Ok, so lets start the story.
Friday afternoon I notice one of my first calf heifers, a nice big charolais, appears to be in early labor.
I move her out of the nasty pen she is in with the others expectants to a nice clean sand trap and wait. She had the calf around 12:30 AM Saturday. I had last checked her about 11:30 and she was not 2nd stage yet, so obviously it wasn't a long grueling deal. She was licking the little bugger off and he was still pretty wet. He failed to get up within an hour, or 2, or 3. He sat sternally and sort of tried to stand. Finally, around 3:30 AM I gave him a esophagael feeder of packaged dried colostrum and slept until about 6:20, fully expecting to find him on his feet. He was in the exact same spot, with his momma laying beside him, which is what she chose to do most of the night. No encouragement to get on his feet and get things going after his initial clean off. I got momma in the chute around 7 am and milked her out as best I good, got about 1 liter of colostrum and tube fed him again.
Around 2 pm, I went back to milk her again with my husband and this time momma had found a fiercly protective streak. She tried to kill us both and chased me up the fence. The calf at this point still has not stood and now momma is a raging witch. I don't want a bottle calf but can't think of how else to remedy this if momma isn't going to let me help the calf so up to the barn he goes. He got one more esophagael feed of packaged colostrum and my daughter ran up to tell us he had stood up around 6 pm last night. He weighs about 65 lbs. and is eating, peeing, pooping, and wobbling around when encouraged. He seems so weak and lackluster. I have never had a calf like this and don't know what to expect. I gather that he will either improve vastly in the next several days or I will star the losing battle. I just don't know what would have caused this issue with him. I'd would have liked to give him back to momma, but he is very wobbly and I have to help hold him up while he sucks down the bottle. I don't think his first time momma who is fiercly PROTECTIVE but not quite so motherly in that she isn't trying to get him up or direct him to the food will help him much. So I guess I am just looking for words of encouragement or advice for what I can do for this little tyke to keep him going. Temping him every 12 hours and so far so good no signs of fever.
Now as if I wasn't excited enough adjusting to the fact I was going to have one bottle calf, another heifer goes into labor yesterday around 1 pm. Bred by the same red angus bull as the above charolais heifer, and this a big bodied 26 month old angus heifer. She started pushing around 2 pm and I saw no progress beyond the first hour. We brought her in to pull the calf by hand around 4 pm. That was getting up no where. No dystocia, the calf was just too big. Finally had to use a calf pulled to get this big 100 lb. bull calf out of momma. Momma stands in the chute quietly for a few moments while we hang him up and get him down near her head. We open up the chute on the side return and as momma turns to come out with one fierce heave she prolapses her entire uterus with placenta still attached. She lays down with no interest in her calf, but charolais momma from above (who is still in the birthing area) is extremely interested in the calf. I took one look at the entire uterus on the ground and the consideration of the amount of discomfort and stress that was going to happen with getting it resituated and think to myself "self, you don't want two bottle calf and this big bugger is about as vigorous as one gets maybe that charolais momma wants him." I think that she knows it is not her calf and doesn't really go mothering heavy on him, but she protects him from one other heifer that is down in the pen and lets him suck a little here and there when he is lucky. In the meantime, we get the poor forlorn angus heifer's uterus pushed back inside after a solid 2 hours of work and get her all medicated up and milk out about a liter of colostrum for her calf which he vigorously devours from a bottle while his adoptive momma who doesn't really want him to nurse but REALLY wants to kill me threatens to murder me. Once again I think to myself, "self, you have lots of customers wanting grass fed beef and this 24 month old charolais heifer might taste real nice to them" and decide maybe she just shouldn't live here anymore if she is going to race me to the fence this often and I am going to lose eventually. So I take big vigorous calf up with his tiny, weak brother (same bull remember, and mommas on the same feed and care for the last 9 months!) and put poor prolapse lady to bed for the night. This morning, just on the chance, I took prolapse's calf down to her and introduced him, and she said to him "YOU DID THIS TO ME" and made it quite clear she didn't want anything to do with him. Maybe it would have been better to just leave him with that charolais momma because I think they would have worked it out and her calf is just to weak to take care of himself so no chance of their reuniting, but after she lined me out a few times I got to thinking the sooner you leave here the better.
In the end I have....
2 bottle calves that are eating, peeing, pooing.
1 momma going to meet the butcher in a few weeks
1 momma I don't know what to do with. She doesn't want to raise the calf (and who can blame her, the pain and misery she experienced were not what I'd wish on anyone!) What are her chances of reproductive success in the future? Should I just sell her as a cull after withdrawal from the meds we had to give her?
Friday afternoon I notice one of my first calf heifers, a nice big charolais, appears to be in early labor.
I move her out of the nasty pen she is in with the others expectants to a nice clean sand trap and wait. She had the calf around 12:30 AM Saturday. I had last checked her about 11:30 and she was not 2nd stage yet, so obviously it wasn't a long grueling deal. She was licking the little bugger off and he was still pretty wet. He failed to get up within an hour, or 2, or 3. He sat sternally and sort of tried to stand. Finally, around 3:30 AM I gave him a esophagael feeder of packaged dried colostrum and slept until about 6:20, fully expecting to find him on his feet. He was in the exact same spot, with his momma laying beside him, which is what she chose to do most of the night. No encouragement to get on his feet and get things going after his initial clean off. I got momma in the chute around 7 am and milked her out as best I good, got about 1 liter of colostrum and tube fed him again.
Around 2 pm, I went back to milk her again with my husband and this time momma had found a fiercly protective streak. She tried to kill us both and chased me up the fence. The calf at this point still has not stood and now momma is a raging witch. I don't want a bottle calf but can't think of how else to remedy this if momma isn't going to let me help the calf so up to the barn he goes. He got one more esophagael feed of packaged colostrum and my daughter ran up to tell us he had stood up around 6 pm last night. He weighs about 65 lbs. and is eating, peeing, pooping, and wobbling around when encouraged. He seems so weak and lackluster. I have never had a calf like this and don't know what to expect. I gather that he will either improve vastly in the next several days or I will star the losing battle. I just don't know what would have caused this issue with him. I'd would have liked to give him back to momma, but he is very wobbly and I have to help hold him up while he sucks down the bottle. I don't think his first time momma who is fiercly PROTECTIVE but not quite so motherly in that she isn't trying to get him up or direct him to the food will help him much. So I guess I am just looking for words of encouragement or advice for what I can do for this little tyke to keep him going. Temping him every 12 hours and so far so good no signs of fever.
Now as if I wasn't excited enough adjusting to the fact I was going to have one bottle calf, another heifer goes into labor yesterday around 1 pm. Bred by the same red angus bull as the above charolais heifer, and this a big bodied 26 month old angus heifer. She started pushing around 2 pm and I saw no progress beyond the first hour. We brought her in to pull the calf by hand around 4 pm. That was getting up no where. No dystocia, the calf was just too big. Finally had to use a calf pulled to get this big 100 lb. bull calf out of momma. Momma stands in the chute quietly for a few moments while we hang him up and get him down near her head. We open up the chute on the side return and as momma turns to come out with one fierce heave she prolapses her entire uterus with placenta still attached. She lays down with no interest in her calf, but charolais momma from above (who is still in the birthing area) is extremely interested in the calf. I took one look at the entire uterus on the ground and the consideration of the amount of discomfort and stress that was going to happen with getting it resituated and think to myself "self, you don't want two bottle calf and this big bugger is about as vigorous as one gets maybe that charolais momma wants him." I think that she knows it is not her calf and doesn't really go mothering heavy on him, but she protects him from one other heifer that is down in the pen and lets him suck a little here and there when he is lucky. In the meantime, we get the poor forlorn angus heifer's uterus pushed back inside after a solid 2 hours of work and get her all medicated up and milk out about a liter of colostrum for her calf which he vigorously devours from a bottle while his adoptive momma who doesn't really want him to nurse but REALLY wants to kill me threatens to murder me. Once again I think to myself, "self, you have lots of customers wanting grass fed beef and this 24 month old charolais heifer might taste real nice to them" and decide maybe she just shouldn't live here anymore if she is going to race me to the fence this often and I am going to lose eventually. So I take big vigorous calf up with his tiny, weak brother (same bull remember, and mommas on the same feed and care for the last 9 months!) and put poor prolapse lady to bed for the night. This morning, just on the chance, I took prolapse's calf down to her and introduced him, and she said to him "YOU DID THIS TO ME" and made it quite clear she didn't want anything to do with him. Maybe it would have been better to just leave him with that charolais momma because I think they would have worked it out and her calf is just to weak to take care of himself so no chance of their reuniting, but after she lined me out a few times I got to thinking the sooner you leave here the better.
In the end I have....
2 bottle calves that are eating, peeing, pooing.
1 momma going to meet the butcher in a few weeks
1 momma I don't know what to do with. She doesn't want to raise the calf (and who can blame her, the pain and misery she experienced were not what I'd wish on anyone!) What are her chances of reproductive success in the future? Should I just sell her as a cull after withdrawal from the meds we had to give her?
