Couldn't Make it Through Without an...

[randiliana]

Upside down calf.

As of yesterday morning we were down to the last 11 cows (out of 175). So we decided it was time to head up to our pasture (2 hours away) and do some fencing. Had a neighbour come out to have a look at the cows in the middle of the afternoon just to be on the safe side. Nothing calved all day. We got home at 10pm and did our walk through. Didn't look like much going on at first, but then I walked over to check on one of the cows I thought was going to be a while. Figured I better look at her just to be safe, but that it would be unlikely that SHE would be calving. And..... of course she was. Not really bagged up and not loose at all, but calving just the same. Couldn't get very close to her (normally quiet cow) and she had her tail up a bit. Had we not been gone all day we likely would have left her alone, but I figured we better check her out since we had no idea how long she had been at it.

Got her up to the barn, and into the calving pen. Hubby was swinging the gate to get her into the headgate, and she let loose and booted the gate a good one. Got hubby right in the belly and ribs, the way he carried on I thought she had really hurt him, but only knocked the wind out of him fortunately. Got her in the headgate finally, and I reached in to check her out (hubby was still trying to breathe ;-) ) And what do I feel but 2 upside down feet.

Now, anybody else would just figure on a backwards calf, but as we have had as many as 10% upside down, I checked a little more thouroughly. Of course, it couldn't be quite as simple as a backwards calf, oh no, this one just HAD to be upside down! I haven't quite got the technique for turning them over, so I handed the job over to hubby. Took him a couple minutes, but he got the calf coming righside up. Put the chains on it and pulled it out. Wasn't too big of a calf, weighed 87 lbs. Nice hereford marked heifer out of a solid blue roan cow. If we hadn't pulled it out of her, I would have thought there was a mix up somewhere ;-) .

 

[Anguscollegekid]

So how did you turn it around? Never done it before and probably a good thing to know.

 

[randiliana]

So how did you turn it around? Never done it before and probably a good thing to know.

You grab a leg or the bottom jaw and twist. Eventually it will roll over. Helps to have long arms too.

Some say it is because the calf is too big, but we have had them all over the board. No really, really small calves, but definitely not all huge calves either. Most would be average sized calves.

 

[dun]

So how did you turn it around? Never done it before and probably a good thing to know.

You grab a leg or the bottom jaw and twist. Eventually it will roll over. Helps to have long arms too.

Some say it is because the calf is too big, but we have had them all over the board. No really, really small calves, but definitely not all huge calves either. Most would be average sized calves.

Have you had the problem with the same cow or cow family? Or is it just pot luck?

 

[smallrancher]

Do you bull breed or AI? Keep an eye on your bull, have heard the cause of this is when the cow is on top instead of the old traditional. Also if you AI, make sure youv'e got the gun right side up. Good Luck!!

 

[Alan]

Some say it is because the calf is too big, but we have had them all over the board.

I was wondering about this the calf I just posted about that came out backward had a BW of 104lbs. But it really wasn't as tough of a pull as it could have been.... it did wear me out :roll: . It was a first time heifer and I used my herd bull, first pulled calf out of this bull, biggest calf out of the bull.

Alan

 

[randiliana]

Have you had the problem with the same cow or cow family? Or is it just pot luck?

No, they have all been out of unrelated cows. And agewise, it is also all over the place. From 2 year olds right through the middle aged cows. I am sure that we will see some in older cows, but most of our cows up to the last couple years were under 8 years old. And no cow has ever had more than one. Most of these have also been out of cows that we have never assisted before either, although (I see) there are a couple that have had other malpresentations.

 

[randiliana]

Some say it is because the calf is too big, but we have had them all over the board.

I was wondering about this the calf I just posted about that came out backward had a BW of 104lbs. But it really wasn't as tough of a pull as it could have been.... it did wear me out :roll: . It was a first time heifer and I used my herd bull, first pulled calf out of this bull, biggest calf out of the bull.

Alan

The theory is that a calf is constantly moving around inside the cow up until a certain point when it gets too big to move any more. Then they "get stuck" in whatever position they happen to be in. Just that most calves "get stuck" in the correct position. I would think that upsidedown may be the same thing as backwards. Although obviously you cannot "fix" the backwards position, whereas you can fix the upsidedown postion.