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Breeding / Calving Issues
Heifer in labor
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<blockquote data-quote="Katpau" data-source="post: 1583599" data-attributes="member: 9933"><p>We've almost all made the mistake of waiting too long to assist at some point if we have enough cows and been at it long enough. </p><p></p><p>My first breach was the first calf of a set of twins. I saw the cow in labor the evening before and waited a bit thinking I'd tag the calf that night. After about 30 minutes it was getting dark and she went into the woods and I lost sight of her. The next morning she came down for hay with the other cows and her tail was still up. I knew I had made a mistake right away not running her in. When I got up close I could see the tail of the calf sticking out. It was a struggle to deliver it and we were forced to cut off a leg. You could tell it was already dead and starting to get nasty. It weighed close to 100 pounds, so everyone said we are done here, but I said make sure to check for a twin, because backward calves are often not alone. They kind of laughed, but reached back in and sure enough, there was another one so far back you could barely reach its nose. Lost them both of course.</p><p></p><p>Another time we were feeding hay and I saw one of the cows move off clearly in labor. Before too long there were two feet showing and everything appeared normal. It was taking her a little longer than usual to make progress, so I decided to give her some privacy. Went and finished some chores and came back an hour later to find her still the same. Ran her into the corrals and armed her. Couldn't find a head. The head was flipped back. It was a real struggle to get the calf back far enough to get hold of the head. Lost that calf too.</p><p></p><p>There are other stories, but the point is if you have any doubts about how long it's taking, get them in right away. It's a real pain to bring them all the way in from the pasture to the chute, so we tell ourselves that it's probably fine. I've found that when a cow is straining like the one in your photo for more than an hour there is probably a problem.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Katpau, post: 1583599, member: 9933"] We've almost all made the mistake of waiting too long to assist at some point if we have enough cows and been at it long enough. My first breach was the first calf of a set of twins. I saw the cow in labor the evening before and waited a bit thinking I'd tag the calf that night. After about 30 minutes it was getting dark and she went into the woods and I lost sight of her. The next morning she came down for hay with the other cows and her tail was still up. I knew I had made a mistake right away not running her in. When I got up close I could see the tail of the calf sticking out. It was a struggle to deliver it and we were forced to cut off a leg. You could tell it was already dead and starting to get nasty. It weighed close to 100 pounds, so everyone said we are done here, but I said make sure to check for a twin, because backward calves are often not alone. They kind of laughed, but reached back in and sure enough, there was another one so far back you could barely reach its nose. Lost them both of course. Another time we were feeding hay and I saw one of the cows move off clearly in labor. Before too long there were two feet showing and everything appeared normal. It was taking her a little longer than usual to make progress, so I decided to give her some privacy. Went and finished some chores and came back an hour later to find her still the same. Ran her into the corrals and armed her. Couldn't find a head. The head was flipped back. It was a real struggle to get the calf back far enough to get hold of the head. Lost that calf too. There are other stories, but the point is if you have any doubts about how long it's taking, get them in right away. It's a real pain to bring them all the way in from the pasture to the chute, so we tell ourselves that it's probably fine. I've found that when a cow is straining like the one in your photo for more than an hour there is probably a problem. [/QUOTE]
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