f4leggin
Active member
My cows have started calving - and once again, it just doesn't sound like I'm doing this right. My cows are on about 60-80 acres with lots of trees and brush. I check the cows twice a day, when I can't locate one in the herd, I search the property until I find her. If she has a calf, I get close enough to see if it's alive, and then back off - the first time I find them. I check on them again daily until the cow comes back into the herd with her calf. Twice in the past two days I have come upon a calf hidden in the trees and spooked it. I swear the calves are spookier this year. One, I inadvertently chased out of the pasture and had to get help getting her back to her Mom, the other I spooked yesterday - I'm hoping she reunited with her Mom - but did not see them together today - which is not that uncommon in my experience in the first few days.
Spooking hidden calves is obviously a problem. Cows that hide in trees (where I can't find them) is another problem. Coming upon a cow that has calved w/o a calf and not knowing if the calf is hidden, dead, lost is another problem. One obvious solution is to partion off a small part of the pasture for calving and put the whole herd in there (it's only 18 cattle). Is that the best solution? I get mixed advice. I worry that my cows won't feel comfortable calving in a smaller area if they can't go hide in the trees to calf. But, I am so so unhappy not having better control of the situation and last year (my first year) I lost 2 out of 8 calves which seems like a high percentage.
Advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jill
Spooking hidden calves is obviously a problem. Cows that hide in trees (where I can't find them) is another problem. Coming upon a cow that has calved w/o a calf and not knowing if the calf is hidden, dead, lost is another problem. One obvious solution is to partion off a small part of the pasture for calving and put the whole herd in there (it's only 18 cattle). Is that the best solution? I get mixed advice. I worry that my cows won't feel comfortable calving in a smaller area if they can't go hide in the trees to calf. But, I am so so unhappy not having better control of the situation and last year (my first year) I lost 2 out of 8 calves which seems like a high percentage.
Advice would be greatly appreciated.
Jill