Calving can be so rewarding - and so gut wrenching!

[tex452]

Picture

 

[Chuckie]

Oh goodness, I am so sorry to hear this. Don't beat yourself up. To just turn your head for a moment and it happen so quickly happens every once in a while. You know how hard you try and you will get past this, it may just take a few days. We all know how hard you work with your cows, and it was just a freak accident. Things will return to normal now.

 

[Dubcharo]

I was fortunate to be there.
View attachment 20240114200832003_768955429_camera 3@768955429_3_video.mp4

 

[Travlr]

I had a cow with the calf's head out inside the birth sack... and no hooves. A big sack about the size of a basketball. And the cow was out in the north forty about as far from the headgate as she could be, and not inclined for me getting close enough to help.

So I started to walk her back to the barn, hoping the calf would be alive when I finally got my arm in her. There was a pond on the way... and the b***h walked in and LAID DOWN. I couldn't believe it, and it was a wrench to see her go down, the calf's head inside the birth sack sinking beneath the water. I stepped into the water and as I did the d**n cow got up and headed toward the barn again.

I finally got her in the headgate and by then the calf had slipped back inside, and I expected a dead calf. But right away I found the mouth and the jaw moved. I got each leg positioned, one at a time, and the calf slipped right out with barely any encouragement. Hips locked, twist to free them, and the calf hit the ground. Dragged the calf up in front of the cow and let her lick it for a minute or two, and drug it out into the middle of the corral, turning the cow out with it. Big bull calf and did well after all that weirdness.

 

[devonian]

As most of you know, I am pretty diligent with my cattle. We bring our pregnant cows up front into a field outside my house windows - within 2 weeks of due date - and any that look at all close also come up front. We put any cow that "appears' ready into the calving pens at night and kick them out in the morning. We have cameras in the barn on all the pens and also a camera on the lot outside with night vision.
Well, we had an old experienced cow 9 days late (her normal). Been putting her in at night for maybe 4 nights. Put her in last night, finished chores and went in the house. Phil & I cooked and ate supper. Ugh - during that 1+ hour, she went into labor, spit out the calf in about 10 minutes of pushing. Calf alive and kicking, but - sac was over face all the way down covering legs. Mom jumped right up, vigorously licked calf. Worked on head, but sac did not come off. Calf kicked and flipped itself over, sac did not come off. After about 10 minutes, the cow got the sac off. Calf struggled about 10 minutes more, then died. Must have inhaled too much embryonic fluid.
Ugh Ugh - in 5 minutes we could have saved this calf. When I watch the playback, it made me sick.
And kicker is - it was a red, white faced HEIFER. This is a "can't keep on the place" offspring worth a lot of money. I am sick.
You can't watch them 24/7, although I try.

Sad to hear that I try to be diligent but I don't have any tech like you do. I happened to notice a cow bag up yesterday so I checked her a couple times but it was only as I was feeding the cattle first thing this morning she had started making the noises of labour (usually they are all born and done by the time I'm out feeding) . Anyway I was thinking I've never had a calf die (to my knowledge) from suffocation due to the amniotic sac covering the calf as you mentioned. She went down as i was putting haylage bales in the feeder so I kept an eye on her, a few minutes later I could see it was a big one and the sac was covering it I left her be until the head was out, good it was positioned correctly and she was doing an ok job. I could then see it was halfway out so I hopped over the fence to assist and damn the sac was covering the entire calf still which I've never seen before. I could hear the calf rasping a little now so I grabbed both legs as best I could and made sure to puncture the sac with my fingers as I grabbed its legs but it didn't puncture easy or clear the sac. Anyway long story short it survive but its the first time I've seen it and it happened at the perfect time for me.

 

[TCRanch]

Sad to hear that I try to be diligent but I don't have any tech like you do. I happened to notice a cow bag up yesterday so I checked her a couple times but it was only as I was feeding the cattle first thing this morning she had started making the noises of labour (usually they are all born and done by the time I'm out feeding) . Anyway I was thinking I've never had a calf die (to my knowledge) from suffocation due to the amniotic sac covering the calf as you mentioned. She went down as i was putting haylage bales in the feeder so I kept an eye on her, a few minutes later I could see it was a big one and the sac was covering it I left her be until the head was out, good it was positioned correctly and she was doing an ok job. I could then see it was halfway out so I hopped over the fence to assist and damn the sac was covering the entire calf still which I've never seen before. I could hear the calf rasping a little now so I grabbed both legs as best I could and made sure to puncture the sac with my fingers as I grabbed its legs but it didn't puncture easy or clear the sac. Anyway long story short it survive but its the first time I've seen it and it happened at the perfect time for me.View attachment 39616

Good save!

 

[crossbreed]

We just had the gut wrenching side yesterday. As we have improved our herd quality it's exciting to see our good heifers join the group. Yesterday perhaps our best young cow we've raised aborted her second calf. No issues last year and the yearling steer is the biggest, best looking in the group. According to my own rules she goes to sale barn same as if she was open. Sure hard to haul one with great confirmation and gentle as a dog in the pen.

 

[Travlr]

We just had the gut wrenching side yesterday. As we have improved our herd quality it's exciting to see our good heifers join the group. Yesterday perhaps our best young cow we've raised aborted her second calf. No issues last year and the yearling steer is the biggest, best looking in the group. According to my own rules she goes to sale barn same as if she was open. Sure hard to haul one with great confirmation and gentle as a dog in the pen.

Abortions can be caused by all kinds of things. Bad hay, a random genetic anomaly, stress. Your rules are yours to make and she isn't mine. It does seem like the best animals have the most problems sometimes. An inverse relationship to how much we have hopes in them.

 

[MurraysMutts]

We just had the gut wrenching side yesterday. As we have improved our herd quality it's exciting to see our good heifers join the group. Yesterday perhaps our best young cow we've raised aborted her second calf. No issues last year and the yearling steer is the biggest, best looking in the group. According to my own rules she goes to sale barn same as if she was open. Sure hard to haul one with great confirmation and gentle as a dog in the pen.

I did the same. And I hated it!

She was about 6 months in with her 2nd calf. Out of one of me best cows too.

O well I guess. But I still didn't like it

 

[TCRanch]

We just had the gut wrenching side yesterday. As we have improved our herd quality it's exciting to see our good heifers join the group. Yesterday perhaps our best young cow we've raised aborted her second calf. No issues last year and the yearling steer is the biggest, best looking in the group. According to my own rules she goes to sale barn same as if she was open. Sure hard to haul one with great confirmation and gentle as a dog in the pen.

That sucks! Been there, done that. But sometimes rules are made to be broken. Did that too (before the epic drought) and zero problems since.

 

[crossbreed]

Abortions can be caused by all kinds of things. Bad hay, a random genetic anomaly, stress. Your rules are yours to make and she isn't mine. It does seem like the best animals have the most problems sometimes. An inverse relationship to how much we have hopes in them.

I did consider the hay. This years bales of triticale. We supplement with liquid feed, whit and mineral salt same as for years. Gonna wait a month or so into calving season to see if we have more problems

 

[coachg]

Didn't get a picture but had one born this morning in this ice and cold . Not sure what time it came into the world but it was 9 last night and about 18 when I put out hay and checked that herd of cows .

 

[gman4691]

As most of you know, I am pretty diligent with my cattle. We bring our pregnant cows up front into a field outside my house windows - within 2 weeks of due date - and any that look at all close also come up front. We put any cow that "appears' ready into the calving pens at night and kick them out in the morning. We have cameras in the barn on all the pens and also a camera on the lot outside with night vision.
Well, we had an old experienced cow 9 days late (her normal). Been putting her in at night for maybe 4 nights. Put her in last night, finished chores and went in the house. Phil & I cooked and ate supper. Ugh - during that 1+ hour, she went into labor, spit out the calf in about 10 minutes of pushing. Calf alive and kicking, but - sac was over face all the way down covering legs. Mom jumped right up, vigorously licked calf. Worked on head, but sac did not come off. Calf kicked and flipped itself over, sac did not come off. After about 10 minutes, the cow got the sac off. Calf struggled about 10 minutes more, then died. Must have inhaled too much embryonic fluid.
Ugh Ugh - in 5 minutes we could have saved this calf. When I watch the playback, it made me sick.
And kicker is - it was a red, white faced HEIFER. This is a "can't keep on the place" offspring worth a lot of money. I am sick.
You can't watch them 24/7, although I try.

Don't beat yourself up about it…you take better care of your cows than most…and pretty much everyone here knows it…tomorrow is a new day…cheers

 

[Warren Allison]

Reading this thread got me to thinking about just how hard farming/


ranching is, and how unfair life can be. Like I have said, ain't no one on here that knows more about cattle, or takes better care of their cattle, than @Jeanne - Simme Valley, and look what happened. For 30 years or so, we have had 100-120 Corriente calves born, and we have never lost a calf, and the only cow we ever lost was the one the poachers shot last year. We have never seen one born..they are a week to 3 weeks old, sometimes nearly a month old, before we see them for the first time, when we round them up to tag them and cut the bulls. And the hell of it is, that heifer Jeanne lost was worth more than 15-20 of our cows. That sux.

The more a mare is worth, or the potential worth of the foal, seems to be directly proportional to the chances something goes wrong with pregnancy or foaling. I got a pony when I was 4 or 5 years old, a mare, and she had a colt a few months later, We never got him cut, and when he was about a year old, I got a horse. We only had about 4 acres fenced in at my folks' house, so my granddaddy took Dolly and Blaze over to his 45 acre angus pasture one county over, and turned them loose. Every year for 4 or 5 more years, she had a foal, and never any problems. I think they said they gave $5 for Dolly when they bought her for me.

Same thing with dogs. Seems like every time I paid 3 or 4 figures for purebred hunting dog, of any kind, something always happened to it. But the mutts that showed up at the house hen I was ypung..we called them yard dogs... always lived to a ripe old age. We might have wormed them, and pulled a tick off every now and then, but never any kind of vaccine or meds, etc. They ate table scraps. including chocolate, too. Never any Alpo or IIams, etc...just maybe some dry Ole Roy or Jim Dandy to mix with the table scraps if we didn't have a lot of leftovers from that meal. Scott and I have AKC reg bird dogs and beagles, that we get 4 figures for the puppes. Always lose one or two out of each litter, ( had a crazy German Shorthair Pointer bitch that would eat her babies!) and no telling how many $100's of dollars we spend on vet bills, meds, etc, for those dogs. But a stray, or a mutt bitch will have 10-12 pups a litter, and every dang one will live.

I tell Scott every year, when we borrow those $5k-$10k bulls from his brother: "You KNOW if we lose any cattle, or get one injured, which ones it will be, don't you?!!"

 

[tex452]

Reading this thread got me to thinking about just how hard farming/


ranching is, and how unfair life can be. Like I have said, ain't no one on here that knows more about cattle, or takes better care of their cattle, than @Jeanne - Simme Valley, and look what happened. For 30 years or so, we have had 100-120 Corriente calves born, and we have never lost a calf, and the only cow we ever lost was the one the poachers shot last year. We have never seen one born..they are a week to 3 weeks old, sometimes nearly a month old, before we see them for the first time, when we round them up to tag them and cut the bulls. And the hell of it is, that heifer Jeanne lost was worth more than 15-20 of our cows. That sux.

The more a mare is worth, or the potential worth of the foal, seems to be directly proportional to the chances something goes wrong with pregnancy or foaling. I got a pony when I was 4 or 5 years old, a mare, and she had a colt a few months later, We never got him cut, and when he was about a year old, I got a horse. We only had about 4 acres fenced in at my folks' house, so my granddaddy took Dolly and Blaze over to his 45 acre angus pasture one county over, and turned them loose. Every year for 4 or 5 more years, she had a foal, and never any problems. I think they said they gave $5 for Dolly when they bought her for me.

Same thing with dogs. Seems like every time I paid 3 or 4 figures for purebred hunting dog, of any kind, something always happened to it. But the mutts that showed up at the house hen I was ypung..we called them yard dogs... always lived to a ripe old age. We might have wormed them, and pulled a tick off every now and then, but never any kind of vaccine or meds, etc. They ate table scraps. including chocolate, too. Never any Alpo or IIams, etc...just maybe some dry Ole Roy or Jim Dandy to mix with the table scraps if we didn't have a lot of leftovers from that meal. Scott and I have AKC reg bird dogs and beagles, that we get 4 figures for the puppes. Always lose one or two out of each litter, ( had a crazy German Shorthair Pointer bitch that would eat her babies!) and no telling how many $100's of dollars we spend on vet bills, meds, etc, for those dogs. But a stray, or a mutt bitch will have 10-12 pups a litter, and every dang one will live.

I tell Scott every year, when we borrow those $5k-$10k bulls from his brother: "You KNOW if we lose any cattle, or get one injured, which ones it will be, don't you?!!"

This is so true.

 

[coachg]

Didn't get a picture but had one born this morning in this ice and cold . Not sure what time it came into the world but it was 9 last night and about 18 when I put out hay and checked that herd of cows .

Here's the pic of the Ice Man I'm calling him . It's amazing how tough calves can be . Don't have a barn at this farm so this guy was on his own . Don't know how you northern neighbors and Canadian folks do it . .

 

[Travlr]

Here's the pic of the Ice Man I'm calling him . It's amazing how tough calves can be . Don't have a barn at this farm so this guy was on his own . Don't know how you northern neighbors and Canadian folks do it . . View attachment 39778

The last calves we had on the ranch in South Dakota were from the last cows we'd saved just in case the real estate deal didn't go through as planned. Three born a week apart, and all born in blizzards. The last one was the only one that gave us a problem and it needed to be brought into the kitchen to be warmed up. The cows were just outside a window so we could watch them closely, and this calf fell into a snow drift several times and finally gave up. I had to go out and around to reach it, put a loop on it to drag it through the fence and away from a pissed off protective mother, and then drag it through four foot drifts for a ways to get it to the house. The next morning it was easy to get the calf back to mom because the drift was hard enough to walk on. It is surprising how a wet calf coming out of a hot inside-the-cow environment can live through being born in minus zero temps and thrive. One of those come to God moments to anyone that has the capacity to be amazed at the world.