Good advice

[DiamondSCattleCo]

You just described our winter 35 to 40 degrees and rain all the time when it is not raining it's drizzle. We go through some hay as the cows never dry out takes a lot to stay warm. I have always thought it be easier on them if it was below freezing at least they could dry out.

Yep, I think perfect calving conditions are about 10F - 20F days, with the sun shining warm. I cull very heavily around here, so on a 10F day, I expect that cow to have her calves ears licked dry so I don't even have to bother moving him. Our cool wet season only lasts a couple months, but I've calved out in those kind of conditions with other people I've worked for, and I swore I'd never do it again. Even those ranches where they ensured the livestock was healthy, vaccinated against everything including the kitchen sink, you always seemed to have a few pneumonia cases show up or a few scours cases. And it never seemed to be the calm animals who got sick. It was always some wild little beggar, or an over-protective mother's calf. Stuffing a scours bolus down a calf's throat while its mother is trying to grind you into the ground doesn't rate real high on my list of favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Rod

 

[cowkeeper]

KMacGinley wrote, " haven't used my warming box in two years. Common sense. "

Hi All, What is "a warming box"??

 

[TheBullLady]

A lot of producers in the north keep a plywood type "box" usually on skids or wheels they can move from pasture to pasture. When a calf is born in the cold, they can put it in the warming box giving it a chance to warm up before turning it out in the cold.

I've also heard of warming boxes that were large enough for 8 - 10 calves, especially in Montana and Wyoming. They are also moved from pasture to pasture, with a small opening for the calves to get into. The calves have an opportunity to go into the warming box during the really severe weather.

 

[msscamp]

That's a new one, TheBullLady. I'm not saying it isn't done, just that we don't and I've never heard of what you've described. We occasionally have a calf on the porch or under the shed due to weather, but the vast majority of them do just fine with their mom.

 

[randiliana]

A lot of producers in the north keep a plywood type "box" usually on skids or wheels they can move from pasture to pasture. When a calf is born in the cold, they can put it in the warming box giving it a chance to warm up before turning it out in the cold.

I've also heard of warming boxes that were large enough for 8 - 10 calves, especially in Montana and Wyoming. They are also moved from pasture to pasture, with a small opening for the calves to get into. The calves have an opportunity to go into the warming box during the really severe weather.

What you are talking about (the larger ones) are probably calf shelters. A small building on skids that the calves can get into to get out of the weather, but the cows can't.

A warming (or hot) box, here at least, is a small crate that can hold 1 calf. Usually they are made of plastic, but can be made out of plywood or whatever. It has a heater in it with a fan that will warm up a chilled/hypothermic calf and dry it out as well. We have used them, but usually they need at the very least a draft free area to work well.

 

[cowkeeper]

So, is the calf just stuck in this sheltered place, able to go out to it's mom, or do you hold it there under observation and let it out periodically?

 

[cowkeeper]

Ok randiliana, we were both typing at the same time. Is the warming box taken to the pasture: if so, what kind of fuel for the heater?

 

[randiliana]

Ok randiliana, we were both typing at the same time. Is the warming box taken to the pasture: if so, what kind of fuel for the heater?

Usually the warming box is kept in the barn which is draft free, and also it needs electricity to run the heater/fan.

The shelters are left out in the pasture, they are just a shed with an opening big enough for the calves to get in.

 

[jnowack]

Ok randiliana, we were both typing at the same time. Is the warming box taken to the pasture: if so, what kind of fuel for the heater?

Usually the warming box is kept in the barn which is draft free, and also it needs electricity to run the heater/fan.

The shelters are left out in the pasture, they are just a shed with an opening big enough for the calves to get in.

A friend of mine built a calf warmer and put a heat lamp in it but it got too hot inside so he backed down to a 100 watt light bulb and it was about right.