Expected or acceptable losses

[Supa Dexta]

Oh sorry, I read that as if you let them go 2 hours later.

 

[nobull82]

No, I try to leave them locked up for 2-3 days

 

[cowgirl8]

I see people post here about their good luck, and and their good fortune. I don't think I've ever had 100% calf crop.

We may have 100% in one herd..but overall counting all herds, never ever have we had 100%.
I'm so frustrated at the calf we are working with, the stupid one. Cow has perfect teats, its impossible to not run into one. Tried bottle feeding the calf, which has been no problem. But this morning she wouldnt eat. Husband THINKS she may have nursed a back quarter. I'm not holding my breath. If i dont see something nursed for sure by lunch, i'm bagging her whether she likes it or not. She's just too lifeless to be nursing IMO... Went out first thing this morning to find stupid calf on the wrong side of the gate. But when nothing goes right, it always seem hopeless, and then one day it clicks. I have to tell myself to be patient..Yes, we've put the cow in the chute for the calf to nurse. Calf just clams up and teats are very small so you cant get them in her mouth...Husband said we need a small monkey to milk this heifer..lol

 

[TexasBred]

Nobody can get 100% of their calves to weaning due to calving issues, sickness, or other problems. What is your goal as a producer in terms of % loss? Just curious, I have my own number, but curious where I stand w that expectation. Thanks

Absolutely you can and that's always the goal.

If you have 10 yes, but stuff happens w 100 plus. That's the question in realville

Rniemann we actually accomplished it a couple of years in "Realville" calving out over 600 dairy cows calving every year....and only lost 3 three bottle calves one year as well. There were other years where everything that could happen bad did happen it seemed. The odds do begin to work against you as the number of cattle increases but it's not impossible.

 

[Jake]

Rniemann we actually accomplished it a couple of years in "Realville" calving out over 600 dairy cows calving every year....and only lost 3 three bottle calves one year as well. There were other years where everything that could happen bad did happen it seemed. The odds do begin to work against you as the number of cattle increases but it's not impossible.

The management level available to a dairy herd is considerably different than most beef herds though as well. I have no doubts to your ability to keep them alive and have such a high percentage. It would be a pie in the sky for us. Just always seem to have something happen over the course of 205 days. From scours to lightning to just flat disappearing and never finding a calf, we always lose a few.

 

[Nesikep]

There are people who put a low birthweight bull with their cows and sleep all night... and they're willing to accept that even with low birthweights you can have calving complications and losses..
The goal of course is always 100%, reality doesn't always let you get there. The closer you want to be to 100% the harder you have to work.. If 80% is good enough for you, you might as well go to mexico during calving season.. and you'll reach your target.
We get up at night and check the cows.. EVERY night.
Over the 23 years we've had cows, (and we started out greener than any newbie here, trust me on that!) here's our record.
The first year we lost 3 calves and 1 cow at calving, and another from summer pneumonia... out of 12.. Next year we lost 3 calves to scours, and 2 cows due to pneumonia, out of about 15. Since they we look a lot better.
Last 2 years I was batting 100% birth to weaning, Lost one cow in the spring to a stroke (there's an oddball ailment for a cow).
Over the last 6 years since I've been back, we've lost 3 calves, 1 breech twin, one breech, and one was born fine but was dead when we found it... possibly the water sac over the nose? That's out of 117 births, and we had a couple successful twins putting me darned close to my goal...
Will do my darnedest to make this 3 years in a row without a loss!!! One down, 26 to go, and lots of colostrum in the freezer

 

[Big Cheese]

Our mentor for our farm says to always expect to lose 10% so that when you get anything over that its always plus for you.

 

[Nesikep]

I always expect 100%, so I kick myself in the arse to do better next time if I don't reach my goal.. I would say your mentor is right when it comes to spending your money before you have your calves sold though!

 

[nobull82]

Everyone wants 100% but sometimes there's just only so much you can do. I had a healthy calf last night or it seemed that way and this morning it was dead.

 

[Toad]

I expect 100% and work really hard to make that happen. Reality is that it will not happen and I always loose one each year. I'm slowly learning however that there are several main things that will normally bite you: - bad weather, calves too big when born, too many cows together in too small a lot (trampling) and not watching cows close enough to be able to assist during calving. These are things I can work on so I am better prepared next season.

 

[nobull82]

Mother nature always has the final say!

 

[Lazy M]

If I didn't have the job, the wife, and the kids I bet that I could get closer to 100% instead of the 80-90% that I usually finish at.. I don't think that I'd be nearly as happy though..

 

[TexasBred]

Mother nature always has the final say!

Not really....that is what you get with absolutely no attention or outside intervention. We can help mother nature often.

 

[nobull82]

Hahaha so if something dies it's because you didn't do enough or wasn't paying attention!

 

[Toad]

Hahaha so if something dies it's because you didn't do enough or wasn't paying attention!

Of the ones that I have lost I would say 50% could have been avoided if I had done a better job. If I had known more, worked harder, had more experience ect Every time I loose one I go back over it 100 times in my mind. My father in law says loosing one teaches me a better lesson than anything I could learn from a book.

 

[nobull82]

That's very true but I was saying that sometimes mother nature has the final say meaning sometimes there's nothing you can do or the vet, it's out of your hands.

 

[Toad]

I have lost one calf this year and I know I could have saved it. It was born on the coldest night of the year, well below zero and the wind and snow blowing. I stayed out in my truck in the pasture all night waiting for it to drop but around 3 I dozed off and it was born. It couldn't have been born more than an hour when I woke up and found it but it already had frost bite and dies about a week later. I'm still kicking myself over that.

 

[Nesikep]

If the calf was dead before it was born and I know it, I don't beat myself up over that.. If one is hiplocked or whatever and dies on the way, that's when I know I could/should have been there and probably made a difference... Deaths after birth I can usually say with relative certainty that some part of the management could have been improved.. like if they're stepped on it means I need to give them a place they like better than being around the feeder... If it's illness I need to pay attention to how they're feeling and catch it earlier on so I have more time to diagnose and treat it before it becomes severe.

 

[highgrit]

I know that we have lost a few animals that we could of saved. But we have a family and we try to attend most all of their functions. To me it's just the price you pay for having a life and a family, cows are our hobby.

 

[botsfarmer]

Out of 1800 births this year we have pulled one dead calf. Losses from PD to weaning tend to be 8%-10%. Cows run in the veld year round and are expected to calve unaided, get up and chase off the jackels and brown hyena then protect their calves from the leopards and cheetahs. Any cow without a calf at weaning gets loaded to the abattoir.