Calving seaon 2016 for me

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Nelly just loses all her marbles at calving time.. the very time she should keep her wits they fly out the window. A couple years ago she was SO excited about her new calf she nearly killed it cleaning it off.. she was throwing it around like a rag doll up the compost pile and down the other side, bellering and jumping... She's about 1800 lbs too so she could do a lot of damage to you real quick. I've kept 3 daughters from her, the first two were failures.. the first had prolapse issues but raised a good calf, the second hardly had enough milk to keep her calf alive, and the third.. well, she'll have a calf in a week or two so she better behave
 
Another heifer born sometime last night.. from a 2nd timer, was born in the field, all dry and a full belly in the morning.. Wasn't quite expecting that cow to calf for another 5 days or so, but wasn't concerned with her ability to do it. Cute little thing, has a white spot on the forehead. I'll try and get some pics of the last few up today
 
Little update.. Chroma's calf is some kind of lively thing.. always up for a bit of playing, she's 4 days old and she's already nibbling at hay and has noticeably grown.

The last heifer born though.. she's not doing great.. really lazy and lethargic, she does get up and suck, but goes right back to laying down after... She's got droopy ears, but I think that's just a genetic thing from daddy, her eyes look good.. She can get up fine and has no problem finding the teats.. just seems a little slow. I gave her a selenium Vit E shot today, can't say it made a world of difference though. Perhaps she's just a bit retarded, and you just can't fix stupid... I'll just keep her in the pen for now.. As long as she finds where supper is and isn't *sick*.. I won't complain too much.

Mega, Caddy, and first timer Bouncy (3rd attempt from Nelly) are all due on wednesday.. I could see Mega being slow about it though, she often is.. Caddy is pretty punctual though.. and Bouncy being a first timer.. well.. the bag really isn't there, but that doesn't mean much with them.
 
Caddy has a heifer calf so Chroma and Prada have a little sister.. she's good and strong, so I'll see how she turns out by fall. Mega and Bouncy should be close too.

On a more concerning note, a large cat was seen in uncomfortably close by today... I'll be keeping a rifle closeby.
 
MEGA HAS A HEIFER.. A very big strong one too... she had no trouble finding teats, drank until she was round like a pot-bellied piggie, and I still milked nearly a gallon of colostrum out when she was finished.. I have a heifer due at any instant, so I might be needing a little.
The calf, even all wet still looks like it'll be impressive.. After she got her drink she was all bouncy and happy.

Caddy's calf on the other hand wants nothing to do with me.. it's amazing what the first couple hours in the field with no human contact does to their instincts.. I did manage to pet the top of her head for a minute.. I'll be keeping her in the corral a little while until she settles down a bit and stops seeing me as a threat, otherwise she'll just turn too wild too quickly... There's no danger of that with Mega's calf.

So 10 down, 13 to go.. Heavy on the heifers this year so far.. 7 heifers, 3 steers
 
Mega's heifer is doing well, big and round, and friendly..
Had another bull calf early in the morning, again in the field.. and once again, he was wild as heck.. another big one in the 100+ lb range. Again bellering and screaming bloody murder when I picked him up.. Momma is about as smart as a stump.. Putting him in the back of the truck was a no-go, he climbed right out of there, thankfully I was able to snag him again, and this time I kept him on my lap as I drove up, which posed a few challenges.. Momma didn't know where to look anymore,.. she ran way ahead of me, then when I stopped she ran back into the field and started eating hay.. finally we convinced her we had her calf, and she came back.. we put them in the corral and he seems to have settled down a little now.

Sofa's calf is become a masterful thief, and might even get partly adopted by Nelly (she had twins a few years back).. she's so persistent the cow will eventually give up and let her have some milk.. it's quite funny to watch!
 
Well done Mega. You'll be pleased with another heifer... until there's too many good heifers to choose from.
Is that a crate jumping calf or do you not put a crate on the truck for transporting calves?
 
I just had a few bales across the back of the truck, he wasn't having any of it, he'd have jumped over anything.

I will have a lot of good heifers to choose from this year, and that's bad news for Tera (Mega's calf from last year) who didn't eat or grow all winter.. She looked really nice in the fall, she looks awful now, so I think she'll grow wheels in the next month. She is the polar opposite of Sofa.. Sofa got the big belly and short legs, Tera got no belly and too much legs.. I'm wondering if the Coccidiosis Tera had last year did some permanent damage, she had it pretty bad. Maybe this heifer will be the best of both (can always hope).

Still waiting on for the heifer to calf.. should be soon, she was bred the same day as Mega and Caddy.
 
OK, Sabine the wild witch calved this morning.. She has indeed wizened up in her old age, she didn't take a run at me.. another big bull calf.. probably 120 or so.

Still no go with the heifer.. *sigh*
 
I decided to bring all the cows up from the field.. there were 7 of them left... What a fight broke out in the corral.. Kama was on her game.. she thoroughly trounced a 4 year old, and then had a good run with a 5 year old.. I think that may have been a stalemate... She was very proud of herself (she's 3 years old)... Them old boss cows better look out for her when she's full grown.
I got a video of the fight, as well as one of Sabine walking her baby to the corral... kicking her bag side to side as she walks and baby working hard to keep up.
Perhaps some fighting and exercise will make the heifer calf....
 
This is a pen full of cows that haven't calved yet.. though fighting while heavily pregnant isn't the greatest thing either.. it is better than around newborns still.
There's one cow in the pen and she's just going to stay there after she calves, she just raises too much stink and instigates too many fights.. and she took a run at my mother last year... she will just stay locked up and tough luck for her.
 
Sounds like calving has been going well for you so far Nesi. Seems like our cows have to have a brawl every evening when they are finished eating, this year more than ever. Luckily there's lots of space for babies to get out of the way, but still wish they wouldn't do it. Rolling out bales yesterday Blaine said he was pretty nervous. He had two brand new babies that decided to come investigate the tractor, meanwhile there is 250 excited cows waiting for the bales to be rolled out, running in front/behind/around. How those little newborns avoid getting tramped on is amazing to me.
 
If you didn't wait until the cows were starving they wouldn't be so excited :p Mine are the same, just on a smaller scale.. I just walk by the hay truck and they start bellerin' at me.

The heifer/steer ratio is still heifer heavy at 7/4... and if you look at Josie's line, it's 4 to 0, and I'm hoping for some of the remaining cows of that line to have heifers.

Sofa's calf is becoming a masterful thief, and is persistent.. Mega will have nothing to do with her though, so I milked her and offered the bottle.. that was welcome as well. I don't mind if she steals milk, just as long as it isn't always from the same cow.. Chroma seems to be liberal and doesn't mind, but I want her heifer in the replacement pen.
 
Another (bull) calf today... Was it from that first time I'm waiting on.. of course not!... perhaps at 4 am she'll decide to do it when I'm fast asleep.
The bull calf is another BIG one.. momma was good, but she's one of my incorrigible fighters, and I vowed she gets to stay in the corral until turn-out.. Will bit a little too bad for her calf, but he'll have company there to play still.
 
One more bull calf in the wee hours of morning.. No, it wasn't the first timer I'm STILL waiting for. I'm certain he's 120 lbs especially after a good drink.. Mother is Ceres. Calf looks like he's going to be a beauty, and seems like he's going to be another friendly one... it's a gorgeous day here, yesterday was miserable, rainy, windy, and snow line was about 5000 ft, which put a chill in the air.
 
OK, finally a couple pictures.. Here's Sofa's calf.. Mega's granddaughter.. but somehow Sofa doesn't have much milk, so her daughter is the masterful milk thief.. and yes, she manages to steal some of Grandma's extra.. She's also the first calf from my homegrown bull Marko... I like her build, she could have a little more length but it's hard to judge them when they're that young


Here's Mega and daughter Yotta..


Soho's calf, the first of the year, 3 weeks old now.. she was a little wild but I won her heart with belly rubs I think...


Heckla's big steer.. he loves EVERYBODY.. anytime someone new comes into the field, he ain't a bit scared to come right up to them and say hello.. I think he'll be a dandy in the fall


Chroma's heifer.. I think she'll be really nice in the fall too.. perhaps not as thick as some, but she seems to be showing good length, and a great character


And here's the big 120ish lb steer born last night... I think he'll be a fancy guy too, and it doesn't look like he has any intentions of being wild.. when I give him a petting and walk away he bawls for me to come back... smart bugger for half a day old!
 

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