Easy graft

[Chris H]

We have a group of old cows that were calving in July & August that we decided to calve & cull. Heifer calves were put on a bottle, bull calves were sold to a friend, cows went to hamburger heaven. A 3 year old cow got put in this sell group just because she calved late. She calved Sunday, a malpresentation which resulted in a dead calf. We decided to hold her a week until she dried up before shipping her. On Wednesday another old cow had a heifer.
We had sold the other heifer calves as a group but I really wanted to retain this heifer. So last night I separated the calf from her mother. This morning I put the 3 year old in with the calf. The cow allowed the baby a couple sucks before walking away. I was short on time so I put the cow in the headgate in the calving pen and let the calf nurse. I came back 20 minutes later and turned the cow and her foster baby loose in a small lot. Tonight I went back to check on them and that cow really didn't want me messing with her new baby. The calf had nursed her out the rest of the way. Now I guess I just have to watch to be sure the 3 year olds milk comes in.
I just love it when it goes that easy.

 

[dac1]

you are lucky we have a cow been trying for three weeks :x

 

[Workinonit Farm]

you are lucky we have a cow been trying for three weeks :x

:shock: :shock:

Katherine

 

[msscamp]

We have a group of old cows that were calving in July & August that we decided to calve & cull. Heifer calves were put on a bottle, bull calves were sold to a friend, cows went to hamburger heaven. A 3 year old cow got put in this sell group just because she calved late. She calved Sunday, a malpresentation which resulted in a dead calf. We decided to hold her a week until she dried up before shipping her. On Wednesday another old cow had a heifer.
We had sold the other heifer calves as a group but I really wanted to retain this heifer. So last night I separated the calf from her mother. This morning I put the 3 year old in with the calf. The cow allowed the baby a couple sucks before walking away. I was short on time so I put the cow in the headgate in the calving pen and let the calf nurse. I came back 20 minutes later and turned the cow and her foster baby loose in a small lot. Tonight I went back to check on them and that cow really didn't want me messing with her new baby. The calf had nursed her out the rest of the way. Now I guess I just have to watch to be sure the 3 year olds milk comes in.
I just love it when it goes that easy.

Congratulations on the easy graft - it does make things a whole lot easier when that happens! :lol: :lol: I'm always interested in alternative ways of doing things so, if you wouldn't mind explaining, I am curious as to why you decided to pull the calves and sell the cows rather than allowing them to raise the calves and then sell? Thanks!

 

[Chris H]

Msscamp, lots of reasons to pull the calves and sell the cows right now. The cows are in really good condition right now. The price of fat cows is pretty good right now. I doubt the cows would be as fleshy after milking four months as they are now. We are pushing close to our limit on the number of cows our pasture can support, if the rain stopped now we'd be feeding cattle in 2-3 weeks. I'd rather feed calves than feed the cow feeding the calf, especially knowing the cow would be culled soon.
It helped that we had a market for the bull calves. And we sold the heifers to another person. We didn't intend to sell the heifers, we put a price on them and the buyer agreed. This little heifer isn't for sale, though. The old cow is 13 and this is her 12th calf. We only have one daughter from her and she's 8. That cow is good, and has given us several good daughters. So this heifer has some potential.

The 3 year old cow is nice, and raised a good calf last year. She calved late because she is a real heavy milker and we didn't separate and feed our 2 year olds last year. She just couldn't milk like that and breed back on time.

 

[Chris H]

Update on graft:

After leaving the calf with the 3 year old foster mom all day yesterday, I put the old cow in the pen with the calf & 3 year old overnight. My reasoning was if the 3 year old's milk didn't come in I didn't want the old cow to dry up just yet.
Checked on them this morning, intending to put out old cow and just leave young cow with calf so calf would nurse the young cow enough to stimulate milk production. The calf is thoroughly bonded with the young cow and the young cow apparently has plenty of milk already. The calf isn't even nursing on the old cow. And old cow is not distressed now that she's in the same pen with the calf. She should be dried up and ready to go next week.

I feel guilty shipping old cows off to the butcher. They stayed around a long time because they were good. Doesn't feel right rewarding them with a trip to the butcher. But, that's part of raising cattle. It doesn't bother me sending steers or cull young cows to the market.

 

[dun]

I feel guilty shipping old cows off to the butcher. They stayed around a long time because they were good. Doesn't feel right rewarding them with a trip to the butcher.

Better then rewarding them with a trip outback so the coyotes can gnaw their bones! That's a waste of a full and succesfull life.

dun