inyati13
Well-known member
My sixth heifer of spring calving had her calf yesterday and it was my first difficult one. Her Dam was Big Bertha who was 1800 pounds when I sold her last year. The Sire of this heifer is a registered angus bull. This heifer was bred by my angus bull, Casper who was a New Frontier bull. She was due 4/13/14 and had the calf yesterday at 4:30 pm so one day late. Here she is:
This heifer is bigger than when the picture was taken. I think she is in the 1500 pound class and will grow to be about 1700 pounds. She was born 5/28/12 so about 23 months old now.
I saw her go into labor about 2 pm yesterday. She was in the holding area. At about 2 pm, the amniotic sac was hanging out with some fluid in it. She got up and I saw it fall off. This was about 3 pm. I observed feet sticking out. I called my friend, Kris of Fire Sweep Ranch. She said to give her another 30 minutes and look for progress. At 3:30 pm there was no progress and I did not see any effort. I called Kris. She advised getting her ready for help. I put her in the crowding pen. When I moved her, the feet went back in. She stood in the crowding pen with her back arched. The feet came back out. I let her stand another 30 minutes. Nothing was coming. I walked her into the alley way leading to the Squeeze chute. Kris advised closing the door of the pal cage and helping her outside the chute. I placed a couple of 2 x 4s behind her to keep her from backing up. I thought it would only take a little help with the chains. So I did not take the jack. I had to reach in to get the chains on the feet. I noticed the head was further back but she must have been fully dialated because the nose was in the back of the vagina. I waited for her to push but she was not doing anything. She was arched with her head down but standing. I tried to pull but it was doing nothing. I finally got the jack. I put the yoke on her butt and took up the slack in the chains. When there was tension on the chains, I waited but she was not pushing. I was tired and decided to start putting some pull on the chains. With the tension, the nose appeared for the first time. The tongue was out but no breathing. I decided to slowly start moving the calf. With each jack, the calf made progress. When the head got fully in the birth canal, it got tight. The last two strokes on the jack were hard pulls. She made a low groan as the head got through and then everything got easy. I took the chains off. The calf was hanging and I saw it shake its head and flutter its eyes. I grabbed it and guided it out. It hung up again at its hips. I had to grasp the entire calf in a hug and pull to get the hips through.
I got the calf on the ground behind her and she started acting up. She was nervous and turned her head in a manner like she wanted to turn around to the calf. I let her out through the pal cage and squeeze chute. She turned on me with her head down. I just had another friend who is in the hospital having his face rebuilt because a group of cows he was working with his hired man, crowded him into a gate, knocked him down and pushed his face into the gate breaking in some of his facial bones. So I got back into the squeeze chute and went back to get the calf out. I could hardly lift it. When I got it to the pal cage, I put it out the pal door. But she had taken off into the holding pen and left her calf. I got the calf into the crowding pen. I am small framed and it was all I could do to handle this calf. I would guess it is close to 100 pounds, wet, which it was. I looked out and she is eating grass like she don't even know she has a calf. I had a hard time chasing her back to her calf and I was concerned she might turn on me. I got her to the calf and closed the gate on the crowding pen. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else, but because she was separated from the calf at delivery, she acted like she did not know it existed. About an hour passed before she went to the calf and started nosing it. Then she licked it some but not with the euthusiasm that I am familar with. In another 30 minutes I saw the calf up sucking. It got some but it must have been the heifer thing because she would move away from him. I am about to go to the farm so I cannot report on what happened over night.
This heifer is bigger than when the picture was taken. I think she is in the 1500 pound class and will grow to be about 1700 pounds. She was born 5/28/12 so about 23 months old now.
I saw her go into labor about 2 pm yesterday. She was in the holding area. At about 2 pm, the amniotic sac was hanging out with some fluid in it. She got up and I saw it fall off. This was about 3 pm. I observed feet sticking out. I called my friend, Kris of Fire Sweep Ranch. She said to give her another 30 minutes and look for progress. At 3:30 pm there was no progress and I did not see any effort. I called Kris. She advised getting her ready for help. I put her in the crowding pen. When I moved her, the feet went back in. She stood in the crowding pen with her back arched. The feet came back out. I let her stand another 30 minutes. Nothing was coming. I walked her into the alley way leading to the Squeeze chute. Kris advised closing the door of the pal cage and helping her outside the chute. I placed a couple of 2 x 4s behind her to keep her from backing up. I thought it would only take a little help with the chains. So I did not take the jack. I had to reach in to get the chains on the feet. I noticed the head was further back but she must have been fully dialated because the nose was in the back of the vagina. I waited for her to push but she was not doing anything. She was arched with her head down but standing. I tried to pull but it was doing nothing. I finally got the jack. I put the yoke on her butt and took up the slack in the chains. When there was tension on the chains, I waited but she was not pushing. I was tired and decided to start putting some pull on the chains. With the tension, the nose appeared for the first time. The tongue was out but no breathing. I decided to slowly start moving the calf. With each jack, the calf made progress. When the head got fully in the birth canal, it got tight. The last two strokes on the jack were hard pulls. She made a low groan as the head got through and then everything got easy. I took the chains off. The calf was hanging and I saw it shake its head and flutter its eyes. I grabbed it and guided it out. It hung up again at its hips. I had to grasp the entire calf in a hug and pull to get the hips through.
I got the calf on the ground behind her and she started acting up. She was nervous and turned her head in a manner like she wanted to turn around to the calf. I let her out through the pal cage and squeeze chute. She turned on me with her head down. I just had another friend who is in the hospital having his face rebuilt because a group of cows he was working with his hired man, crowded him into a gate, knocked him down and pushed his face into the gate breaking in some of his facial bones. So I got back into the squeeze chute and went back to get the calf out. I could hardly lift it. When I got it to the pal cage, I put it out the pal door. But she had taken off into the holding pen and left her calf. I got the calf into the crowding pen. I am small framed and it was all I could do to handle this calf. I would guess it is close to 100 pounds, wet, which it was. I looked out and she is eating grass like she don't even know she has a calf. I had a hard time chasing her back to her calf and I was concerned she might turn on me. I got her to the calf and closed the gate on the crowding pen. I don't know if this has happened to anyone else, but because she was separated from the calf at delivery, she acted like she did not know it existed. About an hour passed before she went to the calf and started nosing it. Then she licked it some but not with the euthusiasm that I am familar with. In another 30 minutes I saw the calf up sucking. It got some but it must have been the heifer thing because she would move away from him. I am about to go to the farm so I cannot report on what happened over night.
