Bred Heifer Update

[randiliana]

Well, apparently the vets can have trouble dating a pregnancy. That 4 1/2 months that they called her was really about 8 months. We bought her Dec 8. He doesn't look 3 months premature to me.

Unfortuneately, we weren't watching her as close as we probably should have (I really didn't think she was THIS far along) I thought she would be another week or so. When we went out to do chores this morning (-12* C) we found her off by herself, legs and nose partly out. Amniotic sac was partially frozen. Not a good scenario, but we got lucky. She came in easily enough with a horse and the truck, but went on the fight once we got her into the corral. Finally persuaded her into the barn and got the chains on. It wasn't a hard pull, I think most of the problem was that 1 foot was back a bit, not extended like it should have been. Got him out, got him breathing (what a relief) and drug him into the house right away. We will worry about her mothering him once he is on his feet a bit better, and she has settled a bit. He was a little too stressed to leave out in the cold with a mama that was likely to ignore him for a while. His tongue was pretty cold and swollen as was his face.

 

[dun]

GOOD JOB!

 

[Angus In Texas]

Glad to see both are alive and kicking

 

[TexasBred]

Whoever sold that heifer should be mad as a hornet. That vet cost him a bunch of money.

 

[cypressfarms]

Great job Randi!

It's nice to know that you made the difference; at least it always makes me feel better.

 

[randiliana]

That vet cost him a bunch of money.

How so???

 

[bigbull338]

the vet palpated her to calve in march.but he was way off.if he wouldve palpated her right to calve in jan insted of march the seller wouldve lost money.because im betting no one wants to calve heifers in jan.where she is.

 

[randiliana]

the vet palpated her to calve in march.but he was way off.if he wouldve palpated her right to calve in jan insted of march the seller wouldve lost money.because im betting no one wants to calve heifers in jan.where she is.

Nah, I have been at that auction many times. There is always someone there that wants the early ones. The vets just called her wrong is all.

 

[texast]

Glad to hear everything worked out fine.He looks big how many pounds was he?

 

[randiliana]

We haven't weighed him yet. We are guessing that he is in the 90 lb range. Tomorrow we will get a weight.

 

[randiliana]

m

We haven't weighed him yet. We are guessing that he is in the 90 lb range. Tomorrow we will get a weight.

Well, I weighed him tonight when I went out to give him another feed of colostrum. He weighed 87 lbs, which was pretty close to what we guessed.

So far he hasn't been able to get up on his own, and he is heavy enough for us to be a lot of help. We have had him up, and I think he has contracted tendons. He is really perky though, and he sucked the bottle I gave him down. The swelling in his head and tongue should be pretty much gone by morning.

Now, we just have to convince his mama that she loves him. She is pretty excitable, and hard to work with. She seems to be mostly bluff, but I'm not quite brave enough to call her bluff ;-) . We think she may have licked him a bit, but we're not sure. However, on a brighter note, the milk cow figures she could love him :nod: .

 

[sidney411]

Good Job! I hope she will take him, it would be a shame to buy a heifer then not have her mother her calf. He is cute though!

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Good job. You can pretty well figure it would have been a dead calf & possible a downer heifer. Sure is a great feeling to save one.

 

[TheBullLady]

Good job indeed! I don't miss those early calving cows / heifers in that climate at ALL!

BTW.. A shot of Dexamethasone shortly after birth will help reduce the swelling.

Glad to hear the cow is interested! Hopefully she'll be more interested in the calf than trying to hurt you!

 

[randiliana]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The calf is doing better, but the heifer is so focused on us, when we are in there, that it is really, really hard to tell how much she loves him. His front legs are still really weak, and the one buckles under if he tries to walk, so he walks on his knees. We help him whenever we are out there to feed him. And, no, I am NOT milking that heifer. She is nutty enough as it is. I figure another day or so and he will be able to suck a cow. Might start him on the milk cow, just because of the safety factor......And in the end if the heifer doesn't take him, the milk cow will get him. I just don't care to fight with the nutty ones if I don't have too. I let the heifer out of the barn for water yesterday morning, it was interesting getting her back in, you are never sure weather she is going to come at you or run from you.

 

[dun]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The calf is doing better, but the heifer is so focused on us, when we are in there, that it is really, really hard to tell how much she loves him. His front legs are still really weak, and the one buckles under if he tries to walk, so he walks on his knees. We help him whenever we are out there to feed him. And, no, I am NOT milking that heifer. She is nutty enough as it is. I figure another day or so and he will be able to suck a cow. Might start him on the milk cow, just because of the safety factor......And in the end if the heifer doesn't take him, the milk cow will get him. I just don't care to fight with the nutty ones if I don't have too. I let the heifer out of the barn for water yesterday morning, it was interesting getting her back in, you are never sure weather she is going to come at you or run from you.

The heifer needs to grow wheels. Either bottle feed the calf or sell it as a bottle calf.

 

[3waycross]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The calf is doing better, but the heifer is so focused on us, when we are in there, that it is really, really hard to tell how much she loves him. His front legs are still really weak, and the one buckles under if he tries to walk, so he walks on his knees. We help him whenever we are out there to feed him. And, no, I am NOT milking that heifer. She is nutty enough as it is. I figure another day or so and he will be able to suck a cow. Might start him on the milk cow, just because of the safety factor......And in the end if the heifer doesn't take him, the milk cow will get him. I just don't care to fight with the nutty ones if I don't have too. I let the heifer out of the barn for water yesterday morning, it was interesting getting her back in, you are never sure weather she is going to come at you or run from you.

Won't you run into a problem if you try to switch him from the milk cow back to his mother. He will have the smell of the milk cow from her milk on him. Sounds to me like you either try to milk his mother and feed it to him or just go to the milk cow period.

By the way we had a very young heifer calve last summer and on the 5th day come up to the fence where we were feeding her calf milk replacer and demand her calf. We opened the gate and she just came in and started licking him and let him suck, end of story. It was the darndest thing I ever saw. For what its worth this was a Shorthorn/Gelbvieh cross heifer. A week after she claimed him she just stood by and moo'd real quiet while we banded and vacced him.

 

[randiliana]

The heifer needs to grow wheels. Either bottle feed the calf or sell it as a bottle calf.

Well, she likely will. But, since we don't start calving (for real) until around the first of March, we will do our best to get this calf on its mama. One way, or the other I am going to have to work with the calf. We will see what happens once the calf gets on its feet. I'm not planning on fighting too hard with the heifer.

 

[randiliana]

Won't you run into a problem if you try to switch him from the milk cow back to his mother. He will have the smell of the milk cow from her milk on him. Sounds to me like you either try to milk his mother and feed it to him or just go to the milk cow period.

By the way we had a very young heifer calve last summer and on the 5th day come up to the fence where we were feeding her calf milk replacer and demand her calf. We opened the gate and she just came in and started licking him and let him suck, end of story. It was the darndest thing I ever saw. For what its worth this was a Shorthorn/Gelbvieh cross heifer. A week after she claimed him she just stood by and moo'd real quiet while we banded and vacced him.

That depends on the heifer. Other than when we are feeding him, or she is out for a drink, he is in the pen with him. I have no intention of milking his mama, and I would prefer to not put him on the milk cow. She has been milking since mid May, and I want to dry her off in April or so. If I put him on the milk cow we will have to do something with him in May. If his mama accepts him he can stay on her til fall, or when we cull pairs this spring.

 

[dun]

It wasn;t just the lack of mothering up that made me say she should grow wheels. It's the nutcase attitude that is the biggest reason.