season.

Really? You mean she can't calve and have another in a few months?

She was late her first year, late again, so I figure that next spring she might actually be bred on time. I'm not saving any heifers out of her.

 

[badaxemoo]

Thanks for all the information.

The cow is used to walking in and out of the barn to get water, so if I just gate off the pen, I don't think she'll get too nervous. She is my calmest cow - so calm she's trouble to move sometimes. She'll still be able to touch noses with the rest of the cows.

I'd like to have her on some cleaner bedding for calving. It seems so much easier on pasture.

I'm hoping that thick Galloway hair will protect the calf if it's really cold. They're quite the little fuzzballs when they are born!

 

[msscamp]

By the way if she's late this year she will be late next year,the most you can gain is a couple of months unless you sit her out next breeding season.

Really? You mean she can't calve and have another in a few months?

I'm not saving any heifers out of her.

Can I ask why you have made this decision?

 

[MoGal]

Good luck with your calving.

Side question for you........ do you have crossbred galloways? reason I am asking is that we're expecting our first galloway crossed calves in the next two weeks and I was wondering if the calves (or the majority of them) would have the course hair like the galloway or is it a 50/50 shoot. I'm kind of excited to see how the cross will do. These first 7 will be out of the hubby's holstein and holstein/angus cross cows.

 

[Beef11]

The best solution for winter calving is to turn your bull in later.

 

[badaxemoo]

By the way if she's late this year she will be late next year,the most you can gain is a couple of months unless you sit her out next breeding season.

Really? You mean she can't calve and have another in a few months?

I'm not saving any heifers out of her.

Can I ask why you have made this decision?

Well, maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought fertility was heritable. She's settled late twice now. She's a decent looking cow, but I am only retaining heifers out of my cows that are breeding on time.

 

[badaxemoo]

The best solution for winter calving is to turn your bull in later.

I run the bull with the cows year round, with the exception of calving time.

I suppose stragglers like this are one of the disadvantages of doing this, but it makes winter management much easier for me.

If I was a real cattleman, I'd have the bull there for a couple of months and pull him and cull any cow that didn't settle.

 

[badaxemoo]

Good luck with your calving.

Side question for you........ do you have crossbred galloways? reason I am asking is that we're expecting our first galloway crossed calves in the next two weeks and I was wondering if the calves (or the majority of them) would have the course hair like the galloway or is it a 50/50 shoot. I'm kind of excited to see how the cross will do. These first 7 will be out of the hubby's holstein and holstein/angus cross cows.

Mine are all registered Black Galloways. I have a buddy with some Galloway-Angus-Shorthorn crosses. They seem to get some longer hair than an Angus, but its not as long winter coat on my cattle.