Calving Season Supplies

[gizmom]

The post of the 90 pound calf coming early got me to thinking calving season is going to be on us before we can blink. We have a 6x8 shed set up at our working pens that we keep all of our cattle supplies in. I usually give it a good cleaning out just prior to calving season and then again at breeding season. I do an inventory of supplies and try to get things organized where if we need anything in a hurry we can grab it. I don't know how it manages to get so messed up, I think it has to do with when we finish working the cattle we are usually worn out and so things just get shoved back into the building with the idea of coming back to clean up but then that doesn't happen. I spent last Wednesday cleaning the shed, I started about 10:00 and finished at 1:30 I can tell you one thing for sure a 6X8 building can get hot when the temp is 96. I planned to take a bunch of photos of the before and after but only managed to get the before, by the time I finished all I wanted to do was cool off.









I am going to get me some pictures of the after hopefully before it gets all messed up again. I hope everyone has a great calving season!

gizmom

 

[Nesikep]

We don't have one place for the all the supplies.. meds stay in the fridge, eartags are in a bin, calf pullers, chains, gloves, hoof nippers, etc and the non perishable supplies are in a little cabinet or right next to it.. I have a second upright freezer right beside the chute that has a bunch of duplicate stuff in it too, more gloves, iodine, another set of chains, sulfa boluses and whatnots

 

[wbvs58]

That before shot looks pretty good to me, I would be happy to see my gear in that much order.
I can relate to putting things away properly. I am always pretty buggard when I finish stuff too and they just get dropped on the kitchen table and only get tidied up when I'm expecting visitors.
Ken

 

[regolith]

That before shot looks pretty good to me, I would be happy to see my gear in that much order.
I can relate to putting things away properly. I am always pretty buggard when I finish stuff too and they just get dropped on the kitchen table and only get tidied up when I'm expecting visitors.
Ken

:lol: :lol: Five weeks into calving now and I certainly ain't inviting anyone to look at my kitchen table... newspapers make perfectly good dishes when you run out of clean ones.
I'd also be happy to see my calving stuff as clean and orderly as in the 'before' picture. It's tough enough finding the time to keep a clean towel handy in the dairy when you need one, throw them in a bucket to wash and an hour later you're looking for one and it's sopping wet in a bucket of dirty water.

 

[Jessica06]

Having storage by the chute is such a luxury. We are just finishing up our shed/lab, complete with AC. Before that though, we kept everything at the house. I can't count how many times we've had to haul youknowwhat to the house to get whatever we forgot to treat the animal waiting in the chute. Sometimes it took more than one trip.

 

[gizmom]

ricebelt

The building has been a great investment for us. I think we purchased it about 12 years ago and paid 850.00 for it. I really appreciate it during breeding season when we are setting up donors I jump in the building then to stay warm. It never fails that its going to be cold when doing the set up for ET work. I have made many a run to the house for supplies and it never failed that I would get back to the barn with what they sent me for and they would need something else, so feel your pain.

gizmom

 

[jscunn]

I just need a key.. lots of useful stuff in there..

 

[cowgirl8]

How many calves do you have a year?
I believe since the 80s, this last calving season was the first ever we did not have to assist with any cows calving. We had 3 heifers we had to pull calves out of, but no cows. Hope this is the trend we will have for many years.

 

[gizmom]

We will calve out about 120 this year and breed around 150. We pulled one calf last year backward and upside down on Thanksgiving day out of a 12 year old cow. We did lose some calves but not at calving. Had several premature calves that were just small and weak and didn't make it, we really feel it was heat related we have been working with our vet to tweak our program just in case. We should start calving the first week of October which means we will probably start getting a few calves the last couple of weeks of September. Hopefully we won't get any hurricanes this year that always seems to send some into early labor.

gizmom

 

[gizmom]

I got the after pictures today. I ordered a few supplies and took them to the farm today so figured I could get the after pictures of the house cleaning as well.







We also got everything pressure washed it doesn't get this clean or neat very often!

gizmom

 

[Nesikep]

Looks good!
My biggest problem is my memory fails me after I clean things... when things are a mess, my mind is continually making mental notes of where everything is!

 

[Bigfoot]

If your in to order, and neatness, may I recommend large tackle boxes for your "smalls".

 

[cowgirl8]

Our stuff is scattered by the end of the season. Off season, i'll gather it up and put it where it belongs. Although, our pulling chains hang on the corral fence at the chute year round now. We have a pulling bar, homemade. We've never had the bought ones work well, they always bend. Husband made one out of oil well pipe. Its all i can do to move the thing around. I dont like using it, but if we have one go down away from the corral we do if the calf is stuck. Probably why i spend so much time out with the cows during calving season, i do not want to use that bar.
Gizmom, you said you calve out 120 and breed 150.....what happened to the 30? or did you add 30 to your herd?

 

[gizmom]

Bigfoot



This has been my favorite find for smalls not a tackle box but it sure works well found it at Lowes.

gizmom

 

[mncowboy]

Looks awesome. Nice work.

 

[gizmom]

cowgirl8

We will breed around 150 but will cull some for age, sell groups of bred heifers and consign to several sales to bring it back to the 120 at calving time. We retain heifers then do it again by adding around 30 heifers each year. The number changes a bit but only by a few head each year. We are 10 days past our first due date and have 42 calves on the ground so far. Lost one calf out of an older cow she came up to the working area, Ronnie said it was like she knew she would get some help when he got there. The calf was dead but they saved the cow, calf was all kind of tangled up mess. We had to pull one calf out of a first calf heifer but it ended well, big calf for a heifer but healthy. That was the first calf we have pulled in years that wasn't a bad presentation. We still have 3 cows that were called safe to the ET date that haven't calved as yet all look ready to pop they are 3 days over. Once we get the three calved we will be done with all AI and ET so then it will slow down a bit.

gizmom