Care of the New Born Calf

[Chuckie]

When I am told that I handle the birthing situation of my cattle different from everyone else, I would like others input on how you handle the situation after I explain mine.

I do watch the cows closely ( keeping an eye on them with binoculars) for signs of giving going into labor;
I do stay back a distance when she does go into labor, not to upset her.
If they walk around or lay down for an extreme amount of time, and the calve's feet or legs or head is out, I will go check, and pull down on the calf when she strains to help her.
I watch to see that she licks it off, and cleans it up. If she does not clean it up to the point it is dry, and leaves it wet, mostly in cool weather, I will go with towels and dry it off. Iodine the navel

I am used to seeing the calves trying to get up as soon as 15 minutes. They are trying to get their heads up and legs are moving around. It may take some time to get up, but it won't be too long till they nursing. As long as this is going smoothly I do nothing.

But, if a calf is not getting up, after a long period, and seems not to be able to get it'shead up nor it's legs underneath it, I do step in. I will prop it up. I pick it up by it's back end, and slowly get it up and stand over it to stablize it, to get it used it. Soon, the calf can get up and down on it's on. If the calf was slow to get up, I will keep a closer eye on him for several days to make sure that he is not sickly or weak. I make sure that he continues to nurse.

I do not leave until I know that calf can nurse.

What kind of care do you give the new calf????
Chuckie

 

[Anonymous]

Once i see feet out i use a scope to make sure they are both there and pointed the right way. Then i do nothing until they are up and have bonded and nursed. When they lay back down i tag iodine and band all at one shot.

 

[Gale Seddon]

Yes, I watch them closely, and can pretty much tell when they're going to calve. I can usually get very close to mine (except for one witchy cow). I want to see (and hear) that calf nurse. If I've missed the birth, I look closely at the cow's udder to see if I can determine if the calf has nursed and cross my fingers that nobody has to come up to the chute for assistance. I iodine the navel. I check them frequently to make sure a calf hasn't slipped under the wire for a nap in the woods. Once they're dry, I give the calf 2cc of Bo-Se and about 3cc of Vital E,A,D (witchy cow's calves are on their own). What I especially want to see is the calf bounce around a little, show energy, usually the next day.

I've occasionally brought a heifer and calf into the barn enclosure to make sure they bond okay, especially if a calf has decided to crawl under the fence to nap, but I think they do better overall when left with the group. It's interesting to me how a heifer who was at the bottom of the pecking order before calving moves up when she has a calf.

It's a wonderful thing, having a calf born and seeing how the mother takes charge, especially a first-time mother...some of them seem born to it and just ecstatic to have a baby.

Added: Chuckie, thanks for starting this thread. It's a good topic!

 

[wbvs58]

Sounds fair enough to me Chuckie, what I do differant is if I think they are having trouble I go away and have a cup of tea, when I come back all is usually ok. I don't handle the calf and iodine navel, I would like to tag and weigh them, but I got slammed good by a mature this year, heifers calves are easier to do by yourself but I prefer to leave them to their own devices so I don't mess with their bonding. I soon get them in and tag them a few weeks down the track and mother them up, although even without tags I usually know who belongs to who in the paddock.
Ken

 

[Chuckie]

wbvs58,
I agree on the heifers, but my Nell cow, last year had her first calf in the wee hours of the morning, and she did not lick it off, and it became so chilled that it was ice cold. I wanted her to bond to the calf, just like you stated. She seemed to be licking, but not enough. When the calf tried to stand up to nurse, she kicked it down a few times, and then it became so chilled that it never did get back up. I learned my lesson by not jumping in soon enough on that one. I brought it in the house, put the hair dryer to him, and it tried to suck a bottle, but it could not pull the milk down, so I tubed it. After looking at it closer, when the calf had tried to nurse, she must have stepped on it, because it's tail was broken in three places, and I could not be sure that she had not stepped on it's body. The calf lived a little over 24 hours, so I was not going to let that happen again this year!

Since I have to take advantage of the slowness of the calf when it does not effect the relationship of the calf and cow, I will jump in and measure the hoof and tag the ear. I now have an extra hay ring, of plastic PVC pipe, I am going to roll to the cow and put over the calf. I do have one cow that I will have to use it on. #333. Otherwise, I will never be able to put a hand on the calf.

This year, Nell had my first Grit baby!! I have never seen one of his babies before. She started kicking him off as soon as he tried to nurse, and I was ready to kill her. I put her in the chute, which I did not have last year, because the other chute we had, was at another farm. I bought one to leave here and make sure that it would never leave this farm. I stuck her butt in it, and the calf nursed all four quarters down; first time Nell has ever been nursed.

Now she will let him nurse anytime. I think she was nervous about what was going on. She has a bull calf, and it has the same heart girth and barrel that she has.

This is the best bull I have had born, but I am not saying that he is going to change the world, win awards, nor will any judges come to my house and say that he will pass all conformation breeding traits to pass on to his offspring for years to come to make a greater breed. Even after we sit underneath the oak trees sipping frozen margaritas, and eating pork rinds.
He might turn out to be a deformed mutation of an alien calf like Doc said or just a small calf that looks like a heifer. I just hope that his head doesn't start growing faster than his body, and becomes a bobble head.
Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees.
Chuckie