Calving season done for us down under

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waihou

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Haven't posted on here for awhile, but another spring calving season is done, despite high rainfall, poor grass growth and scours! Twenty seven live, unassisted births from 26 pregnancies. If wasn't for a dose of Rotovirus going through the youngest calves in August, it would have been a good result. Lost one 12 day old bull calf despite a week of stomach tubing, IV fluids and everything the vet could throw at him. Ah well, we finished on a good note with twin heifers born in October. Nine live bulls and 17 heifers!

The dam is a second calving 3 year old, never looked big and in August when all the others calved I even wondered if she was pregnant. Checked by her one saturday morning to see her lying flat out-good she 's getting on with it.
At 10am checked closer, about 6 inches of membrane out, checked back at 11am, calf getting to its feet, saw it was a good sized heifer and all looked well. Another check (drive by) at 12noon, they had moved away and she was licking something on the ground-all's well, left them to it.

Paid a proper visit at 3pm to check calf had fed. Walked towards where she was licking the calf on the ground, past an afterbirth, and then another large dollop! Two placentas-perhaps two calves?
Sure enough, over by the fence was a nice dry heifer. According to the neighbour she saw the second at 12, I saw the first at 11.
Biggest surprise of all weighed less than 24 hours old, one was 37 kgs (81.5lbs) and the other was 41kgs (90lbs) she had quite a load on board. Best of all she can count to two and never hesitated that they are both hers!
The sire of them has averaged 39kgs (86lbs) for his calves from mature cows this year.
Less than 3 hours old






Sire of most of this years calves Steamroller!
 
Sounds like a good result overall, they are big twins.

Our spring calving has been over for a while, started late June and had a pretty tight calving period. I got 27 out of 28, lost one heifers calf that needed a hand but being by myself at night could not get her up to the yards for several hours and lost a nice heifer calf. I have been feeding the heifers a bit too much especially the last ones to calf so my new years resolution is not to feed heifers until after they calve.

Don't know why they call it spring calving here, more like winter calving but it works well as they take off weight wise when the clover gets going in spring and they are old enough to utilise it.

Ken
 
New Zealand conjures this image if idyllic weather in my mind. What is your weather now?

Nice looking calves.

Is the bull MG? What frame size, if you use that, is he?
 
HDRider, Idyllic weather in NZ?
I don't think so-Regolith will vouch for that. :D
Less extreme than some places may be more descriptive. We are currently having the wettest November for years, nearly 8 inches, with temperatures not above 20C, but other places have reached 33C this week-not a 2 hour drive from here. Granted we don't often get snow here in winter, well only ever 20 to 30 years, just an inch or 2 for 24 hours-but places further south, in the South Island, expect snow every year and there is good skiing on the mountains. We don't get many frosts just here and it never gets really hot, like Australian hot, but we should see summers in mid 20's. :D

You probably haven't heard the news that parts of NZ experienced a 7.8 earthquake on Nov 14th and a small town on the East coast has only just had a road reopened to access it, as it has been cut off except by sea or helicopter for 10 days and several high rise buildings in our capital city, Wellington will have to be demolished due to cracks, including relatively new buildings. We felt the quake here, it was like riding a dinghy on a rough sea! Always something mother nature can fling at you!

Yes they are Murray Greys. We calve July /August /Sept, so that bull calves we sell at 14 months are ready and able to work in dairy herds when mating starts for them October onwards. They are usually used as a follow up to an AI programme.
Not sure of Steamrollers frame size but I expect he would be about a FS 6. Most of our cows are pretty large, maybe 700 to 800 kgs.
Mid winter (July ) mud feeding baleage (baled silage) to the cows pre calving.


Home bred bull currently out with the heifers, by Aussie sire Wallawong Under the Radar 570 kgs at 445 days, gain of 1.3kgs (2.86lbs) per day since birth, over winter-no hard feed-just grass and hay.



Another home bred bull who weighed 670kgs (1477lbs) at 439days (by same sire) same feeding regime-grass in various forms! We have mated him to some mature cows as his birth weight is a bit extreme for heifers! His weight gain to that age was 1.5kgs/day, pictured on 10th October.


 
It's currently cold, blustery and trying to rain. And it's been like that all month. They call this summer?
But considering that I'm Scottish by birth, I do find NZ weather... if not idyllic, certainly far more pleasant. The sun always shows up eventually.

We felt the earthquake here in Taranaki as well, and several of the aftershocks.
Been finished calving a while, around 10 - 15th October was the last calf in, we start early July here. Bit short of grass again this season, much the same as last year.
 
Great looking calves Waihou! I really like the looks of the mother of the twins. We had an Under the Radar bull calf born this past March and are very pleased with him. He didn't quite have the weight gain of yours, but he had the third highest average daily gain in our calf crop. He will be kept as a bull prospect. We intend to AI two or three more cows to Under the Radar this coming year in hopes of getting a few nice replacements.
 

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