done everything I'm suppose to do...now what...happy ending

[rockridgecattle]

Ok called the vet... gone for the day
called the retired vet...left a message
called a neighbor...no answer
called another neighbor, he came down to look at the cow
Now the story

I;m on the farm on my own, hubby left yesterday for course, in laws are away on holidays.
Last night this cow was sort of nesting. We've been watching her. This will be her second calf. She has been bagging near 3 weeks, pouched on the back end and fallen around the tail bone. Bag not completely firm but close. So at 11 pm noticed she was off on her own, sort of nesting. Put her up by the barn and she decided to eat..should mention her apetite is healthy.
I checked on her in the middle of the night, chewing her cud, this morning, a little skitish, and out of sorts.

So I glove up and check on her. Does not feel right. Like lots of stuff in the way, a big balloon, thick big balloon. This is the first cow that i have not been able to find the calf. So i call for help.
A neighbor farmer, doing it for more years than i even know comes down and checks her out. He has trouble finding the calf. He had to go under the sac, felt what he thought might be a small foot, maybe a head and something between the head and foot. He figures under developed.
I know what i am tryng to say is not come out right. Any how he said to leave her for a few hours, see what happens.
Even with the bag as full as it is, the calf should be closer to the top i would think.
And lastly, there was not much of a fight to get past the cervix.

Well hubby just called while he was on lunch, said to give her time she might not yetbe ready...

Any thoughts?

 

[cloone]

Maybe head down or breach birth
Get him out asap
Good luck wish I could help

 

[rockridgecattle]

I wish i could get him out. I can't even find it. I'm 5' nothing and...The neighbor said to call him in about 5 hours, so that will be when i get back from work. Hubby will be home in about 6 hours from now. Ohhhh i hate these moments....off to check on her now.

 

[TheBullLady]

Unless she's acting like she's in active labor, why would you want to "get it out"? :|

 

[rockridgecattle]

I'm on the farm alone today and yesterday, and maybe i'm imagineing a problem where there is not. But you know when you have that gut instinct? You know the one that says she's a little off, she's thinking on getting down to business. But the what if says if she is in trouble she's not going to get down to business.
right now she is at the bale ring eating, goes to check a spot, then the bale ring and back to a spot.
Maybe it's cause I'm on my own today, maybe it's cause calving has gone on long enough..."git er done ladies".
Well I'm off to work, will check on her when i get home

 

[rockridgecattle]

So, my hubby came home from his course and then went out and checked on her. He figures she has a few days to go yet. So we will keep a close eye on her and see what transpires. He's gone three days next week, I'm on my own so I'm figuring that's when the last three hiefers will calve...

 

[milkmaid]

The cervix was already either dilated or you've opened it by going in to check... either way the only time one ought to go past the cervix is when fixing a malpresentation and/or pulling a calf, or cleaning out a cow with a RP. Hope you get a live calf out of her.

 

[Beefy]

true the funtion of the cervix is to keep foreign bodies out so the fetus can develop in a sterile environment. so much for that if she wasnt ready...

 

[grannysoo]

Patience.... She'll have a calf when she's ready, not when you are.

 

[rockridgecattle]

she calved this morning about 8-8:30 am...A healthy bull calf that is trying to get up and suck now, about an hour later
a happy ending...


Beefy and Milkmaid, the only reason why i checked was cause she was doing the pre-game for over 12 hours, and i was worried something was wrong. Especially cause i was on my own and it would take a bit of time to find someone if there was trouble at the last minute. If she had not done the pre - game dance, i would not have checked
pre game dance:
follow other calves
off on her own
gentle mooing
nesting...finding the right spot and position
fallen at the tail bone on both sides
tail off to the side, and swishing of the tail
big bag
and a belly kick or two for good measures


RR

 

[bandit80]

Takes your calves an hour to get up and suck? How do you keep em alive. I have not had any go past 15 minutes to be up and sucking.

In all of your years producing Master Beef in Tennessee, you have never had a calf take longer than 15 minutes to get up and nurse??? :lol2: ;-)

 

[TexasBred]

Takes your calves an hour to get up and suck? How do you keep em alive. I have not had any go past 15 minutes to be up and sucking.

In all of your years producing Master Beef in Tennessee, you have never had a calf take longer than 15 minutes to get up and nurse??? :lol2: ;-)

Bandit...well you forget he's got those "volunteers"...That an a boot in the a$$ works everytime. :lol2:

 

[rockridgecattle]

Takes your calves an hour to get up and suck? How do you keep em alive. I have not had any go past 15 minutes to be up and sucking.

Surely you jest. In the first 15 minutes that's when they get the bath from the momma...you know ...mothering up, bonding, changing from sea to land legs, etc.
Up with in an hour and getting ahold of breakfast is pretty darn good.

 

[Jovid]

Takes your calves an hour to get up and suck? How do you keep em alive. I have not had any go past 15 minutes to be up and sucking.

In all of your years producing Master Beef in Tennessee, you have never had a calf take longer than 15 minutes to get up and nurse??? :lol2: ;-)

Of course if he has never owned any cattle then he can say that. :banana:

 

[dun]

In the first 15 minutes that's when they get the bath from the momma...you know ...mothering up, bonding, changing from sea to land legs, etc.
Up with in an hour and getting ahold of breakfast is pretty darn good.

Persoanlly I'm concerned if they aren;t on their feet a looking for groceries in a maximum of a 1/2 hour. Even after 15 minutes I'm wondering what's wrong

 

[msscamp]

she calved this morning about 8-8:30 am...A healthy bull calf that is trying to get up and suck now, about an hour later
a happy ending...

We don't let them go that long. We are very concerned if they haven't nursed within 15 minutes, if they haven't nursed within a half hour following birth we intervene.

 

[rockridgecattle]

For us if they have not started moving about in about 15 minutes that is odd...when all goes well in the birthing process. But sometimes the mothers feel that they have to lick the calf off completely before they let the calf suck. Or they are just so "happy" to see their baby, they do this dance, you know the one, the calf in front, cow keeps moving around the calf.
If it had been more than an hour for the calf to suck, we assist. But we try not to interfer in the mothering and bonding of the calf.
It's bad enough in March when its brutal cold, and you got to get the babys sledded into the barn. When it's warm like this we give an hour.
But like i think i said, I was not home when she calved, I was at work, hubby was home. She started around 7:30 am, hubby said she calved between 8-8:30 I think...too many days have passed and so much work. I got home from work about 9:30, hubby came home from the calving area at the same time, and the calf was having breakfast he said.

 

[dun]

Related sort of but maybe not. I've noticed that a lot of the vigor smd vitality of a calf at birth can be linked to specific bulls. Some sire calves that are a little sluggish others calves are up and going within a couple of minutes. Same cows with bulls sired by different bulls and the calfs first activity variation can be seen.

 

[ANAZAZI]

Related sort of but maybe not. I've noticed that a lot of the vigor smd vitality of a calf at birth can be linked to specific bulls. Some sire calves that are a little sluggish others calves are up and going within a couple of minutes. Same cows with bulls sired by different bulls and the calfs first activity variation can be seen.

True so true, we found this years ago on AI sred calves in our dairy swedish reds. A bull called 882 TORPANE was good in this manner, so my father and I used him a lot. Then came 307 FLAKA who gave exremely healthy calves; they were upp and running,and had a meal, and took a nap and got up and walked two laps around his mother, While their fellow calves had just gotten their legs under them the first time.
This bull were some four years later used extensively in californian holstein herds to improve these inbred cattle and make calves that did not have to be fed by tube!

 

[msscamp]

For us if they have not started moving about in about 15 minutes that is odd...when all goes well in the birthing process. But sometimes the mothers feel that they have to lick the calf off completely before they let the calf suck. Or they are just so "happy" to see their baby, they do this dance, you know the one, the calf in front, cow keeps moving around the calf.

Yes - I do know that dance, but even with that dance, the vast majority of the calves had nursed within 30 minutes following birth.

But we try not to interfer in the mothering and bonding of the calf.

I'm not going to argue that bonding is important, but at this stage of the game I'm a lot more interested in the calf nursing. Nursing goes a long ways towards sealing that bond between a mother and calf, not to mention the antibodies and other qualities mother's milk delivers.