calving

[cedarview farms]

do you have to help the cow give birth or can they do it on their own?

 

[grannysoo]

do you have to help the cow give birth or can they do it on their own?

What a question. What do you think?

 

[dun]

If you have to help there is a problem. 99.9% of the time the will calve just fine with out any help (interference)

 

[Keren]

do you have to help the cow give birth or can they do it on their own?

What a question. What do you think?

Not that silly a question actually, when you consider that it is standard for humans to have help when giving birth. If people are new to farming and have never before had any experience with birthing animals, then its natural for them to think that the animal needs to be helped out like people are.

Cedarview farms, 99% of the time the cow can do it by herself. There are certain complications that can arise in which they need assistance. There is a good thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=49808

about calving, what is normal, what isnt, including pictures.

 

[Australian]

Had a bad day with the calving today. Two mal presentations. Found a pure South Devon heifer dead with a calf part way out minus any legs showing, both were back only the head was out. Found another with head out and one leg part way out, the other leg was twisted back. calf was dead but saved the heifer. Vet said only for the leg being back she would have had it no trouble. I'm mad with myself for not going up to the calving paddock last night to check on the heifer that died. She might have been saved by a caesarian. Been so darn busy cleaning rubbish off fences and refencing flats that were flooded.
Colin

 

[BARNSCOOP]

Australian,

Sorry to hear about your heifer and calves. My husband says "That's just a part of it".(meaning farming) I like to beat myself up when I feel I could have done better but you can't be in all places all at once. If you hadn't been fixing fences they would have done fine and then you would have felt like you wasted time when you needed to be fencing. "It's just a part of it".

 

[regolith]

What a question. What do you think?

An internet person once told me that cows today were so overbred that most of them needed help to calve.
It must have been a nice veggie. It apologised when I set it right.

My dairy herd calve unassisted 95 - 97% of the time. The remainder are usually malpresentation - very rarely see a calf too big.
I've known far higher assistance rates in other herds, among the 2-yr olds.
The assistance rate for humans I believe is around 66% now. It's a wonder the species survived pre-modern obstetrics :???:

 

[CPL]

The assistance rate for humans I believe is around 66% now. It's a wonder the species survived pre-modern obstetrics

I used to always wonder about that, but you do here about how way back when many women died at child birth.