MOCountryGirl
New member
:wave: Hi All!
I'm new here, and this is the discussion that inspired me to join.
It's good to know we're not the only ones that are having a bad start with calving. As some of you commented - our bull got in with the ladies before he was suppose to (should have took him out immediately). Now we are having calves during this nasty weather. I was heartbroke when my Holstein heifer decided to calve earlier than expected and we lost her and the calf. Even though she was bred to a low birthweight bull she had a huge calf. Apparently, she got completely on her side and was unable to get up after giving birth. Of course with it being cold, and the calf didn't get dried off, it succumbed to the cold. And poor Vivian (the heifer) bloated and wore herself completely out. It was a devastating loss.
Had another cow that this happened to also. She was in the barn lot (due anytime) and I had just checked on all of them in the lot. I then went out to the pasture to check on the ones out there. I returned about 25 minutes later to find this cow on her side, thrashing wildly. With me being the itty-bitty thing that I am, I had to rush to the house to get some help. We were able to pull her back over so she could get her footing. Thankfully, she is doing great now.
We had a premature calf born about 5 weeks early (such a tiny little thing). But she actually did alright, until her momma started going downhill. Momma got really weak and wound up dropping onto the calf - another calf lost. Momma had to be put down about a week later.
With the older cows it seems it's a bit harder to tell when they are going to calve. And even though we keep an eye on them daily to see which ones are springing or making a bag we still had some suprise us and drop a calf. So we lost two more due to the cold.
Now we have 10 older cows with calves on the ground, and two of my bottle-raised heifers have their first babies on the ground also. So we have 22 older cows , and 4 more of my bottle-raised heifers to calve yet. Trying to keep everything that looks close in the barn lot. And I will be glad when all of my heifers are done calving, as I feel like a walking zombie from going out every 2 hours (night/day) to check on them. Some say I am overly-vigilant, but these heifers are my babies and when they look like they are getting anywhere near close to calving, I'm going to be out there keeping my eyes on them! The pastured cows get looked over at least 3 times a day also.
Oooops... didn't mean to write a book! I sure hope everyone is experiencing better calving now. :tiphat:
I'm new here, and this is the discussion that inspired me to join.
It's good to know we're not the only ones that are having a bad start with calving. As some of you commented - our bull got in with the ladies before he was suppose to (should have took him out immediately). Now we are having calves during this nasty weather. I was heartbroke when my Holstein heifer decided to calve earlier than expected and we lost her and the calf. Even though she was bred to a low birthweight bull she had a huge calf. Apparently, she got completely on her side and was unable to get up after giving birth. Of course with it being cold, and the calf didn't get dried off, it succumbed to the cold. And poor Vivian (the heifer) bloated and wore herself completely out. It was a devastating loss.
Had another cow that this happened to also. She was in the barn lot (due anytime) and I had just checked on all of them in the lot. I then went out to the pasture to check on the ones out there. I returned about 25 minutes later to find this cow on her side, thrashing wildly. With me being the itty-bitty thing that I am, I had to rush to the house to get some help. We were able to pull her back over so she could get her footing. Thankfully, she is doing great now.
We had a premature calf born about 5 weeks early (such a tiny little thing). But she actually did alright, until her momma started going downhill. Momma got really weak and wound up dropping onto the calf - another calf lost. Momma had to be put down about a week later.
With the older cows it seems it's a bit harder to tell when they are going to calve. And even though we keep an eye on them daily to see which ones are springing or making a bag we still had some suprise us and drop a calf. So we lost two more due to the cold.
Now we have 10 older cows with calves on the ground, and two of my bottle-raised heifers have their first babies on the ground also. So we have 22 older cows , and 4 more of my bottle-raised heifers to calve yet. Trying to keep everything that looks close in the barn lot. And I will be glad when all of my heifers are done calving, as I feel like a walking zombie from going out every 2 hours (night/day) to check on them. Some say I am overly-vigilant, but these heifers are my babies and when they look like they are getting anywhere near close to calving, I'm going to be out there keeping my eyes on them! The pastured cows get looked over at least 3 times a day also.
Oooops... didn't mean to write a book! I sure hope everyone is experiencing better calving now. :tiphat:
